8-Dec-2022: Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh says, India Meteorological Department (IMD) has introduced seamless forecasting system since 2021 monsoon season and currently the forecasts are issued for a season to a month, a fortnight, a week and a few days in advance

Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh said that India Meteorological Department (IMD) has introduced the seamless forecasting system since 2021 monsoon season and currently the forecasts are issued for a season to a month, a fortnight, a week and a few days in advance.

In a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today, Dr. Jitendra Singh said that the IMD issues Seasonal forecast for monsoon season in two stages, on 15 April and 1 June. It also issues forecast for every month, on the first day of the month or the last day of the previous month. It issues forecast in the Extended range every Thursday valid for next fortnight, Short to medium range, daily valid upto seven days for meteorological subdivisions, districts and blocks, and nowcast valid upto three hours at district & station level. The monthly & seasonal forecasts are being issued for the different regions of the country in the terms of spatial distribution of rainfall, temperature probability, rather than limiting to a single value/category of rainfall for the entire country as a whole.

3-Jun-2022: POSOCO signs MoU with IMD for better electricity grid management

National grid operator POSOCO signed a memorandum of understanding with India Meteorological Department (IMD) today where both the parties agreed that weather information provided by IMD will be used by the Power System Operators across the India for better management of Indian Power System and for the purpose of analysis.

The MoU was signed by Sh. S. R. Narasimhan, Chairman and Managing Director (CMD), POSOCO and Dr. Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, Director General (DG), IMD at NRLDC, POSOCO office. The meeting was attended by other senior officials from both sides.

IMD will make available current weather information every hour or at lesser intervals. It will provide weather forecasts of temperature, humidity, wind speed, wind direction, rainfall up to next 36 hours for the identified stations. It will also provide the snowfall forecast of hilly States and also along the route of important transmission lines passing through hilly terrains. It will provide weather parameters forecast at Renewable Energy plant locations.

The last MoU between POSOCO and IMD was signed on 18 May 2015.

Power System Operation Corporation is a wholly owned Government of India Schedule A enterprise under the Union Ministry of Power. It is responsible to ensure the integrated operation of the National Electricity Grid in a secure manner. It consists of five Regional Load Despatch Centres (RLDCs) and the National Load Despatch Centre (NLDC) under The Electricity Act, 2003.

8-Dec-2021: Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh says, IMD is continuously working on improving operational forecasting models for various weather and climate extreme events to help farmers and others

Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh said that India Meteorological Department (IMD) is continuously working on improving operational forecasting models for various weather and climate extreme events to help farmers and others.

In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha today, the Minister said, the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) had launched an ambitious and well-resourced research programme on mission mode, called the Monsoon Mission. The first phase of the mission was implemented during 2012-2017 and the second phase (2017-22) is underway.

Dr. Jitendra Singh said that India has augmented its capability of High-Performance Computing (HPC) system, which is close to 10 petaflops capacity now and it is the backbone of the monsoon research and operational services in the country. He said, India has the fourth best computing facilities in the world for weather and climate services and the Monsoon Mission has helped in the significant improvement of monsoon forecasts in all time scales, right from short-range to seasonal.

The Minister informed that India is now proud of having one of the best prediction system for generating real time forecasts and warnings in all spatial scales from a location to Block, district, meteorological subdivisions and homogeneous regions and temporal scales of a few hours (nowcast), 3 days (short range forecast), 4-7 days (medium range forecast) 1-4 weeks (extended range forecast) and one month to a season (long range forecast).

Dr Jitendra Singh said, IMD is issuing Impact Based Forecast (IBF) which give details of what the weather will do rather than what the weather will be. It contains the details of impacts expected from the severe weather elements and guidelines to general public about do's and don'ts while getting exposed to severe weather conditions like cyclone, heat wave, thunderstorm and heavy rainfall. IMD also runs an operational Agrometeorological Advisory Services (AAS) viz., Gramin Krishi Mausam Sewa (GKMS) scheme for the benefit of farming community in the country.

