Spoilsport rain likely to hit October Games

Uncertain Met would be able to give clear forecast only two days in advance

There is a 15-20 per cent chance of rainfall during the Games, while two days will be "rainy”.

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Ajit Tyagi, the director general of the India Meteorological Department (IMD), on Tuesday said the department was ready to provide “80-90 per cent accurate” forecasts of weather around the Games venues, but cannot yet predict whether the Opening Ceremony would be washed out.

That is something it can say with certainty only two days prior to the event.
“There are chances of some rain during the Games, but we will not be able to say now whether there will be rain during the Opening Ceremony,” Tyagi told reporters while unveiling the complete meteorological plan for the Games.
“We will get a clear picture two days ahead of the date.”

According to the plan, the weatherman will issue three-hourly forecasts, called “Nowcasting”, of the weather around the venues. It will also give out 48-hourly forecasts to the Games organisers with estimated 70-80 per cent
accuracy.

However, the Met department will fall short of its plans of installing 60 automatic weather stations across Delhi and the NCR to provide accurate forecasts for the Games.
Instead of 60, as was the earlier plan, it will now be ready with only 35 and aid that with manual weather monitoring and other weather assessing tools for the Games.

Officials claimed that the automatic weather system project was never meant to be “Games-specific”. “It was part of our mordernisation project, which will carry on even after the Games,” said Tyagi.

He said within a week forecasts could also be available via SMS upon registration.
“Initially we will allow this facility to a select few, like officials and organisers because our system cannot handle too
many subscribers right now. Gradually, we will throw this facility open to the general public,” he added.