IMD launches two AI-enabled advanced weather forecast systems

NEW DELHI: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Tuesday launched two new services including AI-enabled monsoon advance forecasting system that will provide progress of the seasonal rainfall and "localised weather information" up to four weeks in advance to support farmers across 16 states and more than 3,000 sub-districts.The second product, on the other hand, relates to a high resolution spatial rainfall forecast for Uttar Pradesh 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 with the continuing growth of observational infrastructure.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.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 the displays installed at vegetable markets and other markets. Members of the rural self-help groups will also get this information.Launching the two forecast products, the Union minister of earth sciences, Jitendra Singh, 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 systems have been developed jointly by the IMD, Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune, and National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF).Singh said the initiative would be particularly useful for agriculture, water resources, renewable energy, urban planning, disaster management and infrastructure sectors. He noted that the farmers would now be able to make more informed decisions relating to sowing, irrigation, crop protection and harvest planning with far greater local precision. Secretary, 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 said the systems have been developed in response to increasing demand from agriculture and other sectors for "highly localized and high-resolution weather forecasts".