PIB TrackerIMD puts cyclone tracks, surge and rainfall on one public map
The new decision support system was dedicated on 12 October - the date on which both Phailin and Hudhud crossed the coast, in 2013 and 2014.
What happened
- The India Meteorological Department dedicated its Cyclone Warning and Marine Weather Services Decision Support System, an interactive WebGIS platform, on 12 October 2026.
- It carries observed and forecast track and intensity, the cone of uncertainty, wind distribution, rainfall, storm surge and catchment rainfall forecasts, with district-wise rainfall warnings.
- It is hosted on the IMD website and that of the RSMC New Delhi, and is open to disaster management authorities, agencies and the public.
- The launch came at the bi-annual Pre-Cyclone Exercise for the post-monsoon season, chaired by the Director General of Meteorology, also third Vice-President of the WMO.
- The release notes that Phailin (2013) and Hudhud (2014) both crossed the coast on 12 October.
For Prelims
- RSMC New Delhi: IMD is one of the six Regional Specialised Meteorological Centres designated by the WMO for tropical cyclones, responsible for the north Indian Ocean - the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea - including naming and warning for 13 member countries.
- Cone of uncertainty: the widening envelope around a forecast track within which the centre of the storm is likely to pass. It is the honest representation of forecast error, and the reason a single forecast line is misleading.
- Storm surge: the rise in sea level driven by a cyclone’s winds and low pressure. It is the biggest killer in Bay of Bengal cyclones, because the shallow, funnel-shaped head of the bay amplifies it over low-lying deltas.
- Why 12 October matters: Phailin crossed near Gopalpur, Odisha in 2013 and Hudhud near Visakhapatnam in 2014. Phailin’s evacuation of about a million people, on the strength of the forecast, is the standard Indian case study in warning-to-action.
- Cyclone categories: IMD grades systems from depression through cyclonic storm, severe, very severe, extremely severe to super cyclonic storm, by three-minute sustained wind speed.
- Impact-based forecasting: the shift from forecasting weather to forecasting what the weather will do - flooded roads, damaged thatch, blocked ports. Catchment rainfall and district warnings on one map are a step in that direction.
- Last-mile problem: the gap between a correct forecast and action by the person at risk. India’s cyclone death toll has fallen by orders of magnitude since 1999 largely because of shelters and evacuation, not because the forecasts suddenly became accurate.
- Pre-Cyclone Exercise: a preparedness review run twice a year since 2008, before each cyclone season, bringing together IMD, disaster management authorities, the armed forces and State agencies.
For UPSC: Disaster management is examined through institutions and warning chains, and this is the warning chain being published as a map. Deploy it on cyclone preparedness and the fall in mortality since 1999, on IMD’s regional role for the north Indian Ocean, on impact-based forecasting, and on the last-mile problem that separates a good forecast from a saved life.
What it is NOT: The release gives no forecast accuracy figures - no track error in kilometres, no improvement over the decade - which is the measure the platform’s own credibility rests on. It does not say whether the platform carries warnings in Indian languages, which decides whether "the general public" is a real audience. No mention of integration with the common alert protocol or with State disaster management dashboards, no mobile availability, and no cost.
For Mains
Syllabus: GS3.15 · GS1.12 · Linkage L2
Anchor
IMD dedicated a Cyclone Warning and Marine Weather Services Decision Support System - a public WebGIS platform carrying cyclone track, intensity, the cone of uncertainty, wind, rainfall, storm surge and district-wise warnings on one interactive map.
Substantiation (data)
The platform is hosted on the IMD and RSMC New Delhi websites and aimed at disaster management authorities, government agencies and the public. It was launched at the bi-annual Pre-Cyclone Exercise for the October-December season, a review held twice a year since 2008, chaired by the Director General of Meteorology, who is also third Vice-President of the World Meteorological Organisation.
Position
The design choice worth noticing is aggregation. A cyclone forecast has always existed as separate products - track bulletin, wind warning, surge guidance, rainfall warning - each read by a different office. A district collector deciding whether to evacuate needs them on one screen with a time stamp, because the decision is a single decision. Publishing the cone of uncertainty rather than a single line is the other honest choice, since it shows the error the forecast actually carries.
Substantiation (example)
The anniversary is the argument. Phailin crossed the Odisha coast on 12 October 2013 and Hudhud near Visakhapatnam on 12 October 2014; the first produced one of the largest peacetime evacuations attempted in India, and deaths were in double figures where a comparable 1999 storm had killed about ten thousand. The difference was not better physics alone but a warning that reached administrators who acted on it.
Way forward
The test is whether the platform shortens the last mile. Three things would show it: publication in Indian languages, integration with State disaster dashboards and the common alerting protocol, and published track-error statistics so users can calibrate how much to trust the cone. None is mentioned in the release.
Conclusion
The forecasts were already good; what has been missing is their assembly into something a district officer can act on in one look. This is that, published on the anniversary of the two storms that made the case for it.
Deploys into: Cyclone preparedness and disaster management · IMD and the WMO regional system · Impact-based forecasting · The last-mile warning problem
Ministry of Earth Sciences · 2026-10-12 · PRID 2322562 · PIB source ↗