Students setting up weather stations in twin cities

Group of young university students are running Facebook page name, Islamabad/Rawalpindi weather

ISLAMABAD: Though there is a general perception among many that majority of our young generation are wasting their time while using social networking sites for the sake of fun like posting selfies, pictures, cracking jokes, chatting and expanding social network among others.

However it could be a general opinion as there are many young talented minds in Pakistan who while taking full advantage of these social networking sites are playing a role in imparting information and awareness among public and motivating them to come up with some innovative ideas.

Among them is a group of seven young university students aged between 20-26, living in different cities and parts of twin cities , who are running a  Facebook page name, Islamabad/Rawalpindi weather since 2014 for sharing latest weather updates,  advisories, warnings, alerts, photos, videos, new articles among other relevant information.



So far 23,846 people have liked this page while 23,948 people are their followers.

These students have also set around seven weather stations at various localities of the twin cities in order to have a detailed weather preview about Islamabad and Rawalpindi.

The interesting thing about their group is that before establishing this page these young students had never met face to face, rather they met on social networking sites and were living in different cities.

“We were actually active members of another similar page on Facebook , but when that page was closed due to various reasons, we decided to come up with our own page to share weather news and updates,” said  Muhammad Mashhood Iqbal, 26 who has just completed his masters in International Relations (IR) from Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad.

Though none of the group members have earned any professional degree or certificate in atmospheric science or chemistry but due to their passion and interest in this area had forced them to start with this.

Sharing the details Iqbal said that they share weather forecast based on their observations or generate it by using several weather models, meteorological department and weather underground among others. They keep on going through international researches, articles, news, publications to increase their knowledge in the area.

“Most of us have installed latest equipment and devises purchased from our own pocket money and have established mini personal  weather stations on the roof tops of our houses in order to find accurate weather conditions,” said  Muhammad Taha Amerjee, 22,  student of final year BE Environmental Engineering, NUST, Islamabad. These devices are used for measuring day and night temperature, wind speed, direction, humidity level, amount of rain among others.

He said that so far they had spent over Rs150, 000 for purchasing these equipment and devices and have set mini weather stations each in sector F-11, G-8, Adyala Road, Tulsa Road, Bharia Town and two in DHA phase-II Rawalpindi.



“There are few of our page followers who after being inspired by our work have also started setting such mini weather stations at their homes in different cities which no doubt a kind of achievement for us,” said Amerjee.

While commenting over the change in weather patterns of the twin cities, they said that weather of Islamabad and Rawalpindi is becoming erratic as several extreme weather events had been witnessed during last few years.  Meanwhile winter and spring season are squeezing while summer is extending. The intensity of rains is increasing while their duration is reducing. Moreover an increase has been noticed in day time temperature in twin cities in September and October this year which is being considered as unusual.

“There has been a massive change in the weather patterns of the twin cities in last few years mainly due to  rapid urbanisation, infrastructure development, deforestation, population growth, air pollution, massive traffic other than impact of climate change,” said Gohar Ayub Khan, currently doing M Phil in Health Care, Biotechnology from NUST University, Islamabad.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 8^th, 2017.