Not very, going by IMD gauge in Badnapur; insurers depend on Skymet AWS
If you imagine a rain observatory as a centre with scientific equipment and team of researchers monitoring data, you are mistaken.
The writer visited a rain observatory in Badnapur town of Jalna district in Maharashtra’s Aurangabad division. This was in the terrace of the Gram Panchayat Office.
The writer was taken aback by what she saw there: A plastic beaker and next to it a small plastic can with a funnel. This was all the rain observatory about.
The beaker had a brick on each side to keep it from toppling. The plastic can alongside the beaker on the cement slab was crusted with mud, indicating it had not been cleaned for a long time; this could impact correct measurement.
It is data from such ‘observatories’ across the district that reach the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Pune, and becomes an input for various statistical records.
Gajanan Ambhore, village sarpanch who heads the Gram Panchayat, told this writer that no one regularly comes to take the reading from the rain gauge. “During the monsoon season they come and take the reading, but in other times, we have to call them and inform when it rains, otherwise they don’t come…”
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