A webinar on “Challenges in predicting severe weather over the Himalayas” by Professor Someshwar Das was organized on 17th June 2021. The program was jointly organized by The Small Earth Nepal (SEN) with the Central Department of Hydrology and Meteorology (CDHM) and the South Asian Meteorological Association (SAMA). The webinar hosted more than 100 participants from over 6 countries. It was the 12th in the series of webinars hosted by CDHM.
During the webinar, Prof. Das explained the fundamentals on how to represent the Himalayas in numerical models, challenges in collecting observations over the mountains, their quality control, convective scale data assimilation, ensemble forecasting, and challenges in modeling & prediction of severe weather events. Prof. Das also mentioned the recent Melamchi flood in Nepal and stressed expanding the network of Automatic Weather Stations (AWSs) for the better prediction of severe weather events. Discussions were also held on an Integrated Himalayan Meteorology Programme, the Himalayan Experiment (HIMEX), and a conceptual Cloudburst and Mountain Meteorology Research Testbed. The recording of the webinar can be view on YouTube (link: https://youtu.be/a2tIxF9yr8I).
Prof. Das is currently the convener of SAMA. He is a former Professor at the Department of Atmospheric Science, Central University of Rajasthan. He also worked as a scientist-G at National Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting and India Meteorological Department, New Delhi, USRA Research Scientist at NASA/ Goddard Space Flight Center, Maryland, USA, and head of Theoretical Division at the SAARC Meteorological Research Centre (SMRC), Bangladesh. He completed his Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, and published more than 170 papers including 52 peer-reviewed journals.
The program was chaired by Professor Deepak Aryal, Head, CDHM, and the discussion was moderated by Dr. Dhiraj Pradhananga, President of The Small Earth Nepal. The chief guest of the program was AVM (Retd.) Prof. Ajit Tyagi Chairman, SAMA and Former Director General, India Meteorological Department, and the other commentators were Dr. Samarendra Karmakar, Former Director, Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD), Dr. Madan Lall Shrestha, Academician, Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST)