5-Sep-2021: Dr Jitendra Singh inaugurates Doppler Weather Radar & Indigenous GPS based Pilot Sonde at IMD

Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh today inaugurated the latest upgraded state-of-the-art Doppler Weather Radar (DWR) & Indigenous GPS based Pilot Sonde at Indian Meteorological Office in Jammu, and said, like other parts of the country, Jammu has become a part of India's giant scientific leaps under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In addition to DWR system installed today, Dr Jitendra Singh referred to several new scientific establishments set up in the region during the last few years under the Modi government which included North India's first Biotech Industrial Park at Kathua, North India's first Space/ISRO Centre at Central University, India's lavender led Purple Revolution and first Cannabis Medicinal Plant launched by IIIM Jammu, the first -ever National Institute of High Altitude Medicine at Bhaderwah, the first- ever Mega -quintal Seed Processing Plant at Kathua, latest Weather forecast instrument installed at Sanjhi Chhat for convenience of Vaishno Devi pilgrims, high altitude Radio Relay Station at Patnitop, etc. and said, these are all monuments of New Jammu.

The Minister appealed to media persons to kindly spare a few moments to cover these monuments also so that the information could reach the stakeholders who include students, Start-Ups, self - livelihood seekers, farmers, travellers and the common citizen who would find Ease of Living from these hi-tech facilities. He reminded that even the media is a stakeholder because the media telecast today heavily depended on modern tools of technology like Satellite communication. There are also huge career prospects and employment avenues for youth in Space Technology, Aroma farming, Atomic Energy, Meteorology etc. which they can avail only if they are informed about these developments through different mediums, he added.

Dr. Jitendra Singh said, the X-Band Doppler Weather Radar installed today will help in providing real-time monitoring and reporting of weather events affecting Jammu region and will be helpful in providing weather forecasts in different sectors including agriculture and tourism forecast especially for the pilgrims of Mata Vaishno Devi.

Besides providing real-time monitoring, the X-Band Doppler Weather Radar stationed at Jammu will provide improved weather services to the people of J&K and an input to numerical weather prediction models for generating better weather forecasts, the Minister added.

Dr. M Mohapatra, DG Meteorology, IMD, Alok Kumar, Principal Secretary, Science & Technology, UT of J&K, Raghav Langar, Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, Charan Singh, Head, Regional Meteorological Centre, Delhi and K.C. Saikrishnan, Head Upper Instruments Division, IMD were also present during the inauguration.

Referring to Prime Minister’s revolutionary decision to "unlock" India’s Space Technology and other sectors to private players for the first time after independence, Dr Jitendra Singh said that this will not only bring ‘ease of living’ for people and ‘ease of environment’ for private players but will boost the scientific innovative environment in the country. The Minister further said, while India began its Space journey much late, but today the country has been in a position to provide inputs from Mangalyaan and Chandrayaan to the premier space institutions of the world like the NASA of USA.

Acknowledging contribution of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for these giant scientific leaps from the last 7 years, Dr. Jitendra Singh said that the PM gives highest priority to scientific developments by providing highest budgetary allocations to the Ministry and Departments of Science and has removed the taboos which have been the impediments to the development of science and technology in the country.

Dr Jitendra Singh said, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has accorded highest priority to clean and green energy and accordingly announced Hydrogen Mission a fortnight ago during the 75th Independence Day Speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort.

Referring to the making of first DNA based Covid19 vaccine in the country, Dr. Jitendra Singh said that India granted use authorization to the world’s first and India’s indigenously developed DNA-based vaccine for COVID-19 which is a great milestone achieved by the Translational Health Science and Technology Institute (THSTI), Faridabad.

Dr Jitendra Singh further said that India today is the "Cue Master" in science to the rest of the world as the quality of our scientific human resource is far more superior and many scientific advanced nations are taking cues from India as being advanced in many areas of science today.

Praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi for encouraging application of science in developmental activities, Dr. Jitendra Singh said that it is the result of this that science today has virtually entered every sector and every household in India in one form or the other be that the digital technology, information technology in the form of e-offices, online education etc. which is an indication now that hereafter the entire growth will be science based, technology based.

On the Meteorological Development in India, Dr. Jitendra Singh said that since only 2014, 12 Doppler Weather Radars have been installed across the country under PM Narendra Modi, before that only 15 weather radars have been installed which indicates that more emphasis now is laid on technological development.

