we talk about something that becomes quite a topic of conversation at this time of the year, each year - weather forecasts. Come monsoon, most of us keep a keen eye on the weather forecasts to get some idea of when it will rain and plan our trips, commutes, etc. If we are stuck at work and it starts raining badly, we check the weather forecast to see if the rains are going to stop anytime soon then we can leave a bit later and go home safely. The cyclone season in the country starts before and ends after the monsoon, so we also keep an eye on those forecasts. From the days when we would all be glued to the television to watch the weather bulletin that came on about twice a day, with the presenter announcing the maximum and minimum temperatures recorded in the different capital cities of the states of India to today when we have weather forecast widgets on our phones, tablets, laptops, desktops, smartwatches, etc. weather forecasts have truly come a very long way.

Two main things where technology can be very useful. The first would be to improve the accuracy of the weather forecasts, and the second would be to make the forecast data comprehensible and accessible to stakeholders in different domains. Suppose you are a non-profit organization that works in the disaster relief space, like say you are a part of a disaster-relief team at the Red Cross. You usually need about a month’s lead time to arrange supplies and relief measures for say a flood. Now, if you get the right information in the month of April that there is going to be a major flood and cyclone on the eastern coast in the Odisha – Andhra Pradesh belt in May, you could get your team together, make the necessary arrangements, work with the government to evacuate the people and get them to safer places, the assets can be safeguarded wherever possible, and accomplish a lot more before the cyclone and flood actually hit in a month. Currently, you don’t get information that much in advance, and we also don’t have an accurate idea of where the cyclone will hit, will it fizzle out or get stronger, etc. There are reasonable probabilities involved in every forecast too.