Weather is no more for making small talk. If the epic floods of August 2018 in Kerala was a lesson, it is that weather is central to our lives and may be a matter of life and death. So much so that when a group of students at Government Higher Secondary School, Tirur, released data last week on daily rain in the area linked to extremely localised, heavy spells it made news.
It is a breakthrough that paves way for a future in which area-specific or micro-weather data will be collected through school-based weather stations to understand conditions to predict a pattern and possibly avoid crisis-like situations. These efforts are under way in around 250 schools in the State through a programme under the Samagra Shiksha Kerala under the General Education department in collaboration with the Advanced Centre for Atmospheric Radar Research, Cochin University of Science and technology (Cusat).
These weather stations are expected to be fully functional with the reopening of schools for the new academic season that coincides with the opening of the rainy season, sources said. The groundwork for running these stations is under way, including printing of data entry books. Teachers selected from the schools were familiarised with the running of the stations under the Cusat centre in October last year.
