Jammu gets X-band doppler weather radar to provide improved weather services

An X-band doppler weather radar has been installed here to provide improved weather services to people of Jammu and Kashmir, the India Meteorological Department said on Saturday.

Union minister Jitendra Singh will dedicate the radar along with an indigenous GPS-based pilot-sonde to the public at the meteorological office in Jammu on Sunday, it said in a statement. The state-of-the-art indigenous GPS-based pilot-sonde helps to gather data in all weather conditions with minimum human intervention and has facilities of auto-detection of balloon launch and the balloon burst. "The new radar will help in providing a nowcast (very short range forecast up to three hours) for all types of severe weather events affecting the region, especially thunderstorms, lightning, squall, and heavy rain," the statement said.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said the system will also help in providing weather forecasts for different sectors, including tourism forecasts for pilgrims of Mata Vaishno Devi shrine at Katra which has an average footfall of 8.5 million every year. It will also provide inputs to numerical weather prediction models for generating better weather forecasts. "In conjunction with data from other sensors such as satellites and automated weather stations, better forecasts and warnings can be achieved leading to minimal loss of property and life, thus providing better services towards public safety and socio-economic benefits," the IMD added.

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