IMD has been issuing various types of forecasts for more than a century. The centralized forecasting service was started in 1928,through the Weather Central at Pune. To start with, the Weather Central was responsible for the issue of daily telegraphic summary of the general weather situation over the country with the forecast of the next 24 hours and the publication of daily, weekly and monthly reports, storm warnings for the west coast (Arabian Sea) and inland warnings and was headed by a Meteorologist. A post of Superintending Meterologist -Forecasting (SMF) was created in November 1943 and was located in Karachi. In April 1945, the post of SMF was transferred to Pune to enable him to supervise the Pune Weather Central. Dr. S.N.Sen was the first incumbent to this post. In 1946 the post was redesignated as Deputy Director General of Observatories (Forecasting) and in 1978 as Deputy Director General of Meteorological (Weather Forecasting).
To facilitate smooth functioning of the Department, pre-independent India was divided (in 1945) into 7 regions, each with a Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC). These Regional Centers were responsible for the administrative and technical control of all forecast centers and observatories and for the efficiency of the meteorological communications within their respective areas. There are 5 Regional Centres in the post-independent India located at Bombay, Calcutta, Delhi, Madras and Nagpur.
The opening of Meteorological Centres in state capitals in the 70’s was an important landmark in decentralizing the services rendered by the department to the public and other users. These Centres are now responsible for issuing forecasts and warnings to all interested parties in the respective states under the supervision of five RMCs.
1928 * First All India Summary and Forecast issued.
1939 * International codes in full adopted.
1942 * Establishment of the Training Division.
1944 * Broadcast of Weather Map Analysis.
1945 * SMF Establishment transferred to Pune.
1946 * Establishment of Indian Voluntary Observing Fleet.
1951 * First Conference of Forecasting Officers.
1966 * Establishment of Indian Ocean and Southern Hemisphere Analysis Centre.
1969 * Two stage Warning System for cyclonic storm introduced with effect from May 1969.
1970 * Short Refresher Courses introduced for Operational Forecasters.1971 * Annual Cyclone Review Meeting introduced.
1975 * Forecasting Manuals completed.
1979 * Storm Tracks Atlas (updated version, 1891-1970) published.
1980 * A new Course of training for Group A Officers introduced.
1982 * Satellite Data Utilization Centre started.
1986 * Training courses redesigned for different branches of specialization.
1986 * Training Division became a WMO Regional Meteorological Training Centre
1986 * Cyclone Warning Dissemination System (CWDS) through satellite introduced in the country.
1989 * Annual Monsoon Review meeting introduced.1992 * Establishment of Satellite work station.
1992 * Training Division completed fifty years.
1993 * Establishment of Micro Earth Station.
1993 * SAARC Training Seminar-cum-workshop on Aviation Meteorology conducted.
1993 * INSAT II-B successfully launched in July.1994 * New Building for Training Directorate inaugurated at Pune.