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Net Gains (Jun 09, 98) |
It did! It did!! Rain, I mean, even though the MRF prediction
was slightly off the mark (predicting that today will be the day
showers of blessings fall on us from up above). A quick search
of the Net showed that MRF seemed to be the only guys to have
gone out on a limb to predict rainday for us in India. Most other
weather related sites were smart enough to restrict their forecast
to five days in advance.
Lycos International Weather (http://weather.lycos.com/international.asp),
allows users to key in the name of a city, and it whips up a five
day forecast for the city. The only problem is that this site
gives temperatures only in Fahrenheit, while we in India follow
the metric system (of course if you're the mathematical kind,
you could always use those grey cells to calculate the Centigrade
equivalent with the formula F = C X 9/5 + 32 ). Besides the temperature,
the site tells you more about the wind, relative humidity, and
barometer readings.
Rain or Shine Weather (http://www.rainorshine.com/) gives
you a list of cities to choose from (focusing on every US state,
but a select few main international cities). Bombay was in the
list, and making that choice led to similar details as the Lycos
site. However, Rain or Shine Weather put the temperature in both
Fahrenheit and Centigrade, saving a lot of us a lot of mental
exercise.
The India Weather Page on Washington Post (http://www.weatherpost.com/navpages/citylists/nf_india.htm)
gives Net users a wider choice with 23 Indian cities listed on
their page with the day's high, low, and outlook. More detailed
information is made available through links to pages on each of
these cities. Once again, a five day forecast is available on
each of these cities. An added feature available on the India
Weather Page is detailed historical weather information available
for each city on a month to month basis - average temperature,
avg. highs and lows, highest and lowest recorded temperatures,
average wind speed, and morning and afternoon humidity. And these
figures have been charted for over 18 years too!
The only Indian site with detailed weather related information
was the Temperature and Rainfall Chart (http://www.india-travel.com/weather.htm).
As with most good things, this chart has been blindly copied and
put up on a personal homepage, with a small mention about the
source at the bottom of the page (http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/Shores/4655/weather.html).
These sites may be a source of distress to some people who are
staunch supporters of the name "Mumbai", since all these
sites, including the Indian site, refer to our city as Bombay…
And before we log out this week, we'll take a quick look at a
few tyre checks you should carry out to ensure your safety on
the roads during the monsoon (from the MRF site (http://www.mrftyres.com/)
:
- Check the tread pattern on your tyres. If it is worn down, your tyres will not provide you sufficient traction on wet roads, and are due for replacement.
- Repair all cuts and cracks on your tyres, or else water will seep into the tyre casing, and weaken the tyre.
- Ensure that your tyre rims are free from corrosion, dents and cracks. Keep the rims painted before the rains.
- Remove all stones and particles trapped in between the tread pattern.
- Check the tyre pressure regularly (the site has a tyre inflation pressure chart for various car models your reference).