With focus on better forecasts of intense rainfall events and extreme weather situations, Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) made operational a High resolution global forecast model (HGFM) on Thursday during its 60th foundation day.
M Ravichandran, secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) who inaugurated the model, said, “Earlier the Global Forecasting Model (GFS) had a horizontal resolution of 12 kilometers. Now, with six kilometers resolution we can forecast at the block level as well. The model has been running as a pilot since June. And the results are promising. We will be handing over the model to India Meteorological Department (IMD) after all the checks are done and giving it for further testing.”
He added that the model will help predict intense rainfall and extreme weather events better.
“We have seen that due to climate change there is an increase in intense rainfall events and extreme weather events. And so this higher resolution model will help in better forecasting,” said Ravichandran.
During the inauguration, the Damini app for prediction of lightning was also launched.
{{/usCountry}}During the inauguration, the Damini app for prediction of lightning was also launched.
{{/usCountry}}Damini Lightning Alert application is for giving warning to the user about the lightning on the basis of user location. Users can view lightning which occurred in the last 5 min, 10 min and 15 min on the map.
“Deaths due to lightning are on the rise. This application will help users understand where lightning may strike and stay indoors accordingly. This application is developed by IITM for the end users,” said Ravichandran.
The application provides lighting updates in 14 vernacular languages including Marathi and helps users with instructions like ‘Dos’ and ‘Don'ts’. The application provides push messages to users in a radius of 20 kilometers where lightning may strike.