Lok Sabha Question No. 3108 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-03-19
Subject: Weather Forecasting in Andhra Pradesh
Ministry: EARTH SCIENCES
Asked by: Shri Lavu Sri Krishna Devarayalu, Shri G M Harish Balayogi

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3108

## TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, 19 TH  MARCH, 2025

## WEATHER FORECASTING IN ANDHRA PRADESH

## 3108.   SHRI LAVU SRI KRISHNA DEVARAYALU: SHRI G M HARISH BALAYOGI:

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:

- (a) the  details  and  number  of  weather  forecasting  stations/facilities  operational  in  Andhra Pradesh especially those located along the coastline;
- (b) whether the Government has any plans to set up additional weather forecasting facilities along the Andhra Pradesh coastline and if so, the details thereof along with the expected timeline;
- (c) whether the Government plans to install new DWRs, radiometers, radiosondes, and wind profilers in Andhra Pradesh;
- (d) if so, the details thereof along with the number, locations and expected timeline of these proposed infrastructures, especially those positioned along the coastline of the State;
- (e) the amount of funds allocated for improving weather forecasting infrastructure in Andhra Pradesh, especially for installation of Doppler radars;
- (f) whether Artificial Intelligence is being utilised to improve weather forecasting in Andhra Pradesh; and
- (g) if  so,  the  details  thereof  along  with  the  AI-based  predictive  models,  early  warning systems and their effectiveness in cyclone tracking and flood prediction?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND EARTH SCIENCES (DR. JITENDRA SINGH)

- (a) The  details  of  weather  forecasting  stations/facilities  operational  in  Andhra  Pradesh, including those located along the coastline, are given in Annexure-1. Currently, the State Meteorological  Centre  (MC)  is  functional  at  Amaravati.  Being  close  to  the  coast  and impacted by cyclones, a cyclone warning center (CWC) also functions at Visakhapatnam. The  India Meteorological Department  (IMD)  has  10  departmental  meteorological observatories  (15  total  in  the  State),  3  Doppler  Weather  Radar  (DWR)  stations,  three Radiosonde/Radiowind (RS/RW) stations, 2 Pilot Balloon Observatories (PBO) (total 3 in the State) and two radiation observatories are functioning along the coastal line in the State.In addition, there are five part-time observatories and five Aviation Meteorological Stations functioning in the interior parts of the State of Andhra Pradesh. Similarly, 7 out of  the  18  Automatic  Weather  Stations  (AWS),  2  out  of  9  Agro  AWS,  16  out  of  62 Automatic Rain Gauge (ARG) stations in the State are located along the coastline.
- (b) Yes. The IMD is tentatively planning to install another 5 Agro AWS at AMFUs during 2025-2026  under the Augmentation of Agro AWS. The details are given in Annexure-2.
- (c)-(e)  The  IMD,  MoES  is  planning  to  install  53  DWRs,  25  microwave  radiometers,  60 radiosonde/radio  wind,  10  wind  profilers,  etc.,  across  the  country  including  Andhra Pradesh under Mission Mausam during the next 2 years. Funds of about Rs 2000 crore have  been  allocated  under  Mission  Mausam  for  the  deployment  of  all  of  the  above instruments across the country (including Andhra Pradesh) along with the establishment of  various  computing,  forecasting,  and  communication  tools  so  as  to  monitor,  track forecast  and  warm  every  extreme  weather  and  climate  events  occurring  in  the  entire country.
- (f)-(g)  The  Ministry  of  Earth  Sciences  (MoES)  explores  integrating  artificial  intelligence  and machine learning (AI/ML) technologies into weather forecasting systems in addition to physics-based numerical models. This initiative is part of a broader strategy to enhance the accuracy and efficiency of meteorological predictions all over the country, including Andhra Pradesh.

The Ministry has established a dedicated virtual center on AI/ML/Deep Learning (DL) at the  Indian  Institute  of  Tropical  Meteorology  (IITM)  in  Pune.  A  dedicated  functional group has been established in IMD under the MoES to strengthen the R&D activities in AI/ML. These centers focus on leveraging AI, ML, and DL techniques for advancements in Earth Sciences. It has already developed several AI/ML-based applications tailored for localized predictions and the analysis of weather and climate patterns.

