Improve weather models

IMD's failures raise questions about monsoon predictions

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has not had a great track record in forecasting the monsoon in recent years. This year, however, its errors have almost been farcical. In its bulletin on May 30, it predicted the onset of the monsoon in Kerala on May 31; however, it then had to revise it to suggest the monsoon would in fact hit on June 3. The monsoon then spread rapidly across the south-east, including West Bengal — but is yet to arrive in Western Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, and points beyond. This is in spite of the fact that the IMD had