Weather at my fingertips

COMMUNICATION

"The outside temperature is 32 degrees celsius," says the flight attendant as your aircraft glides towards its parking bay. I don't know about you, but increasingly, I've started paying attention to that figure. Why, you may ask, isn't Indian weather just hot, hotter or hottest?

Perhaps, but of late I've been getting a little more interested in weather, temperatures and forecasts, thanks to the internet and some cool, globally-accessible weather forecasting technology. I feel a lot more empowered nowadays "� a far cry from the days you learnt about city weather conditions the next morning.

At 5 pm on Sunday evening I embarked on the exhaustive research that I usually do for my pieces. In keeping with that effort, my first stop was the Weather Channel (www.weather.com). Mumbai temperature at this hour was 31 degrees. The satellite picture on the site showed a sliver of cloud stretching diagonally across the sub-continent. The forecast said light thundershowers at 6 pm. I looked out of the window. It hadn't rained for weeks, the monsoons were firmly behind us. So thundershowers?

An hour later, as I continued my indepth research, I paused. I thought I heard the wind howling. I walked up to the window and looked out. Well, well, the branches on the lone tree on the street below were swaying. Dust was swirling around. A cold breeze had just begun to blow. I heard thunder in the distance. And lo and behold, the first drops of rain soon began to fall.

The Weather Channel was spot on. Sure, there was this cloud on the satellite image. But how does one conclude it's going to rain in an hour? Anyway, that's a subject for another well-researched piece. But how does one conclude its going to rain in an hour? Guess, that's best left to professional meteorologists unlike the amateuer one that I love being.

The point is that reasonably accurate weather is now easily accessible to all, anywhere. You can visit the Weather Channel or the Weather Underground ( www.wunderground) sites independently (there are others as well) or install a 'widget' on your computer. The power of advanced satellite imaging, forecasting technology and of course the internet combines to deliver the information to your desktop all the time. Free!

It does not matter whether your local weather station's barometer is working. Or whether even one exists. You can get hour by hour, day by day or forecasts for the next ten days - the Weather Channel says there is a 60 per cent chance of rain in Mumbai today (Tuesday) and tomorrow. Though I must add that the Weather Underground does not agree. So, its not a perfect science.

Yet, enough to tell me that right now, in Mumbai, humidity is 52 per cent, dew point is 20 degrees and wind is 17 kmph from the North West. Twilight sets in shortly. Did I hear you say what twilight? Well, civil, nautical or astronomical. Take your pick.

Yes, and I almost forgot. The temperature is exactly 31 degrees celsius.

govindraj@business-standard.com