Doppler Weather Radar Station in Cayman

With a CI $4.6 million European Commission grant, Cayman officials are hoping the new Doppler Weather Radar Station currently under construction in East End will be ready for the 2013 hurricane season. All information gathered, covering some 250 miles, will be available online in real time accessible to anyone. “At the moment the Cayman Islands uses satellite imagery, which requires interpretation of the data, but with the Doppler system Cayman will get accurate real-time information when storms or any other weather systems threaten or move through our area, so that residents can be better prepared,”said Fred Sambula, Director General of the Cayman Islands National Weather Service. This system is the final link that will connect radar stations in Belize, Barbados, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. 

Doppler weather radar is a type of radar used to locate precipitation, calculate its motion, and estimate its type. Modern weather radars are mostly pulse-Doppler radars, capable of detecting the motion of rain droplets in addition to the intensity of the precipitation. Both types of data can be analyzed to determine the structure of storms and their potential to cause severe weather.