IMD planning to roll out hyper-local forecasting in J&K's Kishtwar & Ramban

SRINAGAR: The Jammu and Kashmir government on Friday informed that the India Meteorological Department (IMD) is planning to introduce a hyper-local weather forecasting system in seven districts of the Himalayan states with special focus on early warnings for cloudburst-induced rainfall.

Among the seven districts across the Himalayan states, two districts are in J&K -- Kishtwar and Ramban. The IMD plans to instal four additional doppler weather radars and 34 automatic weather stations and snow gauges in J&K in addition to the existing three X-band radars in Srinagar, Jammu and Banihal."The new radars are proposed at Doda, Rajouri, Anantnag and Baramulla to strengthen early warning and weather service delivery," chief minister Omar Abdullah said.

Further, 26 additional automatic weather stations and eight snow gauges are proposed to be installed in far-flung and hilly areas, including Kishtwar, Doda, Ramban, Rajouri, Udhampur, Kupwara, Bandipora, Baramulla and Shopian. The expanded observational network would significantly enhance forecasting and disaster preparedness for hydro-meteorological events, he said.


In a written reply to a question by National Conference MLA Sajad Shaheen in the assembly on Friday, CM Omar Abdullah said the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has identified seven districts across the Himalayan states for focused intervention.

The J&K chief minister said that the past data on cloudbursts, flash floods and landslides spanning the past 15 years has been used to assess district-wise vulnerability, based on human casualties, infrastructure damage and losses to agriculture, horticulture and livestock.

Based on this, districts have been classified into high, medium and low vulnerability categories.

The Public Works (R&D) Department has also initiated long-term measures to mitigate damage to roads and bridges caused by flash floods and cloudbursts.

In 2025, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had deputed an inter-ministerial central team in September 2025 to assess flood-related damages. Abdullah said a memorandum detailing losses and damages was submitted to the ministry on November 6, 2025. "Subsequently, a team led by the National Disaster Management Authority conducted a post-disaster needs assessment in November 2025, and its report has also been submitted to the Centre".

The government informed that an expert committee on Hazard, Vulnerability and Risk Assessment (HVRA) has been constituted for J&K to assess multi-hazard risks, prepare a hazard zonation framework and HVRA atlas, and integrate risk assessment outputs into planning and governance.