KFCX radar — Blacksburg, VA
KFCX is the National Weather Service's WSR-88D Doppler radar for the Blacksburg area, operated with the NWS office RNK. View it live in TALON — the loop, super-res reflectivity, storm-relative velocity, rotation and correlation coefficient.
| Station | KFCX (Blacksburg, Virginia) |
|---|---|
| Location | 37.0240°, -80.2740° · Floyd County |
| Elevation | 2,963 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 KFCX see?
A radar beam travels in a nearly straight line while the Earth curves away underneath it, so the farther a storm is from KFCX, 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 KFCX | 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 KFCX's range
Since 1950, NOAA has recorded 131 tornadoes within 60 miles of the KFCX radar, 29 of them rated EF2/F2 or stronger. They have been most common in May and April. The strongest was an F3 on March 20, 1998, which passed about 44 miles southeast of the radar and caused 2 deaths. The most recent was an EF2 on September 27, 2024, which passed about 44 miles east-southeast of the radar.
Hail: 1,324 reports of hail 1 inch or larger within 60 miles of the KFCX radar since 1955, 55 of them 2 inches or larger. The largest was 4.50-inch hail (grapefruit size) on June 4, 1993.
| Tornadoes since 1950 | 131 |
| EF2/F2 or stronger | 29 |
| Strongest tornado | F3 · Mar 1998 |
| Busiest tornado month | May |
| Largest hail | 4.50 in · Jun 1993 |
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 KFCX
- Raleigh, NC 125 mi southeast
- Charlotte, NC 128 mi south-southwest
Nearby radars
- KRLX · Charleston, WV 119 mi
- KRAX · Raleigh/Durham, NC 137 mi
- KJKL · Jackson, KY 172 mi
- KAKQ · Wakefield, VA 180 mi
- KMRX · Knoxville, TN 183 mi
KFCX radar FAQ
How often does KFCX 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 KFCX?
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 KFCX down?
Radars occasionally go offline for maintenance. When one does, TALON's US radar map fills the gap from neighboring radars (KRLX, KRAX, KJKL).