India's southwest monsoon arrived three days late on June 4, while forecasts warn of below-normal rainfall and emerging El Niño conditions. With reservoir storage dropping below 30% capacity and the Meteorological Department predicting weak rainfall, the government has cut foodgrain production targets for the 2026-27 crop year.

Abid Bashir Jammu, Jun 05: Marking a major overhaul in India’s weather forecasting architecture, the Union Government on Friday launched a Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) in Jammu, a move aimed at strengthening weather monitoring and disaster preparedness across the sensitive Himalayan belt of Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh. Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh described the development as a “historic restructuring” of the India Meteorological Department (IMD), saying the 151-year-old institution is entering a new era of decentralised forecasting and region-specific weather services. The newly upgraded Jammu Regional Meteorological Centre will now function as a specialised weather hub for the northwestern Himalayan region, with a sharp focus on mountain meteorology, snow forecasting, high-altitude weather systems and early warning dissemination in vulnerable areas prone to avalanches, flash floods and cloudbursts.