The Ministry of Earth Sciences provided detailed information about flood forecasting capabilities and climate resilience initiatives for the Brahmaputra region in response to a parliamentary question. The Union Cabinet approved the Central Sector Scheme Mission Mausam in 2024 with the vision of making India a 'Weather-ready and Climate-smart' nation, including specific focus on Assam. The mission aims to enhance weather and climate prediction accuracy through strengthened observational networks, advanced high-resolution numerical weather prediction models, high-performance computing technologies, and improved last-mile dissemination of weather information including timely early warnings for extreme weather events.
The Central Water Commission (CWC) under the Ministry of Jal Shakti is mandated to issue short-range flood forecasts with a lead time of up to 24 hours to concerned State Governments at identified locations, including Himalayan States such as Assam. Specifically, CWC maintains 32 flood forecast stations in the Brahmaputra River and its tributaries, as well as the Barak River and its tributaries within Assam.
The Ministry has been adopting advanced techniques and technologies to strengthen severe weather monitoring, forecasting, and early warning services. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) utilizes an array of numerical weather prediction models, including 6 physical models and 3 artificial intelligence-based models. Weather forecasting decisions are made using a multi-model ensemble technique and the Multi-Hazard Early Warning Decision Support System (MHEW-DSS). Currently, CWC has developed Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML)-based models for 12 Level Forecast stations for short-range forecasts, with 8 of these stations located in the Brahmaputra basin in Assam.
State-level weather services across the country, including Assam, are provided through a network of 8 Regional Meteorological Centres (RMCs) and 25 Meteorological Centres (MCs) under IMD. The RMC Guwahati specifically serves Assam and other Northeast regions, while the MC Gangtok in Sikkim also provides services to Assam. These centers are supported by an extensive network of meteorological observatories across various States and Union Territories that continuously record weather and climate data to support monitoring, forecasting, and early warning services.