Wednesday, 30 March 2022 | Vinod Chamoli | New Tehri
The loss of life and property due to rain will now be reduced to a great extent in the disaster-sensitive Himalayan region of Uttarakhand which is set to get its Doppler radar at Surkanda Devi temple area fully operational after a long wait. The radar has been installed by the Meteorological department. The radar, which works in a range of 100 kilometres will sense the weather pattern two hours in advance, giving the government machinery an accurate weather information about the rain related patterns which often lead to cloudbursts.
The State meteorological centre director Bikram Singh said, “The installation of Doppler radar in Surkanda temple area of Tehri district has been completed. The radar testing work is currently underway. It is expected that within a month the radar will start working properly. This radar will prove to be important in terms of disaster management in the mountains.”
The radar was needed in the mountainous region for accurate weather forecasting since the devastating disaster in Kedarnath during June 2013, but the land had not been selected for years to install the radar in the region. The State meteorological centre had started preparations to install Doppler radar by selecting land in the Surkanda temple area. Now the Doppler radar has been installed and the testing is going on.
According to experts, the Doppler radar is installed at high altitude locations so that the radar also captures the subtle changes. The Doppler radar will be able to get information about the possibility of heavy rains, hailstorms and strong winds about two hours in advance. The radar will be able to record data on activities within a radius of 100 kilometres. The highlight of the system is that accurate weather information from the radar will also be given to the people travelling on the Char Dham circuit.
