Dr. Harsh Vardhan inaugurates Meteorological (Met) Centre at Leh via video conferencing

Elaborating on the need for a Met Centre at Leh, Dr Harsh Vardhan said that the Ladakh region has lofty mountains with high slopes and no vegetation and lot of loose soil and debris making the region vulnerable to various kinds of natural hazards like Cloud burst (of 2010), Flash Floods, Avalanches and Glacial Lake Outbursts, etc. To avert losses due to such weather events in future, the Government felt the need to establish a State of the Art Meteorological (Met) Centre at Leh in 2020 to strengthen weather related Early Warning System in Ladakh. Located ata height of 3500m, Meteorological CentreLehis creating history, as it will be the highest meteorological centre in India, he added.

He also said that to help the administration and the people of Ladakh, IMD will provide a range of weather forecast services, ranging from short (3 days) and medium (12 days) to extended (1 month) period to all the stake holders on a daily basis for both the districts (Leh and Kargil).“Apart from district level forecast, IMD will provide forecast for important tourist places like Nubra, Changthang, Pangong Lake, Zanskar, Kargil, Drass, Dha-Baima(Aryan valley), Khalsi, etc. Some of the important services to be made available are Highway Forecast, Forecast for Mountaineering, Trekking, agriculture, flash flood warning, low and high temperatures among others”, Dr HardhVardhan explained.

Speaking about the achievements of MoES, the Minister outlined that MoES in particular IMD is ranked among the best in the world. It is among the best on many fronts such as early Tsunami Warning and accurate weather forecast. Weather forecast through text message is provided to over 40 million farmers, helping them in planning their farming activities, he added.

 Radha Krishna Mathur, Lieutenant Governor, Ladakh emphasised upon the need for micro-climatic forecasting keeping in view the climatic variety of the Ladakh region. He highlighted the importance of localised weather information and the need to create a Weather App for all stakeholders.

Dr. M Rajeevan Secretary, MoES said Ladkah region is dear to us in many ways, be its unique topography, culture, food, climate or strategic importance for national security. He assured that Ministry of Earth Sciences will extend all technical as well as administrative support to IMD.