IMD Full Form
What is the full form of IMD?
IMD stands for Indian Meteorological Department. It is an agency of the Government of India’s Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES). IMD mainly handles matters regarding meteorology and related subjects including weather prediction, seismology etc… IMD has its headquarters in New Delhi and various regional offices across India.
History of IMD
The Indian Meteorological Department was founded during the British reign of pre-independent India. In 1864, a tropical cyclone hit Calcutta. Following that, in 1866 and 1871, famines affected various parts of India due to the failure of monsoons. These incidents paved the way to create a centralized organization for collecting and analyzing meteorological data. For the same purpose, IMD was founded on 15 January 1875 and Henry Francis Blanford was the first Meteorological Reporter.
Initially, IMD was headquartered in Shimla and had various regional offices in Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Nagpur and Delhi. On 27 April 1949, IMD became a member of the World Meteorological Organisation. IMD as an agency is really important in India due to unreliable monsoon seasons and the agricultural influence of the monsoons.
Organization Structure
Dr Mrutyunjay Mohapatra is the current Director General of IMD. There are 4 other director generals in New Delhi and one in Pune. Under them, there are 20 Deputy Director Generals in the IMD. Under the Deputy Director Generals, there are 6 meteorological centers across various states of India. There are also numerous divisions for specialized structures under IMD. They include climatology, positional astronomy, seismology, etc…
Services
The IMD provides different meteorological services through the Umang website of the Government of India and its application. The various services offered by IMD include:
Nowcast: Allows the users to view a short weather forecast of up to 3 hours.
Current Weather: Current temperature can be viewed through this feature along with humidity and wind direction.
Warnings: Warnings regarding any upcoming severe climatic changes can be known.
Tourism Forecast: A forecast of up to 7 days of weather including rain, heat/cold wave, thunderstorms etc… can be seen.
Rainfall Information: The rainfall information can be viewed by the users with details like excess, heavy or light rainfall.
Crop Advisory: Farmers and other interested users can access crop adversaries available in the application.
City Forecast: The weather forecast including information like rain, thunderstorm, and waves can be viewed city-wise through this application.
Cyclone: Cyclone updates, detailed information and warnings can be viewed by the users through this application.
New Initiatives
As part of the 147th foundation day of the Indian Meteorological Department, IMD announced some major initiatives from its side.
A dedicated website for aviation weather services: The data collected through various Aerodrome Meteorological Offices and Aeronautical Meteorological Stations are being consolidated into a single website to provide accurate aviation weather services.
Geospatial Services for severe weather monitoring: The applications in geospatial services include rainfall information, urban met services, heat/cold wave, cyclones etc…
Climate Hazards and Vulnerability Atlas: It provides data regarding various climatic hazards that occurred in different areas of India and vulnerable areas for calamities in an atlas model.
Public Observation System: This is done by using a crowdsourcing mobile application.
Latest News
The latest news issued by IMD includes:
IMD announces orange alerts in various coastal areas of Chennai.
Maximum temperature across the nation to stay 31-32 degree Celsius.
Nashik City in the northern region of Maharashtra experiences warmer nights and days.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Various weather conditions like cyclones, thunderstorms and hailstorms are tracked by radars. The intensity of storms, location and forecasting can be done by using radars. Doppler weather radar is specifically used by IMD in forecasting.
In various metro cities like Bangalore and Mumbai, there are already localised weather information stations set up by the IMD. It is planning to expand that by including 50 more cities to this list to ensure providing better information.
The various publications of IMD include:
Rashtriya Panchang
Mausam Journal
The Indian Astronomical Ephemeris
IMD News
According to authorities, the cyclone predictions of IMD are much more accurate now. Also, the heatwave predictions are almost 92% accurate. Heavy rainfall prediction accuracy has improved from 60 to 79% in the last five years.
By using polar-orbiting satellites that can monitor the earth’s entire atmosphere and provide a clear view of clouds and oceans, weather forecasting can be improved.