Regional Meteorological Centre identifies more sites in Chennai for automatic rain gauges

The expansion of the observational network, particularly in and around the city, would help in providing predictions on weather events unique to the urban environment.

As part of its efforts to enhance its forecasting and monitoring capabilities, the Regional Meteorological Centre, Chennai, has identified two more places to set up automatic rain gauges (ARGs). The expansion of the observational network, particularly in and around the city, would help in providing predictions on weather events unique to the urban environment. The Meteorological Department has started preliminary work in Besant Nagar and Maduravoyal to install automatic rain gauges soon. S. Balachandran, Deputy Director General of Meteorology, Chennai, said steps had been taken to identify more places to set up ARGs to measure various parameters, including rainfall and maximum temperature. At present, there were 15 ARGs scattered across the city and its fringes, including Villivakkam, YMCA Nandanam, Chembarambakkam and Puzhal.