In a novel initiative for J&K, vulnerable to weather vagaries, the government on Friday said the India Meteorological Department was planning to introduce a hyper-local weather forecasting system for Himalayan states. Seven districts have been for this, with special focus on early warnings for cloudburst-induced rainfall.
The IMD plans to install four additional doppler weather radars and 34 automatic weather stations and snow gauges in Jammu and Kashmir, the government said. In a written reply to a question by National Conference MLA Sajad Shaheen in the Assembly, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said the National Disaster Management Authority had identified seven districts across Himalayan states for focused intervention. Ramban and Kishtwar had been selected from Jammu and Kashmir.
“Past data on cloudbursts, flash floods and landslides spanning the last 15 years is available with the Meteorological Centre in Srinagar, and has been used to assess district-wise vulnerability,” the Chief Minister said. Based on human casualties, infrastructure damage and losses to agriculture, horticulture and livestock, districts have been classified into high, medium and low vulnerability categories.
In the Jammu division, Kishtwar, Doda, Ramban, Reasi and Udhampur fall under the high-vulnerability category, while Rajouri, Poonch and Kathua are in the medium category.
“Jammu and Samba have been placed in the low-vulnerability group,” he said. In the Kashmir division, Anantnag, Kulgam and Ganderbal have been identified as highly vulnerable, while Budgam, Shopian and Pulwama fall under medium vulnerability. Srinagar, Baramulla, Kupwara and Bandipora have been categorised as low-vulnerability districts.
Abdullah said the IMD plans to install four additional doppler weather radars and 34 automatic weather stations and snow gauges in Jammu and Kashmir, in addition to the existing three X-band radars located at Srinagar, Jammu and Banihal. “The new radars are proposed at Doda, Rajouri, Anantnag and Baramulla to strengthen early warning and weather service delivery,” he said.
Further, 26 additional automatic weather stations and eight snow gauges are proposed to be installed in far-flung and hilly areas, including Kishtwar, Doda, Ramban, Rajouri, Udhampur, Kupwara, Bandipora, Baramulla and Shopian.
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