India currently uses advanced mathematical models and various other methodologies for weather forecasting spearheaded by the India Meteorological Department (IMD). In a recent move, the IMD is setting up processes to integrate artificial intelligence (AI) for weather predictions and forecasts that could reduce costs and casualties in terms of lost human lives.
IMD is setting up AI to forecast weather on a granular scale with higher accuracy in the light that the country is facing extreme weather events from droughts to floods and beyond. In fact, according to the Centre for Science and Environment, nearly 3,000 people lost their lives in India due to extreme weather. The country of 1.4 billion people is facing such situations due to aggravating global warming that has disrupted weather systems across the globe.
As of now, IMD uses supercomputers and sophisticated mathematical models to predict weather forecasts. It takes data from various weather stations spread across India. Integrating AI would allow IMD to make precise weather forecasts. Britain MET Office lauded the Google-funded AI model as it successfully outperformed traditional forecasting methods. According to Saurabh Rathore – an assistant professor at IIT-Delhi, using AI models can help reduce costs as running a supercomputer is far more expensive than running AI models on standard desktops.
India is home to 1.4 billion people, the second-largest producer of sugar, wheat, and rice among others. It makes it imperative to predict weather precisely given the amount of agriculture produced and human safety at risk. With the initiative being set up, IMD should be able to provide precise forecasts.
Note that IMD currently uses AI for public alerts related to diseases such as malaria as well as heatwaves. With the AI at the helm, IMD will bolster weather observations with data collection on a village level that would enable finer resolution for accurate weather forecasts.
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