Achievements and outcomes of AI and ML in the research and development (R & D) of weather prediction are provided below:

-  Improved the short-range precipitation forecast  in  1-day, 2-day,  and  3-day  lead times with a reduction in bias
-  Developed  high-resolution  (300m)  urban  gridded  meteorological  data  sets  for temperature and precipitation
-  Developed  the  time-varying  Normalized  Difference  Urbanization  Index  with  a spatial resolution of 30 meters from 1992-2023
-  Developed very high-resolution precipitation data sets for verification purposes
-  Deep Learning approach is being explored for precipitation nowcasting using data from DWRs

## Annexure-1

## The details of various weather observatories and forecasting facilities operational in Andhra Pradesh:

| Types                   | Rayalaseema                                                                                  | Rayalaseema   | Coastal Andhra Pradesh                        | Coastal Andhra Pradesh                                                                                               |
|-------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------|-----------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Types                   | Interior                                                                                     | Coastal       | Interior                                      | Coastal                                                                                                              |
| DWR                     |                                                                                              | 1.Sriharikota |                                               | 1.Visakhapatnam 2.Machilipatnam                                                                                      |
| Radiosonde/ Radiowind   |                                                                                              |               |                                               | 1.Visakhapatnam 2.Machilipatnam 3.Kavali                                                                             |
| PBO                     | 1.Anantapur                                                                                  |               |                                               | 1.Visakhapatnam 2.Machilipatnam                                                                                      |
| Radiation Observatories |                                                                                              |               |                                               | 1.Visakhapatnam 2.Machilipatnam                                                                                      |
| AMS                     | 1.Tirupati 2. Kurnool 3.Kadapa                                                               |               | 1.Rajahmund ry 2.Gannavara m                  |                                                                                                                      |
| Airport Met office      | 1.Tirupati 2.Kurnool 3.Anantapur                                                             |               | 1. Gannavaram 2.Amaravati (MC)                | 1.Kalingapatnam 2.Visakhaptanam 3.Kakinada 4.Tuni 5.Narasapur 6.Machilipatnam 7.Bapatla 8.Ongole 9.Kavali 10.Nellore |
| PTO                     | 1.Nandyala 2.Kapapa 3.Arogyavaram                                                            |               | 1.Nandigama 2.Jangamahe shwara- puram         |                                                                                                                      |
| AWS                     | 1.Perumallapalle 2.Tirumala 3.Tirupati_ AMFU 4.Utukuru 5.Anantapur_ AMFU 6.Nandyala 7.Kadiri |               | 1.Chintapalli 2.Bapatla 3.Vuyyuru 4.LAM_AM FU | 1.Anakapalli 2.Ragolu 3.Bhimunipatnam 4.Vijayanagaram 5.Maruteru 6.Peddapuram 7.Kavali                               |

| AGRO AWS     |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         | 1.Banavasi_KVK 2.Utukuru_KVK   | 1.Vijayanagara m_KVK 2.Kalavacharla_ KVK (East Godavari dist) 3.Venkataraman na gudem 4.Garikapadu_ KVK 5.Darsi_KVK                                                                                                                                                                                                                              | 1.Amadalavalasa _KVK 2.Nellore_KVK                                                                                                                                                                                             |
|--------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| ARG Stations | 1.Mantralayam 2.Yemmiganur 3.Adoni 4.Betamcherla 5.Mahanandi 6.Banaganapalle 7.Alvagonda 8.Srisailam Dam 9.Guntakal 10.Peddavadugur 11.Tadipatri 12.Kalyandurg 13. Uravakonda 14. Pattaparthi 15. Chilamathur 16. Madakasira 17. Arogyavaram 18. Chittoor 19. Kuppam 20. Ananthrajpeta 21. Kadapa_Airport 22. YVU_Kadapa 23.Pulivendula | 1.Petluru_HRS                  | 1.Gottabarage 2.Palakonda 3.Komarada 4.Bobbili 5.Araku valley 6.Pandirimamid i_HRS 7.Rajahmundry 8.Venkataramn nagudem 9.Koida 10.Vijayarai 11.Nuzvid 12.Tiruvuru 13.Garikapadu 14.Nandigama 15.Vijayawada 16.Prattipadu 17.Piduguralla 18.Narasaraopet 19.Jangamahesh warapuram 20.Rentachintal a 21.Vinukonda 22.Yerragondap alem 23.Giddaluru | 1.Palasa_mandal 2.Tekkali 3.Rajam 4.Anandapuram 5.Kailasagiri 6.CDR_Dolphins _Nose 7.SAIL_Visakha patnam 8.Mehadrigadda _dam 9.Prattipadu 10.Kakinada 11.Ambajipeta ARG 12.Repalle 13.Chinna Ganjam 14.Kandukuru 15.Podalakuru |

Annexure-2

|   S. No. | District              | AGRO AWS Station   |
|----------|-----------------------|--------------------|
|        1 | Alluri_Sitharama_Raju | Chintapalli_ AFMU  |
|        2 | Anakapalli            | Ankapalli_ AFMU    |
|        3 | Guntur                | Lam_AMFU           |
|        4 | Tirupati              | Tirupati_AMFU      |
|        5 | Anantapur             | Anantpur_AMFU      |

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