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This 20-year-old Kashmiri is famous for weather forecasting

Last Updated on May 3, 2021 at 5:33 pm

20-year-old Faizan Arif is a nerd for weather forecasting. When boys of his age would only indulge in gaming, he finds peace in a completely different thing.

Faizan’s interest started growing in weather when at the age of 8 he would wonder why and how it rains and snows. He would ask his parents why thunder and lightning take place. Around a decade later, his ability to analyse weather data and predict weather on its basis has gained him fame. Today he is followed by a former Chief Minister on social media.

Faizan lives in Nawa Kadal in downtown Srinagar and is a first-year student of BSc Physics Honours at Amity University in Lucknow. His endeavour started with a curiosity to understand the basis on which weather app accuweather works. Now, he works on 15 weather models to forecast weather.

Faizan has got quite an audience on social media. He runs a Twitter handle by the name of “Kashmir Weather” and 55,000 people follow him on Instagram. Faizan tries not to get overexcited by fame and remain focused on his work.

In order to improve his work, he regularly visits the India Meteorological Department office in Srinagar. He is researching with the help of senior officials on functioning of El-Nino and La-Nina, the warm phase and cool phase of the Pacific ocean and how it impacts weather in Jammu and Kashmir throughout the year.

When he has to forecast weather for upcoming 8 or 10 days, he verifies information twice in order to minimize chances of any error. Faizan wishes to pursue an MSc in Meteorology once his graduation is over.

Faizan says that Pune-based National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF) is very useful for meteorological studies. It is a research institute working under the aegis of Ministry of Earth Sciences and is created for numerical weather predictions.

Faizan believes that he is lucky because his parents and especially his father who is a pharmacist always supported him. His parents have always encouraged him to follow his passion. His whole life revolves around meteorology.

He wishes to bring a positive change in society with his weather forecasts. He wants common people like farmers, transporters and every single Kashmiri to benefit from his weather forecasts.