The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has further strengthened the country’s weather monitoring and forecasting capabilities through the installation of three new Doppler Weather Radars (DWRs) and 200 Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) during the past year. The latest additions include two C‑Band radars at Raipur and Mangaluru and an X‑Band radar at Jorhat in Assam.
With these upgrades, the national network now operates 48 Doppler Weather Radars, covering nearly 92 percent of India’s geographical area. While overall coverage has expanded significantly, some gaps persist across certain coastal, hilly, and island regions.
Enhanced monitoring has been a priority across the Himalayan belt. IMD has operationalized ten radars in the western Himalayas at Leh, Banihal Top, Jammu, Srinagar, Lansdowne, Mukteshwar, Surkanda Devi, Jot, Murari Devi, and Kufri. In the eastern Himalayan region, radars at Mohanbari, Cherrapunji, Agartala, and Jorhat are providing real-time surveillance.
Weather monitoring capacity has also improved along India’s coastline. Eleven radars are currently active along the west coast at Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Mangaluru, Mumbai, Veravali, Mumbai (Juhu), Mumbai (Panvel), Mumbai (Kalyan), Mumbai (Vasai), Goa, and Bhuj. Eight additional radars support the east coast at Chennai, Gopalpur, Paradip, Karaikal, NIOT Chennai, Machilipatnam, Visakhapatnam, and Sriharikota.
As per IMD reports installation activities have progressed smoothly, with only minor delays attributed to difficulties in identifying technically suitable sites and securing required infrastructure. At present, there is no proposal to integrate data from private or academic networks into IMD’s operational systems.
IMD’s National Observation Network Strengthens Further in 2026
As of early 2026, IMD maintains one of the most extensive meteorological observation networks in the region, spanning India and Antarctica. Operations are anchored by six Regional Meteorological Centres and 26 state-level Meteorological Centres, supported by a wide variety of specialized observation systems.
The Automated Weather Station network includes 806 fully operational AWS units across the country (2023 baseline), with an additional 200 new stations being commissioned in 2026 in major urban centres such as Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, and Pune.
Alongside this, IMD operates 1,382 Automatic Rain Gauges (ARG) to monitor rainfall patterns with high spatial resolution.
The department’s Doppler Weather Radar network plays a central role in monitoring cyclones, severe thunderstorms, and extreme weather events. The current network includes 39 DWRs, supplemented by approximately 200 Agro‑Meteorological Weather Stations that provide critical data for the farming sector.
IMD’s upper-air observation system includes 39 radiosonde stations and 62 pilot balloon observatories. Under the District-wise Rainfall Monitoring Scheme (DRMS), over 5,896 stations collect hyper‑local precipitation data. These are supported by 10 Flood Meteorological Offices and a network of 83 lightning sensors, ensuring timely alerts and disaster preparedness.
The Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) continues to collaborate with state governments to expand ground‑level observation under the Weather Information Network and Data System (WINDS). The initiative aims to establish Automatic Weather Stations at the block and tehsil levels and Automatic Rain Gauges at the Gram Panchayat level, bringing India closer to achieving seamless nationwide weather coverage.
