Weather service facing further radar failures

| 14/03/2023 | 45 Comments
Cayman News Service
Kearney Gomez Doppler Weather Radar

(CNS): The Kearney Gomez Doppler Radar is temporarily unavailable following a hardware failure, government officials have announced. The Cayman Islands National Weather Service (CINWS) said its technical team is working closely with the radar manufacturer to isolate the fault and determine a timeline for repairs. CINWS Director General John Tibbetts said in a press release that every effort was being made to find out what is wrong and how long it will take to fix.

“Our team is working diligently in collaboration with the radar manufacturer to identify the equipment responsible for the issue,” he said. “Once we have determined the cause of the issue, we will make every effort to get the radar back up and running. Although we don’t have a timeline for restoring radar service as yet, we are not expecting a long delay.”

The weather radar is an important asset in the CINWS meteorological toolkit but it is complemented by other services and tools. “The radar helps us monitor meteorological conditions as far as Jamaica, and is helpful for providing small-scale predictions,” Tibbetts explained. “For tracking storms further afield, we use the Cayman Islands Government’s GOES-R satellite system.”

Last year, a representative of the radar manufacturer travelled to Grand Cayman to complete a number of essential repairs to the radar equipment and the dome. Troy Jacob, the acting chief officer in the Ministry of Sustainability and Climate Resiliency, which has responsibility for the weather service, said the radar was in good working order following that visit.

“Following the repairs completed by the manufacturer last year, the radar was performing as it should for quite some time,” Jacob said. “Unfortunately, it is not always possible to proactively identify hardware issues. We understand the affinity and reliance that the public has for the radar, and that there would be frustration in the community when the radar is unavailable.”

Jacob reassured the public that weather service was doing all it could to restore the radar to full service and would continue to deliver accurate, timely forecasts, advisories and warnings for the country by using the other weather forecasting assets available.

“We intend to keep the country informed of our progress with the radar repairs, and hope to have another update shortly,” he added.


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Category: Science & Nature, Weather

Comments (45)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    It seems a bit of a misnomer to characterise the radar as broken down ‘again’, instead of ‘still’.

    The distilled version of the report appears to be “we don’t know what’s wrong with it, and hope to someday fix it.”

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  2. Moi says:

    Does it ever work?!

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  3. Anonymous says:

    It’s like WORC

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  4. Anonymous says:

    Funny how it’s always ‘down’ any time there is weather in the area….

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  5. Anonymous says:

    So, whee it was repaired after being down most of last year, there wasn’t a complete service and/or overhaul done??

    Figures! Morons in Charge!!

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  6. Anonymous says:

    It is cursed. Like pretty much everything here…

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    • Anonymous says:

      15 @ 8:08am – Why wouldn’t it be cursed? It’s named after an undeserving Lodge bureaucrat instead of Cayman’s iconic weatherman Frank Roulstone!!

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    • Anonymous says:

      really? go watch a video about Cuba 🇨🇺

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      • Anonymous says:

        Do you mean Haiti?

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      • Anonymous says:

        @3:10:
        Cuba’s weather radar is great and coverage of their entire island is almost always up and running.
        I use that rather than the local radar. No choice most of the time as the local one is down so often. Plus the greater range catches weather systems further out as they approach from the north or east.

        http://www.insmet.cu/asp/genesis.asp?TB0=PLANTILLAS&TB1=RADARES

        For wide-area coverage click the link for “Mosaico” for a composite mosaic of all the active radars.

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        • Anonymous says:

          Thanks for the link. But they have their problems also. Right now 6 of 8 radars are down

          • Anonymous says:

            @6:51, the mosiac still maintains island-wide coverage. All the radars overlap coverage. Perhaps Cayman needs to take a cue from Cuba and have a radar in Cayman and one in Cayman Brac. Or at least two for the sake of redundancy.

  7. Anonymous says:

    Looking out the window this morning it looked like it rained last night.
    I didn’t see that coming but then again neither did the radar.

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  8. Anonymous says:

    Don’t be stupid.
    we all know it was from the Kirkonnel Space Centre on the Brac.

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  9. Anonymous says:

    What Fud and Fudder don’t understand that someone will get a month paid vacation even without a work permit. Exactly a year and always around the spring/summer months…go figure!

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  10. Anonymous says:

    You gotta wonder who gets paid when it ‘breaks down.’

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  11. Anonymous says:

    Maybe they could get some Chinese balloons!

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  12. Anonymous says:

    Is this really a surprise to anyone?

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  13. Anonymous says:

    zzzzzzz….incompetence

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  14. Anonymous says:

    how long was it out for before? 1, 2 years? pretty clear it’s not needed.

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  15. Anonymous says:

    Operational faith in John Tibbetts is broken and that should have been fixed some time ago.

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  16. Anonymous says:

    This is not hard. If the manufacturer can’t diagnose it online, you fly in the nearest qualified technician, probably south Florida, get a diagnosis and order the parts. It’s been out two weeks, have ANY steps been taken beyond a phone call?

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    • Anonymous says:

      Try WD-40 or duct tape. If all else fails unplug, wait ten seconds and restart. Wonder if they tried that with he ticketing machines at the airport as they’re broken again as well. Business as usual here in Cayman 🤡🤡🤡

  17. Anonymous says:

    As I have said before, proper training and spare parts are essential. I bet there are few to zero spares kept on hand for breakdowns.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Only pens, pencils, sharpeners and swivel chairs.

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      • Anonymous says:

        And a pouf or two if you work at Port Authority.

      • Anonymous says:

        😂 sounds like you know the MET office layout. The head Forecaster replied to a question last year by saying “that is beyond my pay grade to answer” which was in relation to a passing storm and it’s path🙈 They are all a waste of time in that department

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  18. Anonymous says:

    who care’s it’s not required…and offers nothing that people cannot find elsewhere online

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    • Anonymous says:

      Shows you exactly where thunderstorm cells are and when they are going to arrive.

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    • Anonymous says:

      You’re either new to the island or have NOT a clue how useful it is for the average joe. Sit down please.

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  19. Anonymous says:

    another glorious day for the civil service….zzzzzzzzz

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  20. Anonymous says:

    Yawn!

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  21. Anonymous says:

    Ministry of ‘Sustainability’ and Climate Resiliency, – with the radar continually going down sustainability is pretty much a contradiction in terms 🙄

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  22. Anonymous says:

    The Kearney Gomez Doppler Radar is temporarily unavailable following a hardware failure, government officials have announced. The Cayman Islands National Weather Service (CINWS) said its technical team is working closely with the radar manufacturer to isolate the fault and determine a timeline for repairs.

    It’s been out for two weeks at least. Are they just finding out about it now?

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  23. Anonymous says:

    Just buy two of everything like I do for my AC given it takes forever to get replacement parts.

    Also, I love this part ” “For tracking storms further afield, we use the Cayman Islands Government’s GOES-R satellite system.”

    Did they launch this from East End?

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