Nashik, despite being a divisional headquarters, has only two regional weather observatories of IMD — one in the city and the other in Malegaon. Being a hub of agriculture, horticulture and food processing industries, Nashik needs better weather forecast facilities.P N Rasal, a scientist at Wheat and Barley Research Centre of Kundewadi in Niphad, said, "Nashik has to depend on the offices in Mumbai and Pune for major weather forecast, as the city has only a small departmental observatory. We need proper facilities in place, such as a separate station to issue weather warnings, rainfall and thundershower forecasts," he said."There is no doubt that Nashik should have a separate weather forecast mechanism. The region has grape and onion farmers, apart from the vegetable growers, in large numbers. A separate system for weather forecast will benefit these farmers a lot," said Raosahen Patil, director of Krishi Vidnyan Kendra (KVK) in Nashik.IMD official R B Mankar said the department is keen on developing better facilities across the region. "The IMD has decided to install automatic rain gauge (ARG) machines in every tehsil across the State. The department has already asked the district collectors to arrange 5x7 sq metre land in every tehsil for installation of ARG machines," he said. The new system will help measure the exact amount of rain received at tehsil levels.

Stay updated with all the Latest Nashik headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.