The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Tuesday launched two new services, including an AI-enabled monsoon advance forecasting system that will provide progress of seasonal rainfall and localized weather information up to four weeks in advance. This initiative aims to support farmers across 16 states and more than 3,000 sub-districts.
High-Resolution Rainfall Forecast for Uttar Pradesh
The second product is a high-resolution spatial rainfall forecast for Uttar Pradesh, offered as a pilot service. It demonstrates the capability of generating operational rainfall forecasts at 1-km resolution up to 10 days in advance, using dense observational networks and AI techniques. Similar services will gradually be expanded to other parts of the country as observational infrastructure continues to grow.
AI-Driven Downscaling Techniques
The pilot system uses advanced AI-driven downscaling techniques and integrates data from Automatic Rain Gauges, Automatic Weather Stations, Doppler Weather Radars, and satellite-based rainfall datasets. This integration allows for precise and localized weather predictions.
Dissemination Channels
Besides using different modes including mobile applications, SMS alerts, WhatsApp, Kisan portals, television, and other digital platforms, these hyperlocal forecast information will also be relayed through displays installed at vegetable markets and other markets. Members of rural self-help groups will also receive this information.
Shift Towards Impact-Based Forecasting
Launching the two forecast products, Union Minister of Earth Sciences Jitendra Singh stated that the newly launched systems mark a major shift from conventional weather forecasting towards impact-based and decision-support forecasting. These systems are capable of providing precise, location-specific, and actionable information to farmers, administrators, disaster managers, and citizens.
The systems have been developed jointly by the IMD, Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune, and National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF).
Benefits Across Sectors
Singh noted that the initiative would be particularly useful for agriculture, water resources, renewable energy, urban planning, disaster management, and infrastructure sectors. Farmers will now be able to make more informed decisions relating to sowing, irrigation, crop protection, and harvest planning with far greater local precision.
Secretary of the Ministry of Earth Sciences, M Ravichandran, said the newly launched products are stakeholder-driven forecasting systems developed using a combination of numerical weather prediction models and AI-based data-driven approaches. He emphasized that the systems have been developed in response to increasing demand from agriculture and other sectors for highly localized and high-resolution weather forecasts.
