India’s leading weather forecasting and agriculture risk solutions company, Skymet Weather Services is proud to announce their collaboration with the weather giant, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) with an aim to enhance weather accuracy across the country.
The $1 million partnership between the two leading companies will now provide more detailed tropical weather patterns, including Monsoons, with precision and high accuracy.
The five-year agreement will empower Skymet Weather to use a customized version of the DICast® system, cutting-edge automated weather prediction technology developed at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR).
DICast uses advanced statistical techniques to blend output from different weather models with observations and statistical datasets, generating dynamically tuned predictions for specific sites that are more accurate than those based on a single model and traditional statistical approaches.
Unlike other leading weather companies in India, Skymet is backed by a vast network of automatic weather stations (AWS) as well as lightning and thunderstorm weather sensors. UCAR will now enable Skymet to incorporate their data into the DICast system, which will improve both short, medium and long-range forecasts of weather conditions. Besides this, it would also enable the forecasts to zoom in on scales of less than 1 kilometer.
DICast system will enable Skymet to capture short-lived systems or the local developments, which would help in bringing out the most accurate short-term range forecast i.e. of three days.
"We're honored to work with UCAR on this very important endeavor, which will enable us to bring the most advanced products and weather services to the people of India," said Jatin Singh, Skymet's founder and CEO. "This agreement provides us access to the best technology in the world. The forecasts that result will save lives and increase the productivity of farmers and businesses."
"This investment by Skymet is a commitment to the science enabled by UCAR and the role it plays in protecting lives and property in the United States and around the world," said UCAR President Antonio Busalacchi. “We look forward to a long-term and fruitful relationship with Skymet, producing broad benefits to the people of India.”
Thus, citizens throughout the country will be able to enjoy improved forecasts which includes tens of millions of farmers, emergency officials as well as business executives. With the help of this information, business competitiveness will strengthen while vulnerable communities will get warning of disasters including floods etc.
The University Corporation for Atmospheric Research manages the National Center for Atmospheric Research under sponsorship by the National Science Foundation.