New Delhi: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Tuesday launched two new services, including an AI-enabled monsoon advance forecast system, which will provide seasonal rainfall progress and “localized weather information” up to four weeks in advance to support farmers in 16 states and over 3,000 sub-districts.On the other hand, the second product relates to high resolution spatial rainfall forecast for Uttar Pradesh as a pilot service. It demonstrates the ability to generate operational rainfall forecasts at 1-km resolution up to 10 days in advance using dense observation networks and AI techniques. With continued growth of observational infrastructure, similar services will be gradually expanded to other parts of the country.The pilot system uses advanced AI-powered downscaling techniques and integrates data from automated rain gauges, automated weather stations, Doppler weather radar, and satellite-based precipitation datasets.Apart from using various methods including mobile applications, SMS alerts, WhatsApp, farmer portal, television and other digital platforms, these hyperlocal forecast information will also be relayed through displays installed in vegetable markets and other markets. This information will also be available to members of rural self-help groups.Launching the two forecast products, Union Earth Sciences Minister, Jitendra Singh said the newly launched systems mark a major shift from traditional weather forecasting towards impact-based and decision-support forecasts, capable of providing “accurate, location-specific and actionable information” to farmers, administrators, disaster managers and citizens.The system has been jointly developed by IMD, Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune and National Center for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF).Singh said the initiative will be especially useful for agriculture, water resources, renewable energy, urban planning, disaster management and infrastructure sectors. He said farmers will now be able to make more informed decisions related to sowing, irrigation, crop protection and crop planning with greater local precision. M Ravichandran, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences, said the newly launched products are stakeholder-driven forecasting systems, developed using a combination of numerical weather prediction models and AI-based data-driven approaches. He said the system was developed in response to growing demand from agriculture and other sectors for “highly localized and high-resolution weather forecasts.”