A significant step towards ensuring the Turks and Caicos Islands are well monitored and prepared for any type of bad weather, especially during the hurricane season was taken with the latest installation of two state-of-the-art WeatherHawk Automatic Weather Stations.
The stations were obtained by the Department of Environment and Coastal Resources (DECR) with the assistance of Turks and Caicos Utilities (TCU) as part of their efforts to assist the TCI in areas such as: Disaster Risk Management and Climate Change adaptation.
The two new weather stations which are located in Providenciales and Grand Turk have the ability to look out and predict bad weather heading in the direction of the TCI; thereby, providing the Turks and Caicos Islands government with more time to prepare.
The achievement of these weather stations is essential to the TCI as they are capable of logging data 24/7, 365 days a year at a logging frequency as close as 15 minutes (or depending on the setting desired) and transmitting the data to a secured storage devise (computer at the National Environment Centre) using a wireless technology.
The operation of the DECR’s WeatherHawk is powered by a solar panel which means that it does not require electrical supply to maintain its operation.
The WeatherHawks complement the existing weather stations in TCI such as those installed and operated by the Providenciales International Airport, Turtle Cove Marina, and Regent Grant in Grace Bay.
The WeatherHawk provides the TCI with much needed meteorological information whilst looking ahead, as it can simultaneously record the atmospheric temperature, amount of rainfall, relative humidity, atmospheric pressure, solar radiation, evapo-transpiration, wind direction, and wind speed.
Director of the DECR, Mr. Wesley Clerveaux, expressed appreciation to FORTIS TCI and TCU for their full support to the projects and activities of the DECR. He noted that:
“FORTIS also supported the Native Plant Biodiversity Nursery and the Bight Park in Providenciales. What the DECR and its partners, FORTIS and TCU are doing with the weather station project is a classical example of public-private partnership where the ultimate winner is the people/public and the environment. I am keen to cooperate with other corporate entities in TCI to work towards environmental sustainability for the enjoyment and satisfaction of everybody. Caring for the environment is everybody’s responsibility, so please join the DECR in its campaign to make a clean and green TCI.”
