GURUGRAM: The Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) will be setting up a network of around 100 weather stations across the city and Faridabad.
The project has been approved by the chief minister, officials said.
“An extensive network of weather stations will be set up soon to record accurate data for the city,” a senior GMDA official said.
The weather stations will keep records of temperature, wind speed and rainfall through the day.
The project is being executed by the Geographic Information System (GIS) team at GMDA.
“GIS will be used to select locations for the stations.
Over the years, as we keep collecting data, the records will help us in the decision-making process for climate-related projects and initiatives,” the official said.
He added that a dashboard will also be developed for the government authorities.
“With the data collected, we will be able to calculate the amount of rainfall in different parts of the city and elevation of certain areas.
It will make it easier for us to plan water harvesting systems,” said the official, adding that it is just one example of how the data from the network of weather stations can be used for planning.
Residents will be able to see real-time data recorded by the weather stations at GMDA’s portal OneMap Gurugram.
Currently, Gurugram has one automatic weather station at the National Institute of Solar Energy, Gwalpahari.
But it is not linked to the India Meteorological Department and hence, the data is not used for official purposes.
The observatory at Palam is the only source of all official weather-related information for the city.
But the distance between Gurugram and Palam is about 15km.
“The Palam weather station is far from the city centre and hence, data received from there cannot be used for the decision making process,” said the official.