Prior to mention that the IMD office at Jammu is the nodal meteorological observatory equipped with all the latest meteorological instruments, radiation instruments and seismological instruments.

3-Aug-2021: Agromet advisories help farmers to take decision on day-to-day agricultural operations

Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh today said that India Meteorological Department (IMD) has undertaken installation of Agro-Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) to provide exact weather forecast to the people, especially the farmers. In a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha today, he said, the installation was done at District Agromet Units (DAMUs) located in the Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) under Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) network. The Minister said, Agro-AWS is being installed at 200 DAMUs to augment block level Agromet Advisory Services (AAS) under Gramin Krishi Mausam Sewa (GKMS) scheme.

Weather-based operational AAS viz. GKMS scheme, rendered by IMD jointly with Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and State Agricultural Universities, is a step towards weather-based crop and livestock management strategies and operations for the benefit of farming community in the country. Under the scheme, medium range weather forecast at district and block level is generated and based on the forecast, Agromet Advisories are prepared and communicated by the Agromet Field Units (AMFUs) co-located with State Agricultural Universities, and DAMUs at KVKs to the farmers on every Tuesday and Friday.

These Agromet advisories help farmers to take decision on day-to-day agricultural operations, which can further optimize the application of input resources at farm level during deficient rainfall situation and extreme weather events to reduce monetary loss and maximize crop yield.

IMD also monitors rainfall situation & weather aberrations and issues alerts & warnings to the farmers from time to time under GKMS scheme. SMS-based alerts and warning for extreme weather events along with suitable remedial measures are issued to take timely operations by the farmers. Such alerts and warnings are also shared with State Department of Agriculture for the effective management of calamity.

Agromet Advisories are communicated to the farmers through multichannel dissemination system like print and electronic media, Door Darshan, radio, internet etc. including SMS using mobile phones through Kisan Portal launched by Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare and also through private companies under Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode. At present, 43.37 million farmers in the country receive the Agromet Advisories through SMS directly. KVKs of ICAR have also given link to the respective district level advisory in their web portal.

A mobile App viz., ‘Meghdoot’ has also been launched by Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India, to help the farmers to get the weather information including alerts and related Agromet advisories specific to their districts.

30-Jul-2021: IMD has been continuously improving weather prediction services in terms of accuracy, lead time and associated impact

Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh today said that India Meteorological Department (IMD) is effectively functioning in the country maintaining accurate weather forecasting services along with monitoring services for early detection of natural disasters. In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, he said, during the past few years, IMD has been continuously improving weather prediction services in terms of accuracy, lead time and associated impact.

The Minister informed the Lok Sabha that IMD has taken various initiatives in recent years for improvement in dissemination of weather forecast and warning services based on latest tools and technologies. In 2020, IMD has launched seven of its services (Current Weather, Nowcast, City Forecast, Rainfall Information, Tourism Forecast, Warnings and Cyclone) with ‘UMANG’ mobile App for use by public.

Moreover, in 2020, IMD had developed mobile App ‘MAUSAM’ for weather forecasting, ‘Meghdoot’ for Agromet advisory dissemination and ‘Damini’ for lightning alert.

From November 2020 onwards, IMD started issuing a special bulletin related to winter weather systems (All India Multi-hazard Winter Warning Bulletin) which provide the details of colour coded warning for five days for the adverse weather elements, along with present weather scenario related to cold wave, cold day etc.

In the present scenario, India is second to none, in early warning services as well as in managing the disasters associated with Cyclones. India Meteorological Department has demonstrated its capability to provide early warning for Cyclones with high precision. With the help of such early warnings, the Government is able to mobilise evacuation operations in a timely manner, thereby saving lives & livelihood. The cyclone forecast accuracy has significantly improved in recent years as has been demonstrated during cyclones Phailin (2013), Hudhud (2014), Vardah (2016), Titli (2018), Fani & Bulbul (2019), Amphan, Nisarga & Nivar (2020) and Tauktae & Yaas (2021). During recent years, the loss of life has been drastically reduced being limited to double digit figure in the recent years.

Further, the Government of India has initiated the National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project (NCRMP) with a view to address cyclone risks in the country. The overall objective of the Project is to undertake suitable structural and non-structural measures to mitigate the effects of cyclones in the coastal states and UTs of India.

