Ratanangla weather radar off for two years, forecasting in three provinces affected

A weather radar at Ratanangla, in Gurans Rural Municipality-5 on the Surkhet-Dailekh border, has been out of service for two years. The radar stopped working after it was damaged by lightning.

With the radar down, weather monitoring and disaster early-warning work has been affected in Karnali, Lumbini and Sudurpashchim provinces. The radar, equipped with modern technology, was installed at a cost of around 170 million rupees.

It had been set up with the aim of tracking weather systems forming in western Nepal and making forecasts more effective.

According to Dr Indira Kandel, chief of the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology office in Surkhet, the equipment needed to connect to the radar has already been purchased from abroad. However, the radar has not been able to resume operation because Nepal lacks technicians skilled enough to install that equipment.

She said manpower would be arranged soon to begin the work.