Regional Meteorological Centre, Chennai is one of the six regional meteorological centres (RMCs) of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) and is responsible for the weather-related activities of the southern Indian peninsula comprising the states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and the union territories of Andaman and Nicobar, Lakshadweep Islands and Puducherry. The other regional centres are located at Kolkata, Guwahati, Mumbai, Nagpur and New Delhi. Established in the later part of the 18th century, the Chennai meteorological centre is considered one of the first modern astronomical-cum-meteorological observatory in the East beyond Europe, way before the establishment of the Indian Meteorological Department in 1875. it was Established by William Petrie at Madras.
History
Systematic meteorological observations in Chennai started much earlier than the actual establishment of the India Meteorological Department in 1875. The city is home to one of the first modern astronomical and meteorological observatory in the East, established at Egmore before 1792. The Madras Observatory, as it was known then, was established by Sir Charles Oakeley, the then Governor of Madras under the East India Company, in 1792 "for promoting the knowledge of Astronomy, Geography and Navigation in India", marking the beginning of the history of Regional Meteorological Centre, Chennai. Oakeley was supported by William Petrie, a member of the Madras Government, who had built an astronomical observatory at his own expense 5 years earlier in 1786. The primary purpose of the observatory was to spread astronomy among the masses, rather than weather observation. For over a century, it was the only astronomical observatory in India that exclusively worked on the stars. Among the astronomers at the observatory were Norman Robert Pogson, Michael Topping and John Goldingham. By 1899, it had been relegated to gathering weather-related data. The 15-feet tall granite pillar monument weighing 10 tons, which carried the original transit equipment, is still preserved and carries the name of the architect, Michael Topping Arch, and the year AD MDCCXCII. Inscriptions in Tamil and Telugu were carved on the pillar in order that "posterity may be informed a thousand years hence of the period when the mathematical sciences were first planted by British liberality in Asia". J. Goldingham, FRS, became the first astronomer of the observatory, who started recording the meteorological observations in 1796. In 1840, Captain S. O. E. Ludlow began recording meteorological observations on an hourly basis. In 1855, William Stephen Jacob of the East India Observatory in Madras found orbital anomalies in the binary star 70 Ophiuchi that he claimed are evidence of an extrasolar planet—the first exoplanet false alarm. The "discovery" began a 140-year period of other exoplanet discovery false alarms, although no actual planets were discovered. From 1861, N. R. Pogson held the post of astronomer of the observatory for 30 years. He also held the post of meteorological reporter to the Madras government for many years, who was assisted in his work by his wife and daughter. In 1875, the India Meteorological Department, also known as the Met Office, was established at New Delhi, which is the chief body of national meteorological service in India and is the principal government agency in all matters relating to meteorology, seismology and allied subjects. The same year, daily weather reports started coming out at the Madras observatory. When the observatory moved to Kodaikanal, astronomical observations ceased at the Madras observatory, which was then used only for weather forecast. In 1899, R. L. Jones, a professor of physics at the Madras Presidency College, was appointed as part-time meteorologist of the observatory. The post was abolished in 1926 and a full-time assistant meteorologist was appointed. The observatory, which was issuing the Madras Daily Weather Report since October 1893 and supplying the time signal throughout the Indian Telegraph system, was reduced to the status of an ordinary pilot balloon observatory in 1931. The Regional Meteorological Centre at Chennai was established on 1 April 1945 under a deputy director general of the India Meteorological Department to supervise and co-ordinate meteorological services in the Southern region of India, which covers the states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Union Territories of Puducherry and Lakshadweep. With the formation of the Regional Meteorological Centre, the storm-warning work for the seaports on the east coast of India from Kalingapatnam southwards was transferred to Chennai's Meenambakkam centre in 1945. The meteorological activities were bifurcated into marine and aviation for efficient functioning of the storm-warning services and separate storm-warning centre was established at Nungambakkam in 1969. The responsibility of storm-warning task for the ports on the west coast of India from Karwar southwards too was transferred from Mumbai to Chennai in 1969.
Functions The Regional Meteorological Centre, Chennai is located at 50 (New No. 6) College Road, Nungambakkam, between Good Shepherd School and Women's Christian College. The three meteorological centres in South India function at Hyderabad, Bangalore and Thiruvananthapuram serving the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Kerala, respectively, under the technical and administrative control of the Regional Meteorological Centre, Chennai. With the establishment of the additional cyclone-warning centres at Bhubaneshwar and Visakhapatnam, the storm-warning centres at Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai were named as Area Cyclone-Warning Centres (ACWC) and the storm-warning centres at Visakhapatnam, Bhubaneshwar and Ahmedabad as Cyclone-Warning Centres (CWC). CWCs at Visakhapatnam, Bhubaneshwar and Ahmedabad function under the control of the ACWCs at Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai, respectively. The ACWC supervises and coordinates the non-aviation forecasting work at the meteorological centres functioning under it.
Aviation Data from the Chennai Doppler weather radar is currently being used by the Chennai airport. The aviation weather forecasting activities, which are required by pilots and airport authorities, are controlled and coordinated by the Aerodrome Meteorological Office at Chennai Airport in Meenambakkam.
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