KDAX radar — Sacramento, CA
KDAX is the National Weather Service's WSR-88D Doppler radar for the Sacramento area, operated with the NWS office STO. View it live in TALON — the loop, super-res reflectivity, storm-relative velocity, rotation and correlation coefficient.
| Station | KDAX (Sacramento, California) |
|---|---|
| Location | 38.5010°, -121.6780° · Solano County |
| Elevation | 141 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 KDAX see?
A radar beam travels in a nearly straight line while the Earth curves away underneath it, so the farther a storm is from KDAX, 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 KDAX | 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 KDAX's range
Since 1950, NOAA has recorded 83 tornadoes within 60 miles of the KDAX radar, 2 of them rated EF2/F2 or stronger. They have been most common in April and March. The strongest was an F2 on June 1, 1958, which passed about 58 miles west of the radar. The most recent was an EF0 on January 14, 2023, which touched down about 32 miles east-southeast of the radar.
Hail: 21 reports of hail 1 inch or larger within 60 miles of the KDAX radar since 1955. The largest was 1.75-inch hail (golf ball size) on August 19, 1983.
| Tornadoes since 1950 | 83 |
| EF2/F2 or stronger | 2 |
| Strongest tornado | F2 · Jun 1958 |
| Busiest tornado month | April |
| Largest hail | 1.75 in · Aug 1983 |
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
- KBBX · Beale AFB, CA 69 mi
- KMUX · San Francisco, CA 94 mi
- KRGX · Reno, NV 147 mi
- KHNX · San Joaquin Valley, CA 188 mi
- KBHX · Eureka, CA 196 mi
KDAX radar FAQ
How often does KDAX 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 KDAX?
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 KDAX down?
Radars occasionally go offline for maintenance. When one does, TALON's US radar map fills the gap from neighboring radars (KBBX, KMUX, KRGX).