S. R. Ramanan Biography 
S.R. Ramanan is an Indian meteorologist from Tamil Nadu. An official of the regional meteorological department has acquired celebrity status soon after his weather predictions about rains in Chennai came true in December 2015. One of the popular heroes of Tamilians, he got nicknames like Rain God, Chennai weatherman etc, and also achieved a cult hero status within a short interval of time. Meteorological department officials don't have a favourable public image when it comes to their weather predictions. But when Tamil Nadu recovered from the worst rains in a century, the state's MeT department is basking in a glow of admiration. And one MeT department official in particular has become something of a cult figure in Chennai, and he is none other than S. R. Ramanan.
After completing his master’s degree in Annamalai University, he received his PhD from the Madras University in the field of Agricultural Climatology. He joined the Meteorological Department of India in 1980. He worked as a forecaster in Delhi in the earlier years, and later worked at Aviation Meteorological Office of Chennai Airport. He became the director in the year 2002. He later joined Area Cyclone Warning Centre at the Regional Meteorological centre at Chennai, and retired as its director in 2016 soon after his ‘flood predictions’.
He had a career spanning of three decades in this field. He has been appearing on television channels since 2002 to deliver weather forecasts. He came to spotlight during Chennai floods in 2015, 7-8 months prior to his retirement. Ramanan predicted about Chennai floods in the early November, and after his warnings the state government decided to close schools and colleges for two weeks, and also postponed examinations. It helped to save the lives of thousands from the calamities of flood. "Rain Man Ramanan", "Word of Rain", "God of Students", "Mazhayin Mahathma", "Kadalora Maavata Kadavul" and "Minnalin Jannal are among the names which Tamilians fondly used to address him later. Ramanan retired in July 2016 after 36 years of service as a weatherman.
Published: N/A
Updated: July 04, 2018
