Two days back the weather forecast department (I don't call it meteorological department, sounds like something to do with meteors) announced that in the next two days Bangalore will be gripped by a cold wave with temperatures hitting all time lows. Somehow this news brought out a chuckle from me. The weather forecast in India has been horrendously off target ever since they started forecasting. True again this time, it has been sunny and warm for the last two days and there is no sign of a cold wave coming. They quickly corrected the forecast today, saying something like "When we said cold wave, we actually meant sunshine and heat"!
I wonder why is the weather forecast so unpredictable in India. I have heard argument that it is because Indians don't depend on weather predictions anyway. But I think it is in fact the other way around! We have the weather satellites (I hope we do, ISRO has been sending all those INSATs for years!), we have the computers, we have the department and people. Why do they go so wrong in forecasting weather? I have seen that in southern England, where the weather can change from pristine sunshine to heavy rains in a matter of half and hour, they do a much better job of forecasting the weather. We in India are talking about a Tsunami warning system, when we cannot predict if it is going to be sunny or raining tomorrow.
I remember watching the weather report on Doordarshan's Kannada channel a number of years back. One day it went something like this: "Rajyada uttara mattu dakshina oLanaadinalli allalli chaduridanthe maLeyaagalide. ULidanthe oNa have munduvariyalide". Gah! Weather reporters on private news channels may look more professional and glamorous now, but the weather forecast is not too better than daily horoscope. May be even worse.
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