History

Prior to the shifting to Poona India Meteorological Department had its Headquarters at Simla. The transfer of Headquarters from Simla to Poona was approved by the Govt. in early 1926. The first section transferred to Poona started functioning by the end of March, 1928 and the All India Weather Report started being   published from Poona from 1^st   April, 1928. The building was completed in June 1928, and the opening ceremony of the new H.Q. building of the India Meteorological Department was performed by then Governor-of Bombay, Sir Leslie Orme Wilson, on 20^th July, 1928, in the presence of the Hon'ble Sir Cecil McWatters, then acting Member of the Governor General's Executive council, who reviewed the work of the Department from its commencement.  The shifting of staff from Simla to Poona was also completed by the middle of 1928. Poona (now Pune) continued to be the headquarters of the Organization till the outbreak of second  World War in September,1939. As the IMD Headquarters was shifted from Simla to Pune, the Pune Met office is popularly known as " SIMLA OFFICE ".

Milestones

• India has some of the oldest Meteorological Observatories of the world. First Astronomical and Meteorological Unit was started at Madras in 1793.
• In 1875 all Meteorological work in the country was brought under a central authority with the establishment of India Meteorological Department.
• Advent of telegraphy enabled centralised data reception and publication of the Indian Daily Weather Report (IDWR) since 1878. The first weather charts were printed in the IDWR in 1887.
• Seismological activity started in India with the establishment of the first observatory at Alipore, Calcutta in 1888.
• Upper air measurements of winds started in 1905 by the method of tracking balloons with theodolites.
• A separate division was created in 1932 for research activities in the field of Agricultural Meteorology.
• Radars were pressed into aviation weather service as early as 1954.
• The positional Astronomy Centre- then known as Nautical Almanac Unit was established in 1955.
• Environmental Meteorology took shape in India with the first Ozone measurement at Kodaikanal in 1957.
• IMD started receiving satellite images from US Satellites in 1964.
• Meteorological training facilities created in 1942 and upgraded to a Directorate in 1969 is now the Regional Meteorological Training Centre of the WMO.
• Directorate of Telecommunication was set up in 1970 to rapidly exchange information amongst various centres.
• The Telecom age ushered in the prospects of global data assimilation and numerical weather forecasting in 1973.
• Hundred Years of Weather Service (1875-1975) view pdf
• The National Data Centre at Pune was created in 1977 for scrutinising and archiving all Meteorological data in computerized form.
• Golden Jubilee IMD PUNE (1928-1978) view pdf
• INSAT provided a Geostationary platform for remote sensing of the atmosphere and automatic data collection in 1982.
• First Meteorological station at Antarctica was established in 1983 by IMD.
• First Global Seismological Network (GSN) standard broad band seismological observatory was set up at Pune in 1996.
• The Internet has opened avenues to provide better services. IMD created its official website in 2000.
• 125 Years of Service to the Nation (1875-2000) view pdf
• In 2002 Doppler Weather Radars (DWR) were inducted in the cyclone detection network which enable precise estimate of intensity of cyclone.
• Meteorological Data and INSAT Imagery were launched through World Space Digital Data Broadcast System in 2003.