Barbados: 3D Printing to expand local weather monitoring

This case study belongs to a compendium of good practices and success stories in disaster risk reduction shared during the 2025 Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (GP2025). These stories reflect the real-world progress being made by governments, communities, and organizations around the world to reduce risk and build resilience.

The Barbados Meteorological Services has significantly enhanced its capacity to monitor weather conditions across the island, enabling more accurate and community-specific data on temperature, wind direction, wind speed, and rainfall. In recent years, it has rolled out many weather stations representing a major shift from earlier monitoring systems, which relied on only a handful of stations—primarily at the Grantley Adams International Airport and a few other locations.

The increased density of stations is revealing important local variations in weather patterns that previously went undetected. For example, while official records once reflected relatively uniform conditions, the expanded network has uncovered significant differences in temperature, wind, and rainfall from one district to another. These insights are helping communities better understand and prepare for the weather events that directly affect them.

A cornerstone of this progress is the MET Office’s innovative use of 3D printing technology. Instead of purchasing costly industrial-grade weather stations, the department designs and fabricates many of its own components in-house. This approach has dramatically reduced costs, enabled faster deployment, and ensured that replacement parts can be produced quickly whenever needed.

By combining an expanded monitoring network with locally produced technology, the Barbados MET Office is delivering real-time, highly localised weather information. 

Source: Shared at GP2025 Thematic Session 1-3 by Speaker H.E. Wilfred Abrahams, Government of Barbados.