IMD may deploy cutting-edge tech to forecast weather events more accurately

The department's ability to process data has also shot up due to an increase in its computing power

A few days ago, farmers from some 150 villages gathered at a square in the Ujjain district of Madhya Pradesh and burnt the effigy of the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the country’s foremost weather forecasting agency. Reason? They alleged that their standing crop had been severely affected, as IMD’s monsoon forecast had been way off the mark.

Such complaints may, however, soon be a thing of the past. IMD has decided to increasingly use cutting-edge technology such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) in forecasting, both to avoid such glitches and to counter the disruption of normal seasonal patterns