Chennai weather watchers

Chennai: If you think it is just rain lovers or farmers who are keen on weather updates, you could not be more wrong.  With rains round the corner, weathermen admit to receiving innumerable calls from housewives and students, who would not want the rain to play spoilsport to their plans.

According to weather bloggers, Chennai is seeing a large number of weather enthusiasts courtesy the academic importance generated in educational institutions, particularly after the catastrophic December deluge of last year.

Weather blogger, Pradeep John said, “Calls from housewives and youngsters increase, especially on weekends. Before making any plans, they call to ensure that they will not be disturbed by the rains.”

Be it explaining the complex terms or teaching about various parameters, city bloggers go out of their way to trigger interest among the general public.  

“Rather than merely giving updates, I help them understand the weather pattern, which helps develop greater interest among many. After all, weather forecasting is a combination of self interest and a basic knowledge on meteorology,” John told DC. Echoing the same, Kea weather blogger, S. Bhaskaran said he sends updates by translating the weather terms.

“People are more sensitised about weather patterns after December floods. Credit should be given to prominent people like S.R. Ramanan, who has educated students in educational institutions,” said Bhaskaran.

Many things have changed on weather front. But what remains constant is the curious housewives, who want to know about the rains to dry out clothes, chuckled P. Senthil Kumar, a blogger. Besides farmers, he has been receiving calls from industrialists of Tirupur dying units and manufacturers from Salem.

B. Sai Praneeth, an engineering student from Coimbatore turned weather blogger told DC that news articles about weather fascinated him. “I started browsing various models including Global forecast system and India Meteorological Department to understand weather,” he said.