IMD to issue block-level forecasts soon

The India Meteorological Department will begin to issue weather forecasts at the block level later this year, Laxman Rathore, Director General, IMD, told The Hindu. On an average, 8-10 blocks make up each of India’s 688 districts but often the weather can vary quite significantly within a district, to the extent, that farmers need different types of forecast even if say 40 km apart. “The skill of our models for block-level forecasts needs to improve but we expect it to be able to give usable forecasts by next financial year,” Mr. Rathore said. The IMD’s initiative comes even as a study by the National Council for Applied and Economic Research found that India has posted an improved agriculture-performance in rain-fed farming with a sizeable number of farmers attributing a 25% rise in their net income to improved meteorological advisory services.