KHGX radar — Houston, TX
KHGX is the National Weather Service's WSR-88D Doppler radar for the Houston area, operated with the NWS office HGX. View it live in TALON — the loop, super-res reflectivity, storm-relative velocity, rotation and correlation coefficient.
| Station | KHGX (Houston, Texas) |
|---|---|
| Location | 29.4720°, -95.0790° · Galveston County |
| Elevation | 115 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 KHGX see?
A radar beam travels in a nearly straight line while the Earth curves away underneath it, so the farther a storm is from KHGX, 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 KHGX | 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 KHGX's range
Since 1950, NOAA has recorded 680 tornadoes within 60 miles of the KHGX radar, 101 of them rated EF2/F2 or stronger. They have been most common in May and October. The strongest was an F4 on September 12, 1961, which touched down about 21 miles east-southeast of the radar and caused 8 deaths. The most recent was an EF1 on November 24, 2025, which touched down about 48 miles northwest of the radar.
Hail: 683 reports of hail 1 inch or larger within 60 miles of the KHGX radar since 1955, 62 of them 2 inches or larger. The largest was 4.50-inch hail (grapefruit size) on April 2, 2013.
| Tornadoes since 1950 | 680 |
| EF2/F2 or stronger | 101 |
| Strongest tornado | F4 · Sep 1961 |
| Busiest tornado month | May |
| Largest hail | 4.50 in · Apr 2013 |
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 KHGX
- Houston, TX 26 mi northwest
- Austin, TX 169 mi west-northwest
- Corpus Christi, TX 182 mi southwest
Nearby radars
- KLCH · Lake Charles, LA 120 mi
- KGRK · Central Texas, TX 163 mi
- KPOE · Fort Polk, LA 171 mi
- KEWX · San Antonio, TX 178 mi
- KCRP · Corpus Christi, TX 188 mi
KHGX radar FAQ
How often does KHGX 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 KHGX?
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 KHGX down?
Radars occasionally go offline for maintenance. When one does, TALON's US radar map fills the gap from neighboring radars (KLCH, KGRK, KPOE).