Now, get AI-enabled weather forecast from IMD

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) announced the introduction of first ever Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven monsoon forecast system for the country.

It has been developed in response to increasing demand from agriculture and other sectors for highly localised and high-resolution weather forecasts.

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).

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 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.

It combines AI-based forecasting models, extended range prediction systems and statistical techniques to provide operationally useful forecasts for agricultural planning and preparedness.