KEWX radar — San Antonio, TX
KEWX is the National Weather Service's WSR-88D Doppler radar for the San Antonio area, operated with the NWS office EWX. View it live in TALON — the loop, super-res reflectivity, storm-relative velocity, rotation and correlation coefficient.
| Station | KEWX (San Antonio, Texas) |
|---|---|
| Location | 29.7040°, -98.0290° · Guadalupe County |
| Elevation | 764 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 KEWX see?
A radar beam travels in a nearly straight line while the Earth curves away underneath it, so the farther a storm is from KEWX, 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 KEWX | 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 KEWX's range
Since 1950, NOAA has recorded 391 tornadoes within 60 miles of the KEWX radar, 73 of them rated EF2/F2 or stronger. They have been most common in May and March. The strongest was an F4 on April 28, 1953, which touched down about 41 miles west-southwest of the radar and caused 2 deaths. The most recent was an EF1 on October 24, 2025, which passed about 20 miles northwest of the radar.
Hail: 1,915 reports of hail 1 inch or larger within 60 miles of the KEWX radar since 1955, 325 of them 2 inches or larger. The largest was 6.12-inch hail (grapefruit size) on May 9, 2024.
| Tornadoes since 1950 | 391 |
| EF2/F2 or stronger | 73 |
| Strongest tornado | F4 · Apr 1953 |
| Busiest tornado month | May |
| Largest hail | 6.12 in · May 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 KEWX
- San Antonio, TX 34 mi southwest
- Austin, TX 43 mi north-northeast
- Corpus Christi, TX 137 mi south-southeast
- Waco, TX 138 mi north-northeast
- Houston, TX 160 mi east
Nearby radars
- KGRK · Central Texas, TX 80 mi
- KCRP · Corpus Christi, TX 136 mi
- KDFX · Laughlin AFB, TX 139 mi
- KHGX · Houston, TX 178 mi
- KSJT · San Angelo, TX 186 mi
KEWX radar FAQ
How often does KEWX 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 KEWX?
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 KEWX down?
Radars occasionally go offline for maintenance. When one does, TALON's US radar map fills the gap from neighboring radars (KGRK, KCRP, KDFX).