AWS under spotlight after unusually high temperature readings in Delhi, Nagpur

New Delhi: Automatic Weather Stations deployed by the India Meteorological Department and other institutes have come under the spotlight after they recorded unusually high temperatures -- first in Delhi's Mungeshpur and later in Nagpur.

While the IMD was examining the AWS at Mungeshpur in northwest Delhi for possible errors, the weather office distanced itself from the device installed in Nagpur, which it said was owned by Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth (PDKV).

'On 30th May PDKV Ramdaspeth (Nagpur City IMD AWS) reported a maximum temperature of 54.4 degrees C and one more station in Nagpur reported 52.2 degrees C. These values are wrong due to failure of the electronic sensor (As confirmed by IMD, Pune),' a statement by the Regional Meteorological Centre, Nagpur said.

'The observations from other AWS and IMD observatory stations at Nagpur reported a maximum temperature in the range of 44-45 degrees C. The corrective action is being taken by IMD,' it said.

The weather office said automatic systems may report erroneous readings due to various reasons such as site conditions, damage of sensors or protection shields.

'However, IMD staff are trained to detect such erroneous readings in comparison with many other Meteorological parameters. Outlier data are also filtered in the pre-processing stage,' the statement said.

The weather office made it clear that the report of 56 degrees Celsius on May 30, 2024, is not correct and not declared officially, it said.

The weather office said the nearby functioning AWS at Central Institute of Cotton Research, Nagpur had recorded a maximum temperature of 44.0 degrees Celsius on May 30, 2024.

The probe report on IMD's AWS at Mungeshpur, which had recorded a maximum temperature of 52.9 deg Celsius, is yet to be finalised by the weather office.

The IMD has been deploying a large number of AWS across the country to strengthen its observational capabilities to make more accurate weather forecasts.

The IMD has deployed AWS at 15 new locations in Delhi and the NCR region, alongside the existing manual stations, in 2022.

As of January this year, more than 800 AWS have been deployed across the country for weather observations.