KCAE radar — Columbia, SC
KCAE is the National Weather Service's WSR-88D Doppler radar for the Columbia area, operated with the NWS office CAE. View it live in TALON — the loop, super-res reflectivity, storm-relative velocity, rotation and correlation coefficient.
| Station | KCAE (Columbia, South Carolina) |
|---|---|
| Location | 33.9490°, -81.1190° · Lexington County |
| Elevation | 341 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 KCAE see?
A radar beam travels in a nearly straight line while the Earth curves away underneath it, so the farther a storm is from KCAE, 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 KCAE | 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 KCAE's range
Since 1950, NOAA has recorded 505 tornadoes within 60 miles of the KCAE radar, 104 of them rated EF2/F2 or stronger. They have been most common in April and March. The strongest was an F4 on March 28, 1984, which passed about 30 miles north of the radar and caused 5 deaths. The most recent was an EF1 on June 9, 2025, which passed about 18 miles northwest of the radar.
Hail: 1,064 reports of hail 1 inch or larger within 60 miles of the KCAE radar since 1955, 55 of them 2 inches or larger. The largest was 4.25-inch hail (softball size) on April 16, 2011.
| Tornadoes since 1950 | 505 |
| EF2/F2 or stronger | 104 |
| Strongest tornado | F4 · Mar 1984 |
| Busiest tornado month | April |
| Largest hail | 4.25 in · Apr 2011 |
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 KCAE
- Charlotte, NC 90 mi north
Nearby radars
- KCLX · Charleston, SC 90 mi
- KGSP · Greer, SC 90 mi
- KLTX · Wilmington, NC 154 mi
- KJGX · Robins AFB, GA 156 mi
- KRAX · Raleigh/Durham, NC 191 mi
KCAE radar FAQ
How often does KCAE 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 KCAE?
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 KCAE down?
Radars occasionally go offline for maintenance. When one does, TALON's US radar map fills the gap from neighboring radars (KCLX, KGSP, KLTX).