The maximum daytime temperature recorded in Mysuru by various agencies on Sunday showed huge variations from each other.
So much so that the maximum temperature recorded at the weather observatory at the University of Agricultural Sciences’ (UAS) Organic Farming Research Station at Nagenahalli near here was seven degrees less than the temperature recorded by the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC).
What is more, the temperature recorded by the weather station at the Central Sericultural Research and Training Institute (CSR&TI), which provides data to the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), too was different from both these readings.
So how did this happen? B. Puttanna, retired director of IMD, Bengaluru, told The Hindu that the instruments used for recording temperature have to be calibrated by IMD if the reading is to be considered correct. “Most agencies, including government-run ones, do not have their instruments inspected and calibrated by IMD experts If the instruments are not in proper condition, they do not show correct readings,” he said. He dismissed the KSNDMC instruments as not calibrated by IMD.
However, KSNDMC director Srinivas Reddy said their instruments are state-of-the-art automatic weather sensors that record temperature and share the readings in real time. “We record temperature every 15 minutes,” he said.
When asked about the difference in readings, Dr. Reddy said the centre deploys instruments for recording temperature and rainfall in every hobli of the district, unlike other agencies which have one station or so in every district. “We consider the highest recording from among all the instruments in the entire district as the maximum temperature,” he said.
He also claimed that IMD, which barely has stations in 12 to 13 districts in the State, relies on instruments belonging to other agencies. “For instance, in the Cauvery region, IMD has only 60 stations while KSNDMC has 1,418 stations,” Dr. Reddy said.
Max temperature in Mysuru (Feb. 21)
31.6 degrees Celsius: Observatory, Organic Farming Research Station, Nagenahalli
34.8 degrees Celsius: CSR&TI (Indian Meteorological Department)
38.9 degrees Celsius: Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre
