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‘Met Dept’s wrong forecasts cost millions’

25 Apr 2012 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The inability of the Department of Meteorology to forecast weather accurately had cost Sri Lanka millions, said Disaster Management Minister Mahinda Amaraweera.

Mr. Amaraweera said that the Dambulla Hospital had lost equipment worth Rs 80 million due to the recent floods while the damage to the Economic Centre in the same area had been estimated at Rs 200 million.

Mr. Amaraweera said the damage caused by natural disasters, including floods, could have been avoided in the past if institutions such as the Department of Meteorology had been modernised.

Therefore, he said, the notion among Sri Lankans that one need not take an umbrella when going out if the Department of Meteorology has forecast rain had actually been correct.

He said, this situation had been taken into consideration by his ministry and it had already begun acquiring modern equipment. A Doppler radar system had been installed at Gongala Kanda in Deniyaya, he said.

A Doppler radar is specialized radar that makes use of the Doppler effect to produce velocity data about objects at a distance. It does this by beaming a microwave signal towards a desired target and listening for its reflection, then analyzing how the frequency of the returned signal has been altered by the object's motion. This variation gives a direct and highly accurate measurements of the radial component of a target's velocity relative to the radar.

The minister said the radar would become operational before the end of the year.

Through this system he said Sri Lankans could go out with an umbrella when the Met Department predicts rain and without one if it predicts good weather. (Yohan Perera)

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‘Met Dept’s wrong forecasts cost millions’

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