Anahita Fernandes, a young student of Nirmala Institute of Education,
passes through the IMD office at Altinho often as her college is at a stone’s
throw distance from the meteorology department. But she never entered the
campus of this office although she always had a lot of questions in mind regarding
the accuracy of weather forecasting, especially rains.
But on Wednesday when she stepped into the
campus of IMD Goa and got exposed to the various technologies being used for
weather prediction, she certainly came out more aware and empowered with
scientific knowledge.
“I always used to think that rainfall is
measured in litres. After interacting with the scientists at IMD today, I
learnt for the first time that rainfall is measured in centimetres,” Fernandes
said.
She said that her visit to the IMD was an
eye opener as well as made her feel nostalgic. “I had read about weather
phenomena only in Geography school textbooks. But today I saw everything live
in front of my eyes. It was a great learning experience. I felt as if I was
revising my geography lessons all over again,” she said.
Another youngster Prachi Patil thought had visited IMD before in
2019, but this time she got to know about the technicalities involved in
measuring rainfall.
“I got to know how to measure rainfall, what is a rain gauge and
a doppler radar. We got to know how clouds are formed, how cyclones happen and
how progress of a cyclone is tracked. I feel more aware than before,” she said.
For Valencia D’Souza, it was her first visit to the IMD.
However, in her maiden visit itself she got to know many aspects of weather
forecasting which she wasn’t aware about earlier.
“It was my first visit to IMD. I had only heard about weather
forecasting. But now I got to know how weather forecasting is actually done. I
saw first-hand how rainfall and other weather conditions are predicted. The IMD
scientists showed how cyclones are monitored and their intensity measured,”
D’Souza said.
She confessed that before getting exposed to the scientific
process of weather forecasting, she never took the predictions seriously.
“But now after seeing the entire process, I can vouch for the
authenticity and accuracy of these weather warnings,” she said.
Agreeing with Valencia, Mayzel Dias said that she understood
rain forecasting was a complicated process.
“It is an extremely time-consuming process, which needs a lot of
focus and concentration. The scientists have to literally monitor every
development on their computer monitor. It is a very tough job,” she said.
Seemingly
pleased with queries of the young visitors, IMD Goa Station-in-charge Rahul
Mohan said, “I certainly had interesting sessions with the youngsters. The
purpose of this Open House was to spread scientific knowledge amongst the
community. I am happy that we could do that,” he said.
