Hyderabad, September 19: In a move to modernise its observation network, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has replaced its old and conventional weather radar with the advanced Doppler Weather Radar (DWR) at its Begumpet unit in the city. The state-of-the-art S-band DWR is capable of weather surveillance up to 500 km around Hyderabad.
Inaugurating the new radar today, chief minister K Rosaiah said the DWR is useful in weather forecast, cyclone warnings, flood meteorological forecast and also helps in safe navigation of aircraft and ships.
He said that there are already 40 DWRs across the country and 15 more will be set up. As part of modernisation, the Met officials will set up another Doppler Weather Radar at Anantapur.
Hyderabad is abode for the third DWR in the state apart from the existing Doppler Weather Radars at Visakhapatnam and Machilipatnam. The DWR building was constructed at a cost of Rs 3.8 crore.
Revenue minister D Prasada Rao, member of National Disaster Management Authority and MLA M Sasidhar Reddy, IMD director general Ajit Tyagi, and IMD-Hyderabad unit director Satya Rao were present.
–Agencies