KGLD radar — Goodland, KS
KGLD is the National Weather Service's WSR-88D Doppler radar for the Goodland area, operated with the NWS office GLD. View it live in TALON — the loop, super-res reflectivity, storm-relative velocity, rotation and correlation coefficient.
| Station | KGLD (Goodland, Kansas) |
|---|---|
| Location | 39.3670°, -101.7000° · Sherman County |
| Elevation | 3,714 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 KGLD see?
A radar beam travels in a nearly straight line while the Earth curves away underneath it, so the farther a storm is from KGLD, 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 KGLD | 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 KGLD's range
Since 1950, NOAA has recorded 641 tornadoes within 60 miles of the KGLD radar, 56 of them rated EF2/F2 or stronger. They have been most common in May and June. The strongest was an F4 on June 15, 1990, which passed about 60 miles north-northeast of the radar. The most recent was a tornado of unknown strength on September 16, 2025, which touched down about 35 miles west-southwest of the radar.
Hail: 3,256 reports of hail 1 inch or larger within 60 miles of the KGLD radar since 1955, 470 of them 2 inches or larger. The largest was 5.25-inch hail (grapefruit size) on August 8, 2023.
| Tornadoes since 1950 | 641 |
| EF2/F2 or stronger | 56 |
| Strongest tornado | F4 · Jun 1990 |
| Busiest tornado month | May |
| Largest hail | 5.25 in · Aug 2023 |
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 KGLD
- Colorado Springs, CO 171 mi west-southwest
- Denver, CO 177 mi west
Nearby radars
- KDDC · Dodge City, KS 145 mi
- KPUX · Pueblo, CO 147 mi
- KFTG · Denver/Boulder, CO 154 mi
- KUEX · Hastings, NE 185 mi
- KLNX · North Platte, NE 188 mi
KGLD radar FAQ
How often does KGLD 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 KGLD?
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 KGLD down?
Radars occasionally go offline for maintenance. When one does, TALON's US radar map fills the gap from neighboring radars (KDDC, KPUX, KFTG).