The central government on Monday launched the Bharat Forecasting System (BFS), the world’s highest resolution weather model, operating on a 6-kilometre grid. The advanced system aims to place India’s weather forecasting among the best globally.
Union Earth Sciences Minister Jitendra Singh dedicated the BFS to the nation at an event in New Delhi. Developed by scientists including Parthasarthy Mukhopadhay, the system delivers more accurate forecasts and captures minor changes in weather with greater detail.
“This milestone boosts India’s self-reliance in meteorological sciences. It supports disaster risk reduction, agriculture, water management, and public safety by offering accurate forecasts down to the panchayat level,” said a senior Earth Sciences Ministry official.
The Bharat Forecasting System runs on Arka, a powerful supercomputer installed last year at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM). Arka offers 11.77 petaflops of computing power and 33 petabytes of storage.
M Ravichandran, Secretary of the Ministry of Earth Sciences, explained that the system uses 40 Doppler Weather Radars across India. This enables highly localised forecasting.
“The BFS delivers insights within a 6 km by 6 km grid, compared to the earlier 12 km grid models,” he said.
The system covers the tropical region from 30° South to 30° North, including the Indian mainland between 8.4° and 37.6° North.
Global systems used by European, British, and US agencies operate at lower resolutions of 9 to 14 km. The Bharat Forecasting System now surpasses them in precision.
Experts believe this upgrade comes at a crucial time, with climate anomalies increasingly affecting India’s economy, especially agriculture.
The Economic Survey highlighted the need for advanced forecasting. It stressed the role of climate data in developing resilient crops, reducing post-harvest losses, and ensuring long-term stability.
