Weather forecast system poised for upgrade

PMD is currently short of at least 14 radars to cover major parts of the country

ISLAMABAD: After getting the green light from the Prime Minister House, the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has started formulating a comprehensive plan regarding procuring best quality weather radars from the international market to upgrade the weather forecast system.

Talking to The Express Tribune, the PMD Director Dr Ghulam Rasul said the PM House has agreed upon acquiring quality weather radars and asked the PMD to submit a comprehensive plan for approval.

“In a meeting held recently at the PM secretariat, the secretary to PM has asked the Met Office to chalk out a comprehensive plan for dealing with the challenges it is facing in forecasting monsoon and changes in the weather and the funds it requires for the purpose,” he said.



Sharing the background, he said the prime minister earlier this June asked the PMD to submit a report on its failure to inform about the powerful wind storm in advance that hit Islamabad, Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa on June 1 and claimed 30 lives while injuring several people.

“Later, in our report we clearly mentioned that the PMD lacks latest technology for weather forecasting and is currently short of at least 14 radars to cover major parts of the country,” he said.

Dr Rasul said currently the Met Office has seven weather radars installed in various major cities and one more will be installed in Mardan soon. “The Met office, however, needs 14 more radars to be installed across Pakistan. With the total 22 radars we will be able to cover 95 per cent of the country,” he said.

The PMD director said so far the Met Office requires around Rs6.5 billion for buying equipment for upgrading its early forecasting system.



“In the meeting the Met Office and the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) also briefed the top officials about the upcoming monsoon, probability of flash flooding and preparations made in this regard to avoid maximum human and property loss,” he said.

He expressed hope that upgrading of the weather forecasting technology will enable the Met Office to mitigate human material losses caused by weather changes.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 18^th, 2016.