Wayanad to get localized weather forecasting

‘Currently rainfall data is being collected from 93 locations of Wayanad and this pooled into a centralized system for synthesis’

The Hume Centre for Ecology and Wildlife Biology and the Advanced Centre for Atmospheric Radar Research of the Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT) have jointly set up a localized weather forecasting system for Wayanad district, a major landslide prone area in the State. “While the conventional forecasting systems focus mostly on district wise rainfall, which has limitation in providing regional variation in forecasting, this new model predict rainfall in 25 sq km gridded platform, showing local variation in rainfall”, said S. Abhilash, Meteorologist of CUSAT. “Everyday forecasting resulted in 70% to 80% accuracy in the spatial distributi,on as well as the intensity of rainfall. But we have to experiment at least three years to understand the limitations in the modeling system and to further improve the accuracy. The promising results of one year simulation is encouraging and appreciated by various stakeholders and there is also scope for customization of the forecast products for various stakeholders” Dr. Abhilash, said.