KAKQ radar — Wakefield, VA
KAKQ is the National Weather Service's WSR-88D Doppler radar for the Wakefield area, operated with the NWS office AKQ. View it live in TALON — the loop, super-res reflectivity, storm-relative velocity, rotation and correlation coefficient.
| Station | KAKQ (Wakefield, Virginia) |
|---|---|
| Location | 36.9840°, -77.0080° · Southampton County |
| Elevation | 253 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 KAKQ see?
A radar beam travels in a nearly straight line while the Earth curves away underneath it, so the farther a storm is from KAKQ, 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 KAKQ | 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 KAKQ's range
Since 1950, NOAA has recorded 393 tornadoes within 60 miles of the KAKQ radar, 62 of them rated EF2/F2 or stronger. They have been most common in April and August. The strongest was an F4 on August 6, 1993, which touched down about 27 miles northwest of the radar and caused 4 deaths. The most recent was an EF0 on November 9, 2025, which touched down about 52 miles northeast of the radar.
Hail: 867 reports of hail 1 inch or larger within 60 miles of the KAKQ radar since 1955, 58 of them 2 inches or larger. The largest was 4.25-inch hail (softball size) on May 9, 2003.
| Tornadoes since 1950 | 393 |
| EF2/F2 or stronger | 62 |
| Strongest tornado | F4 · Aug 1993 |
| Busiest tornado month | April |
| Largest hail | 4.25 in · May 2003 |
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.
Cities covered by KAKQ
- Raleigh, NC 123 mi southwest
Nearby radars
- KRAX · Raleigh/Durham, NC 123 mi
- KLWX · Sterling, MD 140 mi
- KMHX · Morehead City, NC 153 mi
- KDOX · Dover AFB, DE 153 mi
- KFCX · Blacksburg, VA 180 mi
KAKQ radar FAQ
How often does KAKQ 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 KAKQ?
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 KAKQ down?
Radars occasionally go offline for maintenance. When one does, TALON's US radar map fills the gap from neighboring radars (KRAX, KLWX, KMHX).