diff --git a/TODO.adoc b/TODO.adoc
index 5a2ae6c..1fd7dd7 100644
--- a/TODO.adoc
+++ b/TODO.adoc
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ independence from connectivity.
 * [ ] Import Park4Night / iOverlander / Freecampsites data
 * [ ] Kiwix/ZIM offline Wikipedia linked to POI GPS coordinates
 * [x] Cache weather forecast when temporarily connected — Open-Meteo 3-day forecast in the Radar flyout, last successful fetch cached in localStorage as a fallback when offline
-** [ ] Cache the radar tile *images* too, not just the forecast text — needs a Service Worker (own bigger task: registration, cache strategy, invalidation); app has HTTPS everywhere (reverse proxy, incl. the in-van local server) so it's viable, just not done yet
+** [x] Cache the radar tile *images* too — `public/sw.js`, network-falling-back-to-cache for RainViewer tile requests, registered from layout.erb
 
 == NPS visual style
 
diff --git a/public/sw.js b/public/sw.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0c8bd4d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/public/sw.js
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+// Caches RainViewer radar tile images so the last-seen frames stay visible
+// once the network is actually gone — nothing else here. No app-shell
+// precaching: the app itself is served by the same local server that's
+// already the offline resource in the van, so there's no "app unreachable
+// but should still work" scenario to solve, unlike the radar tiles (a
+// third-party CDN).
+const CACHE_VERSION = "v1";
+const RADAR_CACHE = `radar-tiles-${CACHE_VERSION}`;
+
+// ponytail: a rough cap, not real LRU/expiry — trims oldest-by-insertion via
+// Cache API iteration order (stable in practice, not spec-guaranteed).
+// Revisit with timestamp-based expiry if storage actually becomes a
+// problem; 400 tiles is at most a few MB either way.
+const MAX_RADAR_TILES = 400;
+
+function isRadarTile(url) {
+  return url.hostname.endsWith("rainviewer.com") && url.pathname.includes("/v2/radar/");
+}
+
+self.addEventListener("install", (event) => {
+  self.skipWaiting();
+});
+
+self.addEventListener("activate", (event) => {
+  event.waitUntil(
+    caches
+      .keys()
+      .then((keys) => Promise.all(keys.filter((key) => key !== RADAR_CACHE).map((key) => caches.delete(key))))
+      .then(() => self.clients.claim()),
+  );
+});
+
+self.addEventListener("fetch", (event) => {
+  const url = new URL(event.request.url);
+  if (!isRadarTile(url)) return;
+
+  event.respondWith(networkFallingBackToCache(event.request));
+});
+
+// Network first (frame ids rotate as new radar sweeps come in, so a cached
+// tile can go stale) — cache is only the answer once the network actually
+// fails, not a shortcut when it's merely slow.
+async function networkFallingBackToCache(request) {
+  const cache = await caches.open(RADAR_CACHE);
+  try {
+    const response = await fetch(request);
+    if (response.ok) {
+      cache.put(request, response.clone());
+      trimRadarCache(cache);
+    }
+    return response;
+  } catch (err) {
+    const cached = await cache.match(request);
+    if (cached) return cached;
+    throw err;
+  }
+}
+
+async function trimRadarCache(cache) {
+  const keys = await cache.keys();
+  if (keys.length <= MAX_RADAR_TILES) return;
+  await Promise.all(keys.slice(0, keys.length - MAX_RADAR_TILES).map((key) => cache.delete(key)));
+}
diff --git a/views/layout.erb b/views/layout.erb
index b8e184c..13f16e6 100644
--- a/views/layout.erb
+++ b/views/layout.erb
@@ -9,6 +9,16 @@
 </head>
 <body>
   <%= yield %>
+  <script>
+    // Caches radar tile images (see public/sw.js) so the last-seen frames
+    // stay visible once the network is actually gone. Silently a no-op
+    // where it can't register — insecure-context LAN access without a
+    // reverse proxy in front, for instance — same as radar caching simply
+    // not working there; nothing else on the page depends on this.
+    if ("serviceWorker" in navigator) {
+      navigator.serviceWorker.register("/sw.js").catch(() => {});
+    }
+  </script>
   <script src="/vendor/pmtiles/pmtiles.js"></script>
   <script src="/vendor/protomaps-themes-base/protomaps-themes-base.js"></script>
   <%# Vendored libs above don't change between deploys, so they're left