PUNE: “For giving real time weather updates for the largest congregation of people for Ardh Kumbh Mela which will begin from January 15 at Prayagraj, Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) has developed a mobile app, ‘Kumbhmela weather live’,” said Pandi Durai, IITM Scientist and Project Head.

Durai said, “The app has been developed with the help of Indian Meteorology Department, Pune. We installed four automatic weather stations (AWS) in Prayagraj which will give us the updates which we will feed into the app,” he said. The weather updates for 10 km area will be monitored. 

The app, which will be available after the launch on Google Play before January 14, will give updates every 15 minutes about the weather, temperature and rainfall. The AWS will be managed with the help of the local  administration. 

“Interestingly, the app and other mechanism was developed within a month-and-half after it was decided,” he said. 

“The IMD centre at Prayaraj will be monitoring it. We will be monitoring it from here,” said Durai. The updates will be given in Hindi and English. “We are also going to monitor the air quality, but it will not be made public, but it is for our research,” he said.

“Although there would not be any major weather disturbances, fog and one or two rainfall incidents are anticipated,” he said. This app would be useful for any type of disaster management.

“The mela is from January to March. The app is permanent which means it will be activated whenever such events are held across the country,” he said.