The highway forecast, introduced recently by IMD on its Chennai website.
New micro forecasts on weather conditions are likely to help tourists visiting the country and those who may be stranded on the highways during their trip due to adverse weather conditions.
Chennai: New micro forecasts on weather conditions are likely to help tourists visiting the country and those who may be stranded on the highways during their trip due to adverse weather conditions. In an initiative that could help tourists in trouble and also those visiting prominent tourist spots, the government, through the Indian Meteorological Department, has begun putting out a ‘highway’ and a ‘tourism’ weather forecast providing information on the prevailing weather conditions.
Such micro weather predictions are available for people in a few developed countries and India is catching up with them, a senior Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation (TNTDC) official said. Weather and tourism forecasts for various cities are also being provided on toll free number: 1800 180 1717 through Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS). IMD has also developed a mobile App: “Indian Weather” through which initially the current weather and 4-day forecasts for 220 Indian cities are being provided. Eighty more cities have been added with Graphical User Interface (GUI) totally re-designed for better navigation.
The highway forecast, introduced recently by IMD on its Chennai website, will guide tourists cruising on the highways, while the tourism forecast is being provided for Coimbatore, Kanyakumari, Kodaikanal, Madurai and Tiruchy.
These special forecasts for pilgrim / tourist destinations will also provide warnings and information on severe weather conditions. Tamil Nadu is among the few states including Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka and the union territory of Pudducherry where these services have been introduced.
“It is not just a tourist map that will guide the tourists or pilgrims visiting our state. When their visits coincide with the monsoon they could check the IMD websites for highways and tourism forecasts,” the official said. The union tourism ministry will make sure such help was available to enhance the safety and wellbeing of the tourists visiting the country.
After the BJP stormed to power in 2014, the National Highways department has put up detailed maps of the Golden Quadrilateral: Mumbai-Chennai (NH 4, 7 and 46) spanning a distance of about 1,290 km and other vital highway routes in the state to ensure ‘safe’ travel.
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( Source : deccan chronicle )
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