India's Highest Meteorological Centre Inaugurated At Leh

• 30 Dec 2020

• The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has set up India's highest (Located at 3,500 metres above sea level) Meteorological Centre (MC) at Leh.
• After Itanagar in Arunachal Pradesh, the Leh centre is the second MC located in the Himalayas.
• It will provide specialised weather forecasts for traffic movement on highways, agriculture, and defence personnel from its Ladakh centre.
• Even though there are only two districts, Kargil and Leh, the Union Territory has varying micro-climatic zones ranging from plains, cold desert, hills and extreme dry places. All these micro-climatic regions require specific and localised weather monitoring and information.
• The IMD will install ten Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) at key locations — Nubra and Zanskar valleys, Pangong Tso, Drass and Kargil.
• Being a seismologically active region, the scientists will also gather seismological data here.