Reporter’s Diary: Weather blogger runs into rough weather with Met officials

After being the butt of jokes for years, it hence is not surprising to find officials from the Regional Meteorological Centre here to remain guarded while announcing their forecasts. But not the weather bloggers like the most popular of them all, Pradeep John aka ‘Tamil Nadu Weatherman’. Their forecast, which many consider bold and better when compared to that by the officials, have not only earned them followers on social media but even the media houses quote them in news reports. Their popularity is evident: Pradeep John’s Twitter handle has more than 3,03,000 followers while his Facebook page has more than 6 lakh followers – and these numbers are only growing. In comparison, the Facebook page of the Indian Meteorological Department has a meagre 40,000 followers. Even worse is the case of the Regional Meteorological Centre that has only one follower, as the page is seemingly inactive. However, this popularity has also earned him brickbats from officials, who have downplayed his predictions on several occasions. In one of the media briefings, officials even charged weather bloggers of creating confusion and sparking rumours among the public. Responding to this, Pradeep John took to social media to clarify that he was not associated with any private weather station, adding that the forecasts he makes are his personal observations.