Mumbai rains: How this law student turns into a weatherman to share live weather updates

Rushikesh Agre started posting regular weather updates in June 2019. Photo Courtesy: Rushikesh Agre

Mumbai witnessed heavy downpour on Wednesday this week bringing the city to a standstill once again as roadways and the city's railway network was affected. It has only got worse since. The monsoon season has been erratic this year for the city, which saw a slump in August and has now returned this week, but for how long? The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has been sharing regular live updates, but the city also boasts of a citizen weatherman helping people in times of need. Rushikesh Agre, popularly known as Mumbai Rains, shares live updates on his social media accounts @rushikesh_agre_ on X (formerly Twitter) and @india_weatherman on Instagram.

As we speak, Agre has put as many as 10 updates in the last 24 hours on Instagram to inform people about Mumbai's current weather. The Mumbaikar has predicted ‘High Alert in Mumbai city and suburbs between 3 to 5 pm, and that major waterlogging is likely' for this evening. The update is also supported with technical information that is broken down by him. It is not difficult but in fact easy to understand along with weather diagrams. While the accuracy of the updates may depend from time to time, the Mumbaikar has been consistently doing this since 2019 for the love of the weather. He has now amassed over 70,000 followers on Twitter, and over 8167 followers on Instagram - all of whom depend on him daily for Mumbai rain updates, especially when the situation gets worse like it has in this week.

With more people depending on him, mid-day.com spoke to Rushikesh Agre to know more about what inspires him to be Mumbai's weatherman. Interestingly, the 21-year-old is law student with a love for meteorology, and is armed with a course from Harvard University, that has not only made him a local celebrity but also around the world.

Here are edited excerpts from the interview:

What inspired you to take up tracking Mumbai's weather and since when have you been doing it?
Forecasting Mumbai's weather, the financial hub of India, has always been a source of pride. Notorious for its unpredictable rains, Mumbai often leaves its residents uninformed about live updates. Thus, looking at these things, I started my journey in weather forecasting. Since June 2019, I have dedicated myself to studying weather patterns and providing daily updates, with a particular focus on the Mumbai-Pune stretch for the last five years.

How did you start tracking Mumbai's weather? What are the methods you use?
Initially, I started checking various weather radars and models and from their map analysis and after getting more comfortable in this field, I started developing my experience and interpret the weather alerting Mumbai people. I believe IMD Doppler Radar and IMD-GFS models are pretty accurate tools for the Indian subcontinent, to track live weather and how the weather will be ahead.

Along with IMD forecast, I look on other platforms too just for a backup, if majority of the models show the same result, then it becomes easy for us to give more proximate estimation, quite faster and more accurate compared to them.

At a time when India has the Indian Meteorological Department, what role do you think independent weathermen like you play generally as well as online?
As IMD gives long term alerts, and few nowcast warnings, we as individual weathermen are more useful for the people for tracking live weather and thus, we become a bridge between IMD and citizens, as declaring alert from them takes time for few conditions to get fulfilled, but we give alerts suburb-wise as well looking at the live weather which makes it more efficient for people. But lastly, we rely on the information, from IMD based models only.

What has been the most fascinating aspect of doing this? What have you learned in the process?
It is important to have patience in this field. The fascinating part is I learn new geography concepts along with live happenings of the event, as I have a solid interest in geography and studying maps. I just recall myself, estimate the projection of the weather for a day, get it right and the satisfaction you get is just amazing. You don't leave this hobby once you get a streak of wins, same story as a cricketer.

What are the challenges you face while doing a job like tracking the weather?
Every day is a different day and a different challenge in the life of a weatherman. While forecasting the weather, various parameters have to be checked before posting or issuing an alert, sometimes the projection looks uncertain about how the weather would be, and you still have to wait for a lot of time, always checking with updates and models showing different trajectories especially while tracking cyclone, to get to an answer takes a lot of effort. At such time you just have to look at the history of the happenings, and along with that you can project your estimation, looking at the factors from time to time, which I do.

How would you say has Mumbai and India's weather changed since you started tracking it?
Well, I have been observing climate change is making the weather more unpredictable not only for Mumbai, but all over India. This summer we saw how Delhi got 40 degrees Celsius days almost for a month and a few days back Delhi got floods in the same month, On the west coast as well, heavy downpours begin in Mumbai in no time and the rest of the few days in monsoon remain dry, we all know about July 26 floods, such weather is getting more uncomfortable for all of us.

Do you believe such weather updates help more during the monsoon than any time of the year?
Yes, of course. Monsoon is a prime time for a weatherman, be it 3 pm or 3 am, you have to keep a watch on the weather, as we all have seen many times subways getting flooded due to rains every year. If all of us can be alerted before happening of the event, people can be ready and aware of the weather changes and can plan accordingly saving their precious time and lives.

Do you have a day job? If yes, how do you manage it with this? Would you call it a hobby?
I am a law student, pursuing BLS LLB in Government Law College, Mumbai and pursued Meteorology course from Harvard University. Forecasting the weather is still a hobby for me.

I start the day with studying radars and post the morning tweets so all of us get prepared for the office hours, along with me. Haha. Whenever I get free, I primarily look at weather warnings and if no warnings are there, the day remains free unlike other days where you have to stay awake overnight looking at the weather models and radars.

In the time that you have been sharing these updates online, what is the kind of reaction you have got from people?
It is a pleasure serving the city of more than 2 crore people with live weather updates. I have always got appreciated by my people from time to time and also few social media influencers, especially Abhi and Niyu, and the legendary film director Vivek Agnihotri, which motivates me to go ahead with sharing more weather updates and alerting people.

Lastly, do you have a memory where you think you may have helped make a difference?
It just happened two months ago on May 13, when Mumbai witnessed a severe dust storm where I was the only person who alerted all Mumbaikars before the arrival of the dust storm, by giving warnings 1 hour before. As it came true, I got a lot of media recognition as it saved a lot of lives, my expert quotes from news media got shared and went viral all over European and North American media channels which made a huge difference. This was one of the most memorable moments in my life.