As IMD marks 150th anniversary, calls grow for improved forecasts

The home and agriculture ministries, the national disaster management authority, and other agencies need improved forecasts of extreme weather, particularly heat waves, lightning strikes and glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFS), as climate change impacts become more pronounced on India, heads of these agencies said on Monday.

- Jayashree Nandi

NEW DELHI:

Presenting their wish lists during a panel discussion on the occasion of a function marking to mark the beginning of the 150th year celebrations of the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the top bureaucrats in these ministries and agencies under-lined that extreme weather is one of the biggest challenges facing the country, one that manifests itself in several ways.

For instance, last year's monsoon was normal on the whole but spatially and temporally, it was far from that, according to Manoj Ahuja, secretary, agriculture. In 2022, the spring heat wave was so severe that the wheat crop was impacted. Without early forecasts, its very difficult for farmers to take investment decisions because 50% of the crop area is rain-fed, he added: "Our real challenge is to get information on a very localised level to farmers.... an interdepartmental model on improved estimation of yield will be very useful."