IMD issues forecast & warnings for the weather elements for five days with an outlook for another two days as per usual practice. From National Weather Forecasting Centre (NWFC), IMD forecasts are given in sub-divisional scale whereas the Regional Weather Forecasting Centre (RWFC) and State Weather Forecasting Centre (SWFC) issue forecast and warning in district level and station level. Though the flood and drought warning are not the responsibilities of IMD, flood warning services of Central Water Commission (CWC) is supported by IMD, by providing observed and predicted rainfall.

15-Mar-2021: Automatic Weather Stations in North-Eastern States

India Meteorological Department (IMD) has installed modern Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) in North Eastern States of India.

In order to enhance the Weather & Climate services of the NE region, an activity namely, ‘Integrated Meteorological Services for the North-East (NE) region’ has been initiated by the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) under the Central Sector scheme Atmosphere & Climate Research-Modeling Observing Systems & Services (ACROSS). Under the activity, entire observational network in the NE region will be augmented to improve the weather & forecasting skills over the region by commissioning of state of art systems like 8 X-Band Doppler Weather Radars, GPS sonde systems, Snow Gauges, and augmentation of Automatic Weather Stations, Automatic Rain Gauges etc. This will include setting of observational network required for meeting aviation & other requirements through commissioning of Automated Weather Observing System/Heliport Automated Weather Observing System (AWOS/HAWOS), setting up/upgradation of Meteorological Centres (MCs) and other facilities over the region.

Augmentation of the observational network will help fill the data gap areas in the region, leading to better accuracy of forecasts and consequent precision in Climate monitoring, analysis and climate prediction.

15-Jan-2021: India Meteorological Department (IMD) celebrates its 146th Foundation Day

India Meteorological Department (IMD) today celebrated its 146th Foundation Day. IMD is one of the oldest, scientific service organizations in the country, in existence well before Independence. Union Minister of Science & Technology, Earth Sciences and Health & Family Welfare, Dr. Harsh Vardhan; Secretary, MoES, Dr. M. Rajeevan; Director General, IMD, Dr Mrutyunjay Mohapatra; Joint Secretary, MoES,  Dr. Vipin Chandra; Shri Anand Sharma, Head / Sc-G, Chairman, Organising Committee and several officials of MoES and IMD were present on the occasion while  Chief Minister Government of Uttarakhand, Shri Trivendra Singh Rawat; Chief Minister Government of Himachal Pradesh, Shri Jai Ram Thakur and former DGs of IMD joined through virtual platform.

On the occasion, Dr. Harsh Vardhan inaugurated Doppler Weather Radars at Mukteshwar, Uttarakhand and Kufri, Himachal Pradesh; Multi-Mission Meteorological Data Receiving and Processing System in IMD in collaboration with ISRO (MMDRPS) and released Report on Cyclone disturbances during 2020; Hindi Patrika – ‘Mausam Manjusha’; Official e-launched “Online Web Portal of IMD Journal MAUSAM” in collaboration with CSIR-NISCAIR  (http://mausamjournal.imd.gov.in/index.php/MAUSAM/about/submissions); and released a special issue of Mausam on Tropical Cyclone.

Conveying his greetings to all the officers and staff of IMD & the Ministry of Earth Sciences and entire meteorological community, Dr. Harsh Vardhan said, “IMD has been playing a significant role in protecting lives and livelihoods from the adverse effects of extreme weather events since its establishment in 1875”. He highlighted that forecasting monsoons, that are lifeline to our food security, has resulted in not only in improvement of economy but also reducing the loss of lives due to monsoonal floods and droughts. “IMD has been continuously redefining its focus for accurate Prediction of Monsoon and cyclones as our GDP is mainly based on agriculture. It has succeeded in minimizing loss of lives from various extreme events like cyclone, heavy rain, thunderstorm, heat wave and cold wave etc. in the recent years with its precise forecasting and timely warnings”, he added.

The Minister pointed out, “Recently in last monsoon season, IMD introduced Flash flood Guidance for all 30,000 watersheds of the country every 6 hours. Flash flood Guidance is also provided to Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka every 6 hours”. He recalled having inaugurated the Urban flood warning system for Mumbai also in July 2020 which has helped in better management of heavy rainfall events and floods over Mumbai, and added that similar system has also been implemented in Chennai and being extended to Kolkata and Delhi in coming years.

