KICT radar — Wichita, KS
KICT is the National Weather Service's WSR-88D Doppler radar for the Wichita area, operated with the NWS office ICT. View it live in TALON — the loop, super-res reflectivity, storm-relative velocity, rotation and correlation coefficient.
| Station | KICT (Wichita, Kansas) |
|---|---|
| Location | 37.6540°, -97.4430° · Sedgwick County |
| Elevation | 1,401 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 KICT see?
A radar beam travels in a nearly straight line while the Earth curves away underneath it, so the farther a storm is from KICT, 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 KICT | 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 KICT's range
Since 1950, NOAA has recorded 798 tornadoes within 60 miles of the KICT radar, 134 of them rated EF2/F2 or stronger. They have been most common in May and June. The strongest was an F5 on May 25, 1955, which passed about 40 miles east-southeast of the radar and caused 80 deaths. The most recent was a tornado of unknown strength on September 14, 2025, which touched down about 41 miles east-northeast of the radar.
Hail: 4,163 reports of hail 1 inch or larger within 60 miles of the KICT radar since 1955, 481 of them 2 inches or larger. The largest was 7.75-inch hail (grapefruit size) on September 15, 2010.
| Tornadoes since 1950 | 798 |
| EF2/F2 or stronger | 134 |
| Strongest tornado | F5 · May 1955 |
| Busiest tornado month | May |
| Largest hail | 7.75 in · Sep 2010 |
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 KICT
- Wichita, KS 7 mi east-northeast
- Hutchinson, KS 39 mi northwest
- Salina, KS 82 mi north
- Enid, OK 90 mi south-southwest
- Stillwater, OK 108 mi south-southeast
- Tulsa, OK 131 mi southeast
- Topeka, KS 136 mi northeast
- Oklahoma City, OK 151 mi south
- Moore, OK 160 mi south
- Joplin, MO 166 mi east-southeast
- Norman, OK 168 mi south
- Overland Park, KS 176 mi east-northeast
Nearby radars
- KVNX · Vance