KEOX radar — Fort Rucker, AL
KEOX is the National Weather Service's WSR-88D Doppler radar for the Fort Rucker area, operated with the NWS office TAE. View it live in TALON — the loop, super-res reflectivity, storm-relative velocity, rotation and correlation coefficient.
| Station | KEOX (Fort Rucker, Alabama) |
|---|---|
| Location | 31.4600°, -85.4590° · Dale County |
| Elevation | 535 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 KEOX see?
A radar beam travels in a nearly straight line while the Earth curves away underneath it, so the farther a storm is from KEOX, 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 KEOX | 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 KEOX's range
Since 1950, NOAA has recorded 555 tornadoes within 60 miles of the KEOX radar, 107 of them rated EF2/F2 or stronger. They have been most common in April and March. The strongest was an EF4 on March 1, 2007, which passed about 20 miles west-southwest of the radar and caused 9 deaths. The most recent was an EF1 on May 21, 2025, which passed about 56 miles north-northwest of the radar.
Hail: 411 reports of hail 1 inch or larger within 60 miles of the KEOX radar since 1955, 33 of them 2 inches or larger. The largest was 4.00-inch hail (softball size) on July 22, 2018.
| Tornadoes since 1950 | 555 |
| EF2/F2 or stronger | 107 |
| Strongest tornado | EF4 · Mar 2007 |
| Busiest tornado month | April |
| Largest hail | 4.00 in · Jul 2018 |
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 KEOX
- Montgomery, AL 81 mi northwest
- Mobile, AL 162 mi west-southwest
- Birmingham, AL 163 mi north-northwest
- Atlanta, GA 170 mi north-northeast
- Tuscaloosa, AL 173 mi northwest
Nearby radars
- KEVX · Eglin AFB, FL 68 mi
- KMXX · Maxwell AFB, AL 77 mi
- KTLH · Tallahassee, FL 99 mi
- KBMX · Birmingham, AL 141 mi
- KFFC · Atlanta, GA 141 mi
KEOX radar FAQ
How often does KEOX 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 KEOX?
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 KEOX down?
Radars occasionally go offline for maintenance. When one does, TALON's US radar map fills the gap from neighboring radars (KEVX, KMXX, KTLH).