Dr. Harsh Vardhan said, “India Meteorological Department is modernizing its observational network in the Central and Western Himalayas by installation of state of art Doppler Weather Radars in a phased manner, at different locations”. “This radar will be providing severe weather information to the weather forecasters thus improving the service being provided by the Department catering to the welfare and safety of the public in the states of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. It will also provide valuable support to the disaster managers and to the pilgrims undertaking the pilgrimage to Kailash Manasarovar and Char Dham yatra”, he highlighted.

The Minister elaborated that the output by Multi-Mission Meteorological Data Receiving and Processing System that has been established in IMD in collaboration with ISRO, will be utilized for monitoring and forecasting of severe weather events and many sectoral applications Defence services, Disaster Management, Power Sector, Aviation, Railway, Tourism & Agro-meteorological advisory services etc. by generating specific satellite-based products imageries. He also applauded that India is 4th in its computing power after UK, USA and Japan and pointed out, “I am told that we are the only country to have two ensemble models with the resolution of 12 km each which were helping to provide the probabilistic forecast and warning for severe weather”.

Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, Shri Trivendra Singh Rawat and Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, Shri Jai Ram Thakur applauded the IMD for its great services in meteorological forecasting that helps the two hilly states in saving lives and property.  Both of them highlighted the importance of accurate and advance weather information for their states as they are largely dependent on agriculture and tourism.

Director General, IMD, Dr Mrutyunjay Mohapatra in his welcome address highlighted that there has been significant improvement in forecast accuracy of various severe weather events including tropical cyclones, heavy rainfall, fog, heat wave, cold wave, thunderstorm etc. “The accuracy has increased by about 15-40% for different severe weather events forecast during last five years. The thunderstorm warning is being provided for all districts and 894 cities and towns”, he said.

On the occasion, Secretary, MoES, Dr. M. Rajeevan gave a broad outline of important developments being planned for IMD in near future. He informed that under Agro-Meteorological Services, it is targeted to establish 660 DAMUs by 2025 and increase from 2,300 blocks in 2020 to 7,000 blocks in 2025. The advisories will cover 70 million Farmers by 2022 and 100 million by 2025. More than 43 million farmers have subscribed for the information through mobile for planning their agricultural activities.  He said that the warning and advisory services are helping farmers and fishermen to improve their economy as found from a latest survey by National Centre for Applied Economic Research.

WMO has recognized IMD for various activities like continuous observations for more than 100 years. About 12 observatories in the country have been recognized so far as centennial stations. IMD earned appreciations from United Nations and the President of India, Govt. of West Bengal and Odisha for accurate prediction of cyclone Amphan, from Govt of Maharashtra for accurate prediction of cyclone Nisarga and establishment of Mumbai Flood Warning System.

Awards and Appreciation certificate to officials, scientists, and IMD institutions in various states were also announced on the occasion.

23-Oct-2020: India Meteorological Department Commissions Flash Flood Guidance Services for South Asia

Dr. M. Rajeevan, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences dedicated Flash Flood Guidance services, first of its kind for South Asian countries namely India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka on 22 October 2020. The system was launched virtually and was participated by distinguished National and International dignitaries including Dr. Hwirin Kim (Head of Hydrological and Water Resources Services Division, World Meteorological Organization), Dr. Konstantine P. Georgakakos (Director, Hydrologic Research Centre, USA), Shri G.V.V. Sarma IAS (Member Secretary NDMA, India), Dr. Rajendra Kumar Jain (Chairman, Central Water Commission, India) and Director General of Meteorology and Permanent Representative with WMO of the participating countries namely Shri Karma Dupchu, (Bhutan), Shri Saraju Kumar Baidya (Nepal) and Shri Athula Karunanayake (Sri Lanka) and Shri. Bidyut Kumar Saha (Hydrological Advisor to PR of Bangladesh to WMO).

