Rain or shine,weather alerts on your cellphone soon

Under the SMS alert scheme,one can get to know the details of temperature,rain,humidity,wind speed and forecast.

Special messages will be sent when extreme weather conditions are expected. “If there are chances of fog or rains during the day,the SMS will be delivered to people who have registered for the service,” Yadav said.

To register,people can log into the website of mausam.gov.in,which has recently been started on an experimental basis. Currently it is being handled by an external agency. Once it is handed over to the IMD ¿ which is expected to occur within the next few weeks ¿ the uploading of material and the SMS alerts will begin.

Those interested can also receive weather forecasts on e-mail too. There will also be specific warnings of fog and rain.

The IMD is in the final stage of zeroing in on a telecom service provider. Though RL Meena,the Deputy Director General of IMD,did not reveal the names listed,he said the service will be a paid one.

“People using the service will have to pay the telecom service provider a minimal charge,but the data provided by the IMD will be free,” he said.

The scheme was earlier supposed to be a pilot project meant for Delhi,which would be started later across the country. But now,it has been decided that Mumbai,with its proximity to the sea and the need for warnings,will also be getting the benefit of the scheme soon.