Now on IMD’s Meghdoot app: Weather warnings and crop advisories for farmers

Now, farmers across the country will have, on their fingertips, farm-based meteorological advisories and severe weather warnings every three hours. The Meghdoot mobile application, launched by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) in 2019, will now also have these advisories and warnings.

These warnings and advisories will be generated from weather parameter measures collated from 1,019 stations across 732 districts in the country. The bi-weekly weather advisories will be updated every Tuesday and Friday on the Meghdoot app. They are based on the short-term and extended-range (one fortnight) weather forecasts over the respective geographical area. IMD operates a total of 330 agro networks established under the Gramin Krishi Mausam Seva, which collects information to cover all major parts of India.

The Agrimet division of the IMD also issues advisories at the national, state, district and block-levels in English and 13 regional languages every Tuesday and Friday.  Farmers can stay updated about the likely temperature, humidity, rainfall, wind-speed and its direction for the upcoming five days at the district and block levels. For the latest weather variations and advice about any swift action to be taken ahead of a significant weather event over a block or a district, the app will offer nowcast (issued once in three hours) weather warnings three hours in advance. This warning will include details of an immediate weather event so that farmers can take practical action on their fields.