Delhi’s Bharat Mandapam to get its own weather station

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) is setting up a new automatic weather station (AWS) at Bharat Mandapam for local area forecasts during international events. The AWS will measure wind speed, temperatures, and rainfall. The station is expected to be operational by the end of the month. The IMD plans to set up a similar station at Rajghat in the future. At present, the Ridge weather station is used to make forecasts for Rajghat. The IMD has nine AWSs and five manual observatories in Delhi.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) is in the process of setting up a new automatic weather station (AWS) at Bharat Mandapam which will be used to give local area forecasts for the venue during international events, officials aware of the matter said on Friday.

The IMD had issued special hourly and daily weather forecasts for Bharat Mandapam during the three-day G20 Summit. (ANI)

The AWS will measure the wind speed, record maximum and minimum temperatures and gauge the rainfall recorded in the area. Officials said the AWS will likely be operational by the end of the month and will function 24x7, like the Capital’s other weather stations.

The IMD had issued special hourly and daily weather forecasts for Bharat Mandapam during the three-day G20 Summit held at the venue from September 8 to 10. Officials said this was done using a mobile AWS mounted on a van. However, the need for a permanent station at the venue was discussed in the run-up to the event.

“Work to set up the station has begun and should be completed within the next 10 days. The idea behind this is to use it whenever Bharat Mandapam is used for any international, or national event, where forecasts are required to be issued. On regular days, the station will continue to function and will provide us temperature, rainfall and wind speed data from Pragati Maidan,” said Kuldeep Srivastava, scientist at IMD.

The station is being set up at a cost of ₹8-10 lakh, the officials said, adding that IMD is planning to set up a similar station at Rajghat, another venue frequently visited by foreign dignitaries. IMD said at present, it was using the Ridge weather station in north Delhi to make forecasts for Rajghat too.

“The Rajghat station is already visible on the website, but no physical station has been set up there yet. We are using data from the Ridge station for Rajghat too, owing to its proximity. In the future, Rajghat will get its own weather station,” an IMD official said.

The IMD has nine AWSs in Delhi—at Delhi University, Mayur Vihar, Mungeshpur, Narela, Pitampura, Sports Complex (Akshardham), Jafarpur, Najafgarh and Pusa. It also has five manual observatories—at Safdarjung, Lodhi, Ayanagar, Ridge and Palam.