LHASA, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- A total of 490 automatic weather stations have been set up and put into operation in poverty-stricken areas across southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region.

These stations cover 685 impoverished towns, the regional meteorological bureau said Thursday, adding that the move has fundamentally changed the scarcity of ground meteorological observation stations in Tibet and strengthened meteorological disaster monitoring in poor towns.

The bureau said that by the end of 2019 all towns in the region had been covered by automatic weather stations, compared with 28.47 percent coverage rate in 2018. So far, the region's ground weather stations total 756.

"The stations have strengthened meteorological disaster prevention and reduction, as well as ecological civilization construction," said Lazhoe with the regional meteorological bureau.