KAMA radar — Amarillo, TX
KAMA is the National Weather Service's WSR-88D Doppler radar for the Amarillo area, operated with the NWS office AMA. View it live in TALON — the loop, super-res reflectivity, storm-relative velocity, rotation and correlation coefficient.
| Station | KAMA (Amarillo, Texas) |
|---|---|
| Location | 35.2330°, -101.7090° · Potter County |
| Elevation | 3,701 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 KAMA see?
A radar beam travels in a nearly straight line while the Earth curves away underneath it, so the farther a storm is from KAMA, 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 KAMA | 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 KAMA's range
Since 1950, NOAA has recorded 723 tornadoes within 60 miles of the KAMA radar, 110 of them rated EF2/F2 or stronger. They have been most common in May and June. The strongest was an F4 on May 15, 1957, which passed about 54 miles southeast of the radar and caused 21 deaths. The most recent was an EF0 on June 8, 2025, which touched down about 36 miles north-northeast of the radar.
Hail: 3,757 reports of hail 1 inch or larger within 60 miles of the KAMA radar since 1955, 612 of them 2 inches or larger. The largest was 7.02-inch hail (grapefruit size) on June 2, 2024.
| Tornadoes since 1950 | 723 |
| EF2/F2 or stronger | 110 |
| Strongest tornado | F4 · May 1957 |
| Busiest tornado month | May |
| Largest hail | 7.02 in · Jun 2024 |
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 KAMA
- Amarillo, TX 7 mi west
- Lubbock, TX 115 mi south
Nearby radars
- KLBB · Lubbock, TX 109 mi
- KFDX · Cannon AFB, NM 116 mi
- KFDR · Frederick, OK 166 mi
- KDDC · Dodge City, KS 200 mi
- KVNX · Vance AFB, OK 226 mi
KAMA radar FAQ
How often does KAMA 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 KAMA?
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 KAMA down?
Radars occasionally go offline for maintenance. When one does, TALON's US radar map fills the gap from neighboring radars (KLBB, KFDX, KFDR).