In his inaugural address, Dr. M. Rajeevan, who was the Chief Guest of the function, brought out the need for enhancing the observational network for rainfall and soil moisture to improvise the performance of the system. An automated mode of dissemination is to be established with the stakeholders along with the use of social media, so that the information reaches to concerned disaster authorities in a timely manner. Regional & International coordination with member countries, Hydrologic Research Center & World Meteorological Organization must be strengthened for exchange of data, expertise, development and sustaining the services in the region, Dr. Rajeevan explained.

Dr. M. Mohapatra, Director General of India Meteorological Department and Permanent Representative of India with WMO delivered the opening address, highlighted salient features of the system and appreciated the collaborative work done in the field of capacity building for forecasting hydro-meteorological hazards. He assured the member nations that the Guidance for flash floods in the form of Threats (6 hours in advance) and Risks (24 hours in advance) will be provided by Regional Centre to National Meteorological & Hydrological Services, National and State Disaster Management Authorities and all other stake holders for taking necessary mitigation measures to reduce the loss of life and property in the South Asian Region countries. These include, apart from India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka. This will enable all the member countries for issuing impact-based forecasting at watershed and also city level, of floods which are very sudden and of short duration.

Flash Floods are highly localized events of short duration with a very high peak and usually have less than six hours between the occurrence of the rainfall and peak flood. There is general lack of flash flood warning capabilities and capacities of the nations across the world. Recognizing that flash floods have a particularly disastrous impact on lives and properties of the affected populations, the Fifteenth WMO Congress had approved the implementation of a Flash Flood Guidance System (FFGS) project with global coverage that had been developed by the WMO Commission for Hydrology jointly with the WMO Commission for Basic Systems and in collaboration with the US National Weather Service, the US Hydrologic Research Center (HRC) and USAID/OFDA.

India Meteorological Department has highly advanced capabilities with respect to computing power, Numerical Weather Prediction, vast observational network (ground, air and space based), and an internationally acclaimed Weather Forecasting System. Therefore, WMO has entrusted India with the responsibility of Regional Centre of South Asia Flash Flood Guidance System for coordination, development and its implementation.

The Flash Flood Guidance is a robust system designed to provide the necessary products in real-time to support the development of warnings for flash floods about 6- 12 hrs. in advance at the watershed level with resolution of 4kmx4km for the Flash Flood prone South Asian countries viz. India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

India Meteorological Department has tested the performance of the system during recent monsoon seasons in the preoperational mode and the Flash Flood Bulletins were issued to National Hydrological and Meteorological Services in the Region for its validation. The system has in-depth science, dynamics and diagnostics to provide guidance for the possible occurrences of flash floods at local level.

14-Oct-2020: IMD operationalises Advanced high-resolution Air Quality Early Warning System for Delhi and India

Ministry of Earth Sciences is constantly striving to improve Air Quality Early Warning System by incorporating various changes in Air Quality Forecast Models such as improved emission inventories, Land Use and Land Cover and improved assimilation of various observational data. The Air Quality forecast model System for Integrated modelling of Atmospheric composition (SILAM) for India has been further improved by implementing global emission inventories CAMS-GLOB v2.1 supplemented with EDGAR v4.3.2 for coarse and mineral-fine anthropogenic particulate matter at 10km resolution.

A very high resolution city scale model ENFUSER (ENvironmental information FUsion SERvice) for Delhi also has been operationalized to identify the air pollution hotspots and pollution upto street level.

SILAM and ENFUSER have been developed in technical collaboration with Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI).

The speciality of the ENFUSER is the high utilization of measurement data such as air quality observations, a detailed description of the road network, buildings, land-use information, high resolution satellite images, ground elevation and population data. The ENFUSER natively taps into the operative IMD’s regional SILAM access point. The ENFUSER results are being evaluated with the satellite measurements and observations, model is found to capture the hotspots over Delhi very well.

The SILAM models have been extensively validated against observations over Indian region.

Air Quality forecast model WRF-Chem has also been updated with high-resolution land use land cover information to improve the air quality forecast.

Now AQ early warning system also provides air quality forecast for Lucknow, Kanpur and Varanasi at 2 km resolution. The AQ forecast is also available for some other cities at 10km resolution.

The air quality forecasts products are available at  https://ews.tropmet.res.in/  and  https://mausam.imd.gov.in.

26-Apr-2020: Likely formation of a Low Pressure area over south Andaman Sea & neighbourhood around 30th April 2020

As per the forecast guidance from various numerical weather prediction models and the environmental and thermo-dynamical conditions prevailing over the region, a Low Pressure Area is very likely to form over south Andaman Sea and neighbourhood around 30th April 2020.

It is very likely to intensify further during subsequent 48 hours and very likely to move north-northwestwards initially and then north-northeastwards along & off Andaman & Nicobar Islands during 30th April – 3rd May 2020.

The Cyclone Warning Division of the India Meteorological Department says that the system is under continuous surveillance and the concerned state governments are being informed regularly.

Under its influence, the following adverse weather is likely over & around Andaman & Nicobar Islands and surrounding Sea areas:

Warnings:

1. Rainfall:  Light to moderate rainfall at many places with heavy falls at isolated places is very likely over Nicobar Islands on 30th April. The intensity and spatial extent is likely to increase further during the subsequent days becoming light to moderate rainfall at most places with heavy to very heavy falls at isolated places over Andaman & Nicobar Islands on 1st May, and heavy to very heavy falls at a few places over Andaman & Nicobar Islands on 2nd May.
2. Wind warning: Squally winds, speed reaching 40-50 kmph gusting to 60 kmph are likely to prevail over north Sumatra coast, south Andaman Sea, Nicobar Islands and adjoining southeast Bay of Bengal on 30th April & 1st May 2020, over north Andaman Sea, Andaman Islands and adjoining southeast & east central Bay of Bengal on  2nd & 3rd May.
3. Sea condition: Sea conditions will be rough to very rough over north Sumatra coast, south Andaman Sea and adjoining southeast Bay of Bengal on 30th April & 1st May 2020 and over Andaman Sea and adjoining areas of southeast & east central Bay of Bengal on 2nd & 3rd May.
4. Fishermen Warning: The fishermen are advised not to venture into the Sea along & off north Sumatra coast, Andaman Sea and adjoining areas of southeast & east central Bay of Bengal from 30th April to 3rd May 2020.   

16-Apr-2019: IMD maintains five rainfall distribution categories on an all-India scale

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) expressed the projected rainfall in terms of Long Period Average (LPA), saying that it was expected to be 96% of LPA. The LPA of the monsoon season over the country is 89 cm, calculated for the period 1951-2000. This is the average rainfall recorded during the months from June to September, calculated during the 50-year period, and is kept as a benchmark while forecasting the quantitative rainfall for the monsoon season every year.

Like the countrywide figure, IMD maintains an independent LPA for every homogeneous region of the country, which ranges from 71.6 cm to 143.83 cm. The region-wise LPA figures are: 143.83 cm for East and Northeast India, 97.55 cm for Central India, 71.61 cm for South Peninsular India, and 61.50 for Northwest India, which put together bring the all-India figure to 88.75 cm.

The monthly LPA figures for the season are 16.36 cm for June, 28.92 cm for July, 26.13 cm for August and 17.34 cm for September. So, when IMD forecasts the category of rainfall , be it for country, region or month, the forecast is based on these standardised figures calculated for a period of 50 years. As per the outputs obtained from the weather models, the rainfall is categorised as normal, below normal, or above normal.

IMD maintains five rainfall distribution categories on an all-India scale. These are:

1. Normal or Near Normal: When per cent departure of actual rainfall is +/-10% of LPA, that is, between 96-104% of LPA.
2. Below normal: When departure of actual rainfall is less than 10% of LPA, that is 90-96% of LPA.
3. Above normal: When actual rainfall is 104-110% of LPA.
4. Deficient: When departure of actual rainfall is less than 90% of LPA.
5. Excess: When departure of actual rainfall is more than 110% of LPA.

24-Nov-2018: IMD develops new technology to monitor impact of rain & deal with natural disasters

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has developed a new technology to assess the rise of water level in rivers and reservoirs by rain. The technology, called 'Impact Based Forecasting Approach', which shows pre-event scenario, can help state governments to minutely monitor the impact of rain and take real-time decisions.

IMD Director General KJ Ramesh said, the department is in a position to use the technology into service to deal with natural disasters like the recent deluge in Kerala.