parliament question: ABOVE-NORMAL MONSOON
parliament question: ABOVE-NORMAL MONSOON
The Government is aware of the India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) long-range forecast issued for the 2025 SW monsoon season. Every year, IMD issues the long-range forecast (LRF) for the monsoon season (June to September) in two stages; In April and in May. Both these forecasts issued for 2025 indicated above-normal rainfall during the Southwest Monsoon season 2025. Along with these forecasts, the expected spatial distribution of rainfall was also provided. Both forecasts are publicly available on the IMD’s website (https://internal.imd.gov.in/press_release/20250527_pr_4008.pdf) and YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/live/RezdeSjnYBw). The India Meteorological Department has also issued seasonal rainfall forecasts for all 36 meteorological subdivisions of the country, providing the probability of rainfall over each region for the June–September 2025 monsoon period. In addition to the seasonal forecast, monthly outlooks for June, July, and August 2025 have also been released, covering both rainfall and temperature patterns, along with their likely spatial distribution across the country. In addition to the seasonal and monthly forecasts, IMD also regularly issues weekly forecasts at weekly and daily scales, along with nowcasts and impact-based forecasts for extreme rainfall events. The Central Water Commission (CWC) is mandated to issue short-range flood forecasts with a lead time of up to 24 hours to concerned State Governments at identified locations. Timely flood forecasts are being issued when a certain threshold limit is reached.
The Government has taken several initiatives to protect the country from the adverse effects of climate change. The multi-faceted approach is aimed at addressing the potential impacts of climate change on the country’s weather patterns, focusing on adaptation, mitigation, and climate resilience-building. Key initiatives include:
These efforts aim to reduce vulnerabilities and prepare the country to combat the diverse impacts of climate change, from altered monsoon patterns to more frequent extreme weather events and their cascading effects.
A systematic coordination is in place between IMD, CWC, State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA), and the State Irrigation Department. Regular monsoon preparedness meetings are held between these agencies for Odisha, which is highly vulnerable to heavy rainfall and floods in the season. IMD, CWC and other stakeholders have jointly implemented an interoperable environment for generating real-time forecast and warning information related to heavy rainfall-induced floods. The Flood Meteorological Office (FMO) located at Bhubneshwar provides all flood-related precipitation data and forecasts for all river catchments in the State. In this regard, IMD supports CWC, SDMA, and the State Irrigation Department by providing observed and forecasted rainfall data and warnings using state-of-the-art NWP-based forecasts and radar-based nowcast systems. Though floods are mainly managed by the CWC, but for all rain-induced Flash Floods-related warnings are currently provided by IMD using a Flash Floods Guidance System (FFGS) operational in IMD. The FFGS bulletins are issued for the flash floods operationally considering the observed and forecasted rainfall, soil moisture, and river conditions. The FFGS bulletin helps in providing early advisories of flash floods. The flash flood guidance is a robust system designed to provide the necessary products in real-time to support the development of warnings for flash floods about 6-24 hours in advance.
This information was given by Dr. Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology, Earth Sciences, MoS PMO, MoS Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Department of Atomic Energy and Department of Space, in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.