Defence Secretary praises Met Dept. for accurate weather forecast than earlier
June 29, 2020The Meteorology Department is to get new equipment, analytical software and systems for accurate weather forecasts soon, Defence Secretary Maj. Gen. (Retd) Kamal Gunaratne said.
The Defence Secretary, who paid a visit to the department this morning (June 29), praised the officials for providing more accurate weather forecasts in the recent past despite limitations in the resources.
This is his first visit to the department, which comes under the purview of the Defence Ministry, since taking office and he was received by the acting Director General A. K Karunanayake.
He said existing departmental disparities and discrepancies related to promotions and salary increments would also be sorted soon.
Systematic meteorological observations in Sri Lanka dates back to 1867, under the Survey Department. Subsequently, since 1909 this was continued by the Colombo Observatory.
In 1948, the department was first established with the main objective of providing weather and climate services. It consists of five key divisions and 23 sub-divisions.
