150th Anniversary of India Meteorological Department

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) celebrated the 150th year of its establishment and service to the nation on 15th January 2025.

At the occasion, the Prime Minister launched ‘Mission Mausam,’ to transform India into a ‘Weather-ready and Climate-smart’ nation through advanced weather surveillance technologies, high-resolution atmospheric observations, next-generation radars, satellites, and high-performance computing systems.
The Prime Minister also unveiled a commemorative postage stamp and coin, alongside releasing the IMD Vision-2047 document, which outlines a roadmap for weather resilience and climate change adaptation.

The Government of India established the India Meteorological Department in 1875 after a series of catastrophic events such as a tropical cyclone struck Calcutta in 1864, then monsoon failures in 1866 and 1871.
The first Director General of Observatories was Sir John Eliot, who was appointed in 1889.
Originally headquartered in Calcutta, IMD’s headquarters were later shifted to Shimla, then to Poona (now Pune), and finally to New Delhi.
The IMD became a member of the World Meteorological Organisation in 1949.
At present, IMD functions under the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES).

To take meteorological observations and to provide current and forecast meteorological information for optimum operation of weather-sensitive activities like agriculture, irrigation, shipping, aviation, offshore oil explorations, etc.
To warn against severe weather phenomena like tropical cyclones, norwesters, duststorms, heavy rains and snow, cold and heat waves, etc.
To provide meteorological statistics required for agriculture, water resource management, industries, oil exploration and other nation-building activities.

By 2023, IMD has replaced all Mercury Barometers with Digital Barometers by the UNEP Minamata convention (as mercury is hazardous to human health) at all Class I observatories.
Enhanced agro-meteorological services with the deployment of 200 AGRO AWS stations.

IMD launched the mobile Application “Public Observation” in 2022 to allow users to provide their weather feedback at any time from anywhere.

Overall Forecast Accuracy witnessed a 40% improvement in 2023 as compared to 2014.
Example: The successful prediction of cyclones like Phailin (2013), Hudhud (2014), Fani (2019), Amphan (2020), Tauktae (2021), Biparjoy (2023), and Dana (2024).
Expansion of Doppler Weather Radar (DWR) network from 15 in 2014 to 39 in 2023 with land area of coverage increased by about 35% from 2014.
With the accurate cyclone warning by IMD, the number of deaths has reduced from 10,000 in 1999 to Zero in 2020-2024.

Mausamgram, an interactive and dynamic meteogram which provides location-specific weather forecast information was released in 2024 during the IMD’s 150th foundation celebration day.
Increase in the number of Automatic Rain Gauges (ARG) from 1350 in 2014 to 1382 in 2023.

IMD has been the front runner of the development of Indigenous technology, commencing with indigenous RADAR in 1958, and Indian Satellite products in collaboration with ISRO since 1983.
It has been developing the Doppler Weather Radar since 2010, Impact-based Forecast since 2019, and Dynamic composite risk atlas since 2022.