New Delhi, May 12 -- The India Meteorological Department (IMD) is rolling out an artificial-intelligence-powered system to predict the arrival of the southwest monsoon at the sub-district level, an upgrade from the national and state-level forecasting that has kept farmers unsure about when to plant their crops.

Meanwhile, IMD will make the all-important announcement about the onset of the southwest monsoon on Thursday.

IMD will provide block-level monsoon onset forecasts at least 10 days in advance, covering more than 3,000 sub-districts across 16 states, including Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh. The system draws on AI-based models, extended-range prediction tools, and statistical techniques to generate probabi...