CHENNAI: The simmering tension between the Meteorological Department officials and weather bloggers came out in the open after an official charged the enthusiasts of yearning for publicity. This prompted a prominent blogger to hit back asking the official to work for the salary he was earning.
What triggered the row was a comment by Dr S Balachandran, Deputy Director-General of Meteorology, Regional Meteorological Centre, Chennai. During an event at Queen Mary’s College in Chennai, Balachandran said people should not pay attention to the weather bloggers, who are doing it for fame.
This led to instant response from Pradeep John, popularly known as Tamil Nadu Weatherman, who defended weather bloggers stating that they do not expect anything in return and only provides interpretation to the public.
"Public should demand to conduct enquiry on IMD failure on the IMD forecasts of 2024 Cyclone Fengal and 2023 floods in South TN and make them accountable for all failures - It is our public money they get as salary (sic)."
He added, “Do your work properly for the salary you get, why engage in pointless talk?”
In the recent years, many members of the public – and the media – have given prominence to weather bloggers who give real-time information about heavy rains whereas the official updates are more structured. Also, the bloggers are more accessible, they explain how they arrive at a forecast, and most importantly, use simple language to make it easier for the people to understand. In some cases, they were more accurate than the government department.