Predictions and forecasts about the formation, progress and severity of cyclone Hudhud by Indian meteorologists is turning out close to accurate, thanks to technology and collaborative data sharing.
The continuous data, alerts and warnings issued by the India Meteorological Department, INCOIS and also the NASA have helped the State Governments of Andhra Pradesh and Orissa gear up preparations to minimise the losses, especially human, while taking steps to reduce economic losses as well.
If the Super Cyclone of Orissa of 1999 wrecked large-scale destruction, claiming 15,000 human lives and huge economic loss due to technological deficiencies, the situation dramatically changed in 2013, when the IMD and all other agencies tracked Cyclone Phailin with updated satellite, ocean and ground-based technological tools and helped in keeping the human loss to less than 100.
This time around, the Hyderabad-based Indian National Coastal, Ocean Information Systems (INCOIS) has been putting out real time data on the cyclone Hudhud giving the progress of various parameters, which are proving to be accurate with a 15 per cent margin of error.
The latest data from the INCOIS shows that the height of the waves triggered have reached 8.5 metres by 2 p.m. today against the 9.4 metres prediced by 5.30 p.m.
The Wave Rider Buoys and Automatic Weather Stations deployed in Visakhapatnam and Gopalpur by INCOIS have been getting real time sea and weather-related information.
The tracking of the significant wave height by the Wave Rider Buoy deployed off Visakhapatnam showed that the high wave conditions would continue till the end of the day. They would show a conspicous decreasing trend on Monday, but the sea state conditions will still be unsafe.
The INCOIS Automatic Weather Station onboard RVS Kaustubh, a research vessel that is currently stationed in the Visakhapatnam harbour, has registered a high value of around 177 kmph at 11.30 a.m.
There was a clear upward trend since this morning, with the peak value being nearly three times that registered in the morning hours.