India’s Next-Gen Weather Model Uses Supercomputer for High-Resolution Forecasting Like Never Before

India has unveiled the Bharat Forecast System (BFS), the world's highest-resolution weather model, operating on a 6-kilometre grid. Developed by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), BFS aims to provide highly localized forecasts, improving predictions for disaster risk reduction, agriculture, and public safety.

The system is powered by Arka, a supercomputer with 11.77 petaflops of computational capacity and 33 petabytes of storage, significantly reducing forecast processing time from 10 hours to just 4 hours.

This development comes within a few months after Indian Space agency ISRO’s National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) made a major breakthrough in now-casting lightning events over India using data from geostationary satellites. This enhanced predictive accuracy with a 2.5-hour lead time.

BFS integrates data from 40 Doppler Weather Radars, which will expand to 100, improving real-time monitoring. These radars provide nowcasts—short-term forecasts for the next two hours, crucial for disaster preparedness.

Unlike traditional square grids, BFS uses a triangular cubic octahedral grid, which enhances spatial accuracy and ensures better data distribution. This allows BFS to predict extreme weather events with 30% more accuracy, including cyclones and heavy rainfall.

BFS leverages satellite imagery and AI-driven climate models to refine predictions.
AI helps in pattern recognition, improving forecasts for monsoons, heatwaves, and localized storms.

To recall, in October 2023 researchers fom the US had introduce the Recurrent Earthquake foreCAST (RECAST), a deep learning model for earthquake forecasting.

Compared to global models from the US, UK, and EU, which operate at 9–14 km resolution, BFS offers unmatched precision, covering the tropical region between 30° South and 30° North latitudes. BFS operates at 6-km resolution, surpassing global models from the US, UK, and EU. 

This breakthrough comes at a crucial time, as extreme weather events increasingly impact India's economy, particularly food inflation and crop damage.

BFS provides hyperlocal forecasts down to the panchayat level, making it one of the most precise weather models in the world.

This breakthrough positions India as a global leader in meteorology, enhancing agriculture, disaster management, and climate resilience.

A major leap for India's meteorological capabilities! What do you think—could this reshape climate resilience strategies? Do comment your opinion...

Disclaimer : All images are representational