1. Tayba Buddha Tamang Meteorology/Hydromet Services Division Department of Energy Ministry of Economic Affairs South Asian Climate Outlook Forum (SASCOF-1)‏ 13-15 April 2010

2. Country Profile Location: Southern Asia, between China & India Total area: 38,394 Sq. Km Population : 691,000 National capital: Thimphu Districts: 20 (205 Gewogs/Villages) ‏ Altitude:: 100 m in the south to 7500 m to the North above msl Currency:: Ngultrum Forest Coverage: 72.5% - Policy is to ensure at least 60% for all time Agriculture : 80% Topography: The country is mostly rugged and mountainous

3. Climatic Condition in Bhutan Bhutan experience a wide range of climatic conditions, that is dominated by South western monsoon, which originates from Bay of Bengal. Generally the monsoon starts from the month of June until the first week of September.

4. 4 SOUTH EAST MONSOON (October to March)‏ NORTH WEST MONSOON (June to September)‏ BHUTAN SUMMER MONSOONWINTER MONSOON Monsoon in Bhutan Bhutan Climatic is generally dominated by monsoon winds with dry winter and wet summer monsoon

5. Monsoon Period in Bhutan JJAS

6. Climatic condition in Bhutan can be grouped in four; Sub – Tropical Zone Temperate Zone Sub Alpine Zone Alpine Zone

7. Sub – Tropical Zone Ranges 200m to 2000 meters above sea level. Winter mean temperature about 15 degree C Summer mean temperature about 28 degree C The total annual rain fall is usually above 2000mm.

8. The Temperate Zone Ranges 2000m to 3000 meters above sea level. Winter mean temperature varies from 5°C to 8°C. Summer mean temperature varies 10°C to 22°C. The total annual rain fall varies from 1500mm to 2000mm.

9. The Sub Alpine Zone Ranges 3000m to 4000 meters above sea level. Heavy Snow fall and frost in winter. The total annual rain fall varies from 1000mm to 1500mm. Annual Mean Temperature is below 8 degree C.

10. The Alpine Zone It refers to the vegetation or climatic condition found on the high lofty mountains. Temperature is below freezing point The permanent snow line starts at between 4800meters to 5000meters.

11. Brief Background of Meteorology Section Meteorological weather stations were installed in few selected locations as early as 1985, under the Ministry of Agriculture mainly to collect information for agricultural purposes. But hardly any long-term record exists and observations are not always continuous. Only in early 90's the services was transferred from Agriculture to Division of Power under Ministry of Trade & Industry. With the restructuring of the Division of Power into Bhutan Power Corporation and Department of Energy in 2002, the Meteorology Division was thus grouped under Department of Energy.

12. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Planning & Coordination Division Renewable Energy Division Hydromet Services Division Org. of Department of Energy Meteorology Section Hydrology Section Flood Warning Section

13. Responsible for: Responsible for: Establishing new meteorological stations for data collection, processing, analysis and dissemination to the end user in required excel formate. Establishing new meteorological stations for data collection, processing, analysis and dissemination to the end user in required excel formate. Technical maintenance and operation of existing meteorological network Technical maintenance and operation of existing meteorological network Maintain national meteorological database (presently using HYDATA) Maintain national meteorological database (presently using HYDATA) Short Range Weather Forecasting Short Range Weather Forecasting Installing and Data maintaining Wind Mast Installing and Data maintaining Wind Mast

14. Class A Met Station 20 (13 AWS, 7 manual)‏ (Agro meteorological Station) 2 meter Class C Met Station 74 (Manual operation)‏ (Climatological Station)‏ Wind Mast (20 meter)06 Real time connected03

15. Outputs of MM5 Run for 4-7 July 2004 Jigme Sonam Dorji No meteorological station coverage

16. Class A Station Parameters of Agro-meteorological Station: rainfall measurement maximum and minimum temperature relative humidity wind speed and direction sunshine hours solar Radiation soil temperature at various depths daily evaporation (optional) Manned Class A Station Automatic Weather Station Types of Stations

17. 74 numbers of Class C (climatological) stations are spread over the country. Parameters of Station: Rainfall Maximum Temperature Minimum Temperature Relative Humidity Class C Station Climatology Station

18. Data collection on Observation Station Data Transmission to Head Office Data Storage and Processing Analysis of Data Weather Forecasting MEDIA PUBLIC Data Acquisition Data processing InformationDissemination Data Flow Chart

19. Data Acquisition Class A Stations o AWS stations; Data stored in the data logger Downloaded in every interval of 2 -3 month Send the recorded data via mail every 15 days interval. o Manned stations; Data recorded at regular interval of time. Send the data via post every month. Class C Stations Data recorded every day at given time Data sent via post to head quarter Wind Mast (20 meter)‏ Data stored in the memory chip Downloaded in every 2-3 month interval.

20. Data Processing AWS stations Download the data from logger to computer Provide the data as requested by end users. Manned Station (Both A&C Station)‏ Receive the data from the post Data Quality Check Archive data in HYDATA software Provide the data as requested by end users

21. Short Range Weather forecasting (24hrs)was started since 2007 References for the forecasting; Climatic Data Near Real time data Meteo-gram Weather map Satellite image

22. No Professional meteorologist/climatologist No Weather Advisor No Data Analyst No Computer programmer with Met background Difficult to forecast for mountain region Resources Gaps

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