KEAX radar — Kansas City, MO
KEAX is the National Weather Service's WSR-88D Doppler radar for the Kansas City area, operated with the NWS office EAX. View it live in TALON — the loop, super-res reflectivity, storm-relative velocity, rotation and correlation coefficient.
| Station | KEAX (Kansas City, Missouri) |
|---|---|
| Location | 38.8100°, -94.2640° · Cass County |
| Elevation | 1,096 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 KEAX see?
A radar beam travels in a nearly straight line while the Earth curves away underneath it, so the farther a storm is from KEAX, 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 KEAX | 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 KEAX's range
Since 1950, NOAA has recorded 511 tornadoes within 60 miles of the KEAX radar, 120 of them rated EF2/F2 or stronger. They have been most common in May and April. The strongest was an F5 on May 20, 1957, which passed about 14 miles north-northwest of the radar and caused 44 deaths. The most recent was an EF0 on July 11, 2025, which touched down about 6 miles southeast of the radar.
Hail: 3,427 reports of hail 1 inch or larger within 60 miles of the KEAX radar since 1955, 357 of them 2 inches or larger. The largest was 5.50-inch hail (grapefruit size) on September 18, 2010.
| Tornadoes since 1950 | 511 |
| EF2/F2 or stronger | 120 |
| Strongest tornado | F5 · May 1957 |
| Busiest tornado month | May |
| Largest hail | 5.50 in · Sep 2010 |
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 KEAX
- Overland Park, KS 25 mi west-northwest
- Kansas City, MO 26 mi northwest
- Kansas City, KS 29 mi northwest
- Topeka, KS 78 mi west-northwest
- Columbia, MO 104 mi east
- Joplin, MO 120 mi south
- Springfield, MO 123 mi south-southeast
- Salina, KS 180 mi west
- Wichita, KS 184 mi west-southwest
Nearby radars
- KTWX · Topeka, KS 107 mi
- KSGF · Springfield, MO 119 mi
- KICT · Wichita, KS 190 mi
- KLSX · St. Louis, MO 193 mi
- KINX · Tulsa, OK 196 mi
KEAX radar FAQ
How often does KEAX 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 KEAX?
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 KEAX down?
Radars occasionally go offline for maintenance. When one does, TALON's US radar map fills the gap from neighboring radars (KTWX, KSGF, KICT).