Union Minister for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences inaugurated the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) at Jammu and said a similar centre will be established in Lucknow to expand regional forecasting. The Jammu facility becomes the country's seventh RMC and will serve Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh, offering specialised weather services and climate support adapted to complex Himalayan terrain.

The centre will provide district level forecasts, mountain forecasts, tourist advisories and city specific weather services, and will issue warnings for flash floods, cloudbursts, avalanches, heavy snowfall, thunderstorms and landslides. The services are expected to benefit pilgrims on the Amarnath and Vaishno Devi yatras, farmers, transport operators, hydropower projects, disaster management agencies and security forces.

The Minister noted the region had no Doppler weather radars in 2014 and that four are now operational at Jammu, Srinagar, Leh and Banihal Top. Under Mission Mausam five additional Doppler radars have been proposed for Anantnag, Rajouri, Baramulla, Kishtwar and Doda. The observational network now comprises 56 observatories, including 15 manual observatories, 25 Automatic Weather Stations (AWSs) and 16 Automatic Rain Gauges (ARGs).

Recently AWSs have been installed at Kargil, Ukhral in Ramban district and Mata Vaishno Devi Bhawan, and nearly eight more AWSs and five ARGs are expected during the current financial year. The number of stations under the Daily Rainfall Monitoring Scheme has risen from 30 in 2014 to 85 at present, improving rainfall monitoring and forecasting capabilities. The establishment of RMC Jammu marks a restructuring of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) regional operations.

Delhi will cede direct coordination for Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh, while the proposed Lucknow centre is intended to cover Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. The Meteorological Centre at Srinagar has signed collaborations with regional universities and the High Altitude Cloud Physics Laboratory at Patnitop has been set up with Swiss partners. The seismological network has been modernised and the Srinagar observatory recognised by the World Meteorological Organization as a Centennial Observing Station.