KABX radar — Albuquerque, NM
KABX is the National Weather Service's WSR-88D Doppler radar for the Albuquerque area, operated with the NWS office ABQ. View it live in TALON — the loop, super-res reflectivity, storm-relative velocity, rotation and correlation coefficient.
| Station | KABX (Albuquerque, New Mexico) |
|---|---|
| Location | 35.1500°, -106.8240° · Bernalillo County |
| Elevation | 5,948 ft above sea level |
| Type | WSR-88D (NEXRAD) S-band dual-polarization Doppler radar |
| Products in TALON | Super-res reflectivity (0.25 km), velocity, storm-relative velocity, rotation (azimuthal shear), correlation coefficient PRO |
How high can KABX see?
A radar beam travels in a nearly straight line while the Earth curves away underneath it, so the farther a storm is from KABX, the higher above the ground the radar is looking. Tornadoes start in the lowest few thousand feet, so storms close to the radar show low-level rotation much better.
| Distance from KABX | Lowest scan (0.5°) | Next scan (1.5°) |
|---|---|---|
| 10 mi | 500 ft | 1,400 ft |
| 25 mi | 1,500 ft | 3,800 ft |
| 50 mi | 3,600 ft | 8,200 ft |
| 75 mi | 6,300 ft | 13,200 ft |
| 100 mi | 9,600 ft | 18,800 ft |
| 150 mi | 18,200 ft | 32,000 ft |
Height of the beam's center above the radar, using standard refraction. Terrain can raise or block the beam.
Severe weather inside KABX's range
Since 1950, NOAA has recorded 63 tornadoes within 60 miles of the KABX radar, 2 of them rated EF2/F2 or stronger. They have been most common in May and July. The strongest was an F2 on October 10, 1974, which touched down about 14 miles west of the radar and caused 1 death. The most recent was a tornado of unknown strength on August 19, 2025, which touched down about 17 miles east-northeast of the radar.
Hail: 292 reports of hail 1 inch or larger within 60 miles of the KABX radar since 1955, 12 of them 2 inches or larger. The largest was 4.50-inch hail (grapefruit size) on September 30, 1998.
| Tornadoes since 1950 | 63 |
| EF2/F2 or stronger | 2 |
| Strongest tornado | F2 · Oct 1974 |
| Busiest tornado month | May |
| Largest hail | 4.50 in · Sep 1998 |
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather database — tornadoes 1950–2025, hail 1955–2025 (the latest year is preliminary). Distances are to each tornado's recorded track; ratings before February 2007 use the original Fujita (F) scale.
Nearby radars
- KHDX · Holloman AFB, NM 149 mi
- KFDX · Cannon AFB, NM 185 mi
- KEPZ · El Paso, TX 227 mi
- KFSX · Flagstaff, AZ 251 mi
- KPUX · Pueblo, CO 271 mi
KABX radar FAQ
How often does KABX update?
Every NEXRAD radar completes a full scan about every 4–6 minutes in storm mode, and repeats the lowest tilt more often (SAILS) during severe weather. TALON loads each new scan as it arrives.
What is the range of KABX?
Reflectivity reaches about 290 miles and velocity about 185 miles, but useful low-level detail is within roughly 100 miles — see the table above.
Is KABX down?
Radars occasionally go offline for maintenance. When one does, TALON's US radar map fills the gap from neighboring radars (KHDX, KFDX, KEPZ).