A Changing Service, An Enduring Mission: The Forecast Continues

“Me? A weatherman? Never happen... two weeks later I'm a weatherman.”

For someone who has spent much of his career making predictions, Director General John Tibbetts can laugh at just how wrong he was about that as he prepares to retire from the Cayman Islands National Weather Service (CINWS) after 41 years of public service.

But as one career reaches its conclusion, another enters a new chapter as Kerry Powery, who has spent nearly three decades by his side, prepares to succeed Mr Tibbetts as Director General.

Together, their overlapping careers trace the evolution of meteorology in the Cayman Islands from the small aviation-focused operation Mr Tibbetts joined in 1985 to the National Weather Service of today.

The Careers That Almost Never Happened
For both men, meteorology was never the plan as both set out chasing careers in aviation. Mr Tibbetts hoped to become an Air Traffic Control Officer, but when he walked into then Director of Civil Aviation Sheldon Hislop’s office with an application, he found himself steered towards weather instead. A decade later, Mr Powery followed a remarkably similar path, joining the Civil Aviation Authority in 1995 in pursuit of air traffic control and a future as a pilot until then Weather Service Director Fred Sambula recognised he had the qualifications for forecaster training.

“Looking back, that decision changed the course of my career,” said Mr Powery. “What began as an unexpected opportunity has become a profession, I have been proud to serve for nearly three decades.”

Both men went on to fall in love with the science. Under Mr Sambula, Mr Tibbetts discovered a fascination with meteorology that put his love of mathematics and data to work. “Once I got into meteorology, I quickly realised how much I enjoyed the science behind it,” he said. “There was always something new to learn and another problem to solve.” Years later, Mr Powery completed the same training programme at the Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology, before continuing his development through specialist training and international attachments.

Building a National Weather Service
In 1988, just three years into his career, Mr Tibbetts found himself in the air traffic control tower at Owen Roberts Airport as Hurricane Gilbert passed 30 miles south of Cayman as a Category 4 storm, positioned there so the Weather Service could compare its observations with reports from Hurricane Hunter aircraft. At the time, Jamaica issued hurricane warnings for the Cayman Islands, a responsibility that would soon shift closer to home.

By the time Mr Powery joined in 1998, that transformation was well underway, with Cayman becoming a designated forecasting office and manual observations giving way to computers and automated systems. Hurricanes Mitch and Ivan further reshaped the islands' approach to disaster preparedness, and in 2010 the operation Mr Tibbetts had joined more than two decades earlier officially became the Cayman Islands National Weather Service.

Growing Into Leadership
In 2014, their careers converged again when Fred Sambula, the “father” of the National Weather Service, retired. Mr Tibbetts stepped away from the day-to-day science he loved to take on the Director General role, and Mr Powery succeeded him as Chief Meteorologist. Over the 12 years since, Mr Powery has taken an increasingly prominent role in the Service's development.

“When I look back, what I am most proud of is the people we have developed along the way," said Mr Tibbetts. “Kerry and I have worked alongside each other for almost three decades, and I have watched him grow from a young forecaster into the leader he is today. He knows this Service, he knows our people, and I am confident the National Weather Service is in capable hands.”

“Being selected as the next Director General is both a tremendous honour and a humbling responsibility,” Mr Powery said. “It provides an opportunity to build upon the strong foundation established by Mr Tibbetts and, before him, Mr Sambula.”

For two men who never intended to become meteorologists, their careers have come to span much of the modern history of weather forecasting in the Cayman Islands. One now prepares to step away. The other prepares to take responsibility for what comes next.