Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science & Technology, Earth Sciences, and MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr. Jitendra Singh today launched two advanced weather forecast products developed under the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), aimed at delivering hyper-local, impact-based and AI-driven weather services across the country.
The two products launched today include, introduction of the first ever Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven system by India Metrological Department (IMD) in the form of AI-enabled “Forecast of Monsoon Advance over Different Parts of the Country” and a “High Spatial Resolution Rainfall Forecast for Uttar Pradesh” as a pilot service. The systems have been developed jointly by the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune, and National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF).
Dr. Jitendra Singh said India’s weather forecasting capabilities have witnessed a major transformation during the last decade, with technology, data integration and advanced modelling significantly improving forecast accuracy and public trust in IMD services. He said IMD has today become an integral component of governance, disaster preparedness, agriculture planning and everyday public decision-making.
The Minister said the newly launched systems mark a major shift from conventional weather forecasting towards impact-based and decision-support forecasting, capable of providing precise, location-specific and actionable information to farmers, administrators, disaster managers and citizens.
The launch event was held at Mahika Hall, Ministry of Earth Sciences, New Delhi, in the presence of Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Dr. M. Ravichandran; Director General of Meteorology, IMD, Dr. Mrutyunjay Mohapatra; Director, IITM Pune, Dr. Suryachandra Rao; senior scientists and officials from IMD, IITM and NCMRWF, along with representatives from print and electronic media.
Referring to the rapid modernization of India’s weather infrastructure, Dr. Jitendra Singh said the country had barely 16 to 17 Doppler Weather Radars nearly a decade ago, while the number has now increased to around 50, with another 50 planned under Mission Mausam. He said this expansion of observational networks, automatic weather stations, high-performance computing systems and digital dissemination platforms has substantially improved forecasting capability and early warning systems across the country.
Dr. Jitendra Singh said the AI-enabled monsoon advance forecasting system will provide probabilistic forecasts of monsoon progression every Wednesday up to four weeks in advance. The product has been designed to support farmers across 16 States and more than 3,000 sub-districts through the dissemination framework of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare. He said the system combines AI-based forecasting models, extended range prediction systems and statistical techniques to provide operationally useful forecasts for agricultural planning and preparedness.
