IMD doubles as wedding,fest,film-shoot consultants

This is not an isolated case where IMD help was sought for holding an event in the city that has been witnessing sudden deviation of the weather from the normal. Organisers of cultural festivals,film producers shooting at outdoor locations,organisers of seminars and even people who want to arrange wedding receptions on lawns have been consulting the weather office.

November and December are considered a good time for weddings and other functions. However,in the last two years,the city has been experiencing rainfall in these two months. Last year,cyclone Phyan brought heavy rain in mid-November and this year,low-pressure over the Bay of Bengal as well Arabian Sea led to rain in November.

A B Mazumdar,deputy director general,IMD,Pune,said they have been consistently getting calls from citizens noticing this change. “Days back I received a call from a woman who wanted to know about the weather in Mumbai in the next 24 hours,as she had to travel to Mumbai and there was a thunderstorm in the city the previous day. Such calls are not uncommon anymore,” he said.

“There are not only need-based queries but also some to satisfy curiosity. Last month,as rainfall continued till the month end,wedding planners,film producers and organisers of cultural programmes kept calling us to ask about the forecast. Some others called us just to cross-check information on other websites with the IMD forecast,” said Medha Khole,director,IMD (weather forecasting),Pune.

Mazumdar said,“We have updated our website and explained various terms for the convenience of the common man.”

With several events planned this months also,IMD is likely to get more such queries,as Deshpande would agree.

“We were in a dilemma as it had not rained for three days before November 19 when Vasantotsav was to start. IMD officials said it would rain on November 19. It was good we cancelled it,as it rained heavily on November 19 and 21.”