IMD to complete 150 years this year, Mumbai roughly 183 having its own history

Bombay Port was the East India Companyrsquos EIC favourite onerdquo informs weather enthusiast Rajesh Kapadia ldquoThe waters are calmer and the Arabian Sea is not as choppy as the Bay of Bengal These were the primary reasons for the first observatory in India to be built in Colaba in 1823rdquo The observatory studied geomagnetism and meteorology to provide data for the Company to chart the safest sea to and from London to Bombaymdasha journey of 10998 nautical milesldquoThe EIC was concerned about goods and did not want to lose trade ships to stormsrdquo says Sunil G Kamble Director Indian Meteorological Department IMD ldquoThey were essentially trying to grow the trade lines between India and England The first observatory was much smaller than todayrsquos IMD Mumbai buildingrdquoPhotographs of the devastation post the 1948 cyclone that lead to the death of seven people PicsShadab KhanOn January 15 the IMD began its yearlong celebrations of 150 years of watching the seas Through the year meteorological headquarters across the country will archive innovate and engage with stakeholders such as fishermen and shipping and logistic operators ldquoMumbai was actually the first city to have a meteorological department in the country way back in 1841rdquo says Kapadia a Breach Candy resident ldquoso technically we are 183 years old The IMD was established only in 1875 and then set up in Madras and Calcuttamdashall important ports at the time as we were heavily dependent on sea routes for traderdquoThrough the year IMD Mumbai will collect lost archival information images stories to pour into a documentary that will be screened on January 15 2025 ldquoGetting archival information is an uphill battle but we are sifting through our library speaking to IMDs across the country and weather reading enthusiasts to make this happenrdquo says KambleSunil G Kamble shows the exact location of the Veravali Doppler radar placed in Goregaon to predict flash floods and cloud burstsThe statewide IMD staffmdash600 scientists and researchers strongmdashhas been broken into small groups across offices in Maharashtra to find historical information One find has been the seismic reading of the Quetta earthquake of 1935 on the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan The death toll was a staggering 70000 the Bhuj earthquake of 2001mdashone of the biggest in independent India claimed 13800 lives ldquoWhen the Quetta earthquake readings came in the information was passed immediately on to the Indian government so that they could anticipate the scale and gravity of devastationrdquo says senior IMD scientist Sushma NairIn November 1948 Bombay recorded the only cyclone in its history so far ldquoIt has always been difficult to predict a cyclone in Mumbai because of the seardquo says Nair ldquoIt can neither be tamed nor predicted The lowpressure winds created over water can fizzle out as they approach land or gain force and hit us like they did in 1948rdquo Photographs retrieved of the aftermath show a steamer capsized at Bombay harbour a training aircraft turned turtle at Juhu uprooted trees and houses flattened The death toll was sevenSushma Nair and Rajesh KapadiaAnd how can one forget the flak IMD received for not predicting the 267 floods in 2005 Since then many of the measuring instruments have been upgraded but the biggest one was on January 15 2023 when the first Doppler radar was placed at Veravali near Goregaon Its range extends up to 450 km and includes Karwar Parbhani Gulbarga and AhmedabadldquoThe radar helps predict cloud formations which is crucial information to predict heavy rainfall cloud bursts and flash floods For example during the 2005 floods Colaba recorded only 73 mm of rainfall while Santacruz recorded 944 mmrdquo says Kamble who was posted at Air Traffic Control at the Santacruz domestic airport at the time He had to wait there for two days until the first flight to be strandedmdashIndian Airlines Mumbai to Delhi with 144 passengers on boardmdashtook offAn archival photograph of the Regional Meteorological CentreThese days IMD Mumbai is looking into using AI to forecast the weather as well as for cloud seeding ldquoWe are currently looking at solutions for the latterrdquo says Nair ldquoOne suggestion is to paint the underbellies airplanes with Sulphur Bromide which helps in water precipitation and therefore the formation of cloudsleading to rainrdquoAs we step out into Navy Nagar where the office is located the scent of the Arabian sea lingers in the air Wersquore told we are close to our islandrsquos edge a mere 900 m away the 4km stretch of Prong Reef lighthouse marks where land ends and the unpredictable begins13800No of lives the Quetta earthquake of 1935 claimed