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Extreme weather events, interacting with vulnerable human and natural systems, can lead to disasters, especially in absence of responsive social system. Accurate and timely monitoring and forecast of heavy rains, tropical cyclones, thunderstorms, hailstorms, cloudburst, drought, heat and cold waves, etc. are required to respond effectively to such events. Due to extreme weather events, crops over large parts of the country are adversely affected reducing production of total food grains, fodder, cash crops, vegetables and fruits which in turn affect the earnings and livelihood of individual farmers as well as the economy of the country. In situ observational network are the vital component for skilful prediction of extreme weather events. Current observational requirements for extreme weather prediction are met, to varying degrees by a range of in-situ observing systems and space-based systems. The augmentation of in-situ observational network is continuously progressing. IMD now has a network of Doppler Weather Radars (DWRs), Automatic Weather Stations (AWSs), Agro AWSs, Automatic Rain Gauges (ARGs), GPS upper air systems etc. These observations along with non-conventional (satellite) data are now being used to run its global and regional numerical prediction models on High Performance Computing Systems (HPCS). This has improved monitoring and forecasting capabilities for extreme weather events like cyclones, severe thunderstorm, heavy rainfall and floods in a significant manner. This paper provides an overview of the role of in-situ observational network for extreme weather events in India, framework for further augmentation to the network and other requirements to further enhance capabilities for high impact & extreme weather events and natural hazards.

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There is an urgent need for modernisation of aeronautical meteorological instruments considering the exponential growth of aviation industry in India.  As a part of modernization, an attempt has been made by the authors to design and develop an Integrated Automated Current Weather Instruments System (IACWIS) for the continuous monitoring of wind direction and speed, temperature and dew point at the touchdown zone of the runway. This system being digital has a lot of advantages such as vector averaging  for wind direction and  wind speed, data archival and amenable for further analysis etc. The system after successful field trials has been installed at seven international airports in the country (Bangalore, Calicut, Diu, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Nagpur and New Delhi). The system meets the operationally desirable accuracy  requirements of International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO, 2004) and vector averaging of wind data as recommended by World Meteorological Organisation (WMO, 1992). The system design capabilities and scope for expansion have been presented in this paper.