Weather radar fixed but more work needed

| 15/07/2022 | 37 Comments
Cayman News Service
Kearney Gomez Doppler Radar cover

(CNS): Six weeks into this year’s storm season, the Cayman Islands National Weather Service (CINWS) has said that the Kearney Gomez Doppler Radar has been fixed but work to repair the leaking dome and install a dehumidifier is still underway. Nevertheless, the actual radar is back online and live images are now available on the weather service website. The radar has been out of action since October last year when it was damaged during Tropical Storm Grace.

Cayman News Service
Roland Schweitzer, a technician from LEONARDO Germany, works on the radar

The delay in getting it repaired was due to the limited expertise available to do the specialist work and secure the parts. However, the repair work has now been done by a technician from LEONARDO Germany, a specialist meteorology and security company. CINWS Director General John Tibbetts said it was the only company in the world that was able to provide the expertise and make the necessary repairs. The additional work on the dome is expected to be completed next month.

“Our work is not over and we are continuing our efforts to ensure the dome is sealed and a dehumidifier installed, ahead of what is typically the busiest portion of Atlantic hurricane season for the Cayman Islands,” Tibbetts said.

The government will continue to keep the community informed of progress on these repairs as they are aware of the significant public interest in the status of the service, Ministry of Sustainability and Climate Resiliency Chief Officer Jennifer Ahearn said.

“I want to thank the Cayman Islands public for your continued patience as the Weather Service has worked to restore radar service,” she said. “I know it will be a relief to many in our community that they can once again view real-time radar images online. Throughout this process, our meteorologists have continued to provide forecasts for the Cayman Islands and I am pleased they will once again be able to use the radar in support of these efforts.”

The latest weather forecast calls for isolated showers moving west, as Cayman experiences light easterly winds in association with a ridge north of the Caribbean. Hazy conditions are expected to continue as a plume of Saharan dust lingers over the western Caribbean.


Share your vote!


How do you feel after reading this?
  • Fascinated
  • Happy
  • Sad
  • Angry
  • Bored
  • Afraid
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Tags: , , , ,

Category: Local News

Comments (37)

Trackback URL | Comments RSS Feed

  1. Michel says:

    Our Natianal weather radar station needs to be a priority.

    24
    1
    • Anonymous says:

      At least a priority to the guy being paid to keep it working. The only reason this repair is a headline is that he screwed the pooch on the job for a year.

      21
      1
    • Hancock says:

      John Foster. We need you. Where are you.

      16
      6
      • Anonymous says:

        Hancock are you serious? John Foster had a “knack” for reporting the weather info he received from our National Weather Service (John Tibbetts’ crew), but John Foster was not a meteorologist – by far!

        But apart form John Foster – we need a local TV station. Where’s that!!

        14
        2
  2. Anon says:

    TS Grace was August 2021 not October so we have been without radar for almost a year, and if I recall correctly the radar feed was already offline before TS Grace arrived?

    36
  3. Anonymous says:

    30 Mile Radar still down. Glad to see the 150 and 250 up and running like a champ. Well done!

    I hope it remains up when we really need it.

    22
  4. Anonymous says:

    Expect an FOI

    15
  5. Anonymous says:

    I expect that a suitable stock of spare parts has been left after this trip, as well as preventative maintenance training for our local operators/technicians?

    25
    2
  6. Anonymous says:

    Great job picking something only one person in the world can fix. But somehow I doubt this.

    30
    • Anonymous says:

      On the one hand I don’t believe only one person on the planet can fix it. On the other I would absolutely expect us to buy a radar that only one person on the planet can fix!

      14
      • Anonymous says:

        Do you go to a doctor and be able to question why what he prescribed for your illness did not work, or do you expect a nurse to give you an answer? So why do you think that you are qualified to give an opinion on a complex technological topic like radar? On a more broader national level, it is high time that the unsung heroes who have kept and still keep our technological infrastructure reliable be awarded some recognition.

        As a society, the absence of proper legislation to regulate the engineering profession as a whole is alarming. We have surveyors, lawyers, accountants and doctors etc regulated but the unqualified persons who can hold themselves out as engineering professionals in positions of responsibility cannot be sanctioned. The division of responsibility between such persons is unclear to many, but they do exist like other professions. Accountants have technicians, doctors have nurses, lawyers have paralegals etc.
        Please stick to what you know.

        5
        11
        • Anonymous says:

          Lol. Firstly what a load of utter twaddle. Secondly those “unsung heroes” have completely failed to keep this technology reliable as you claim, nor are they apparently capable of doing so. Lastly I have an MEng from Imperial.

          16
          • Anonymous says:

            You claim you “have an MEng from Imperial” highly doubt it when you cannot interpret what the writer said on a broader national level. You Johnny come latelies do not know who built this country and it certainly was not the lot of you.

            3
            6
            • Anonymous says:

              None of the governments technology works reliably and never has.
              Johnny C. Lately

              4
              1
            • Anonymous says:

              That you find someone having a Masters Degree in Engineering from Imperial so implausible says considerably more about you, your lack of achievements and your low expectations than theirs.

              4
              1
            • Anonymous says:

              What does that say about you, that you assume someone with an advanced degree from a real university can’t be Caymanian?

        • Anonymous says:

          Someone who pays someone else to fix something a year after it breaks is an unsung hero? Wow. Low bar. Maybe we should have a statue of them.

          17
          2
        • Anonymous says:

          Maintenance and engineering is what I do for a living and the state of things in the public sector is appalling. Unsung heroes would be appropriate if they actually kept any of it up and running. As it stands they’re all just getting paid despite the constant breakdowns and failures.
          If you knew what this stuff costs in repairs and downtime etc you’d have a heart attack. It’s crazy high and nobody is held to account.

          Absolutely 100% engineers need to actually be qualified engineers. The number of people who use that title and can’t use a calculator or solve a simple problem is alarming.

  7. Anonymous says:

    Great job Mr. Premier.

    11
    21
  8. Anonymous says:

    Fix the damn dump.

    30
    8
  9. Anonymous says:

    “Our work is not over and we are continuing our efforts to ensure the dome is sealed and a dehumidifier installed”

    Umm, you’ve had since October last year to do this…

    57
  10. Anonymous says:

    weather radars contain sophisticated electronic equipment which is vulnerable to the surge of unstable electrical current induced by lightning.

    Was lightning protection system installed to safeguarding against lightning strikes? There are stringent standards on lightning earthing resistance for weather radar stations.

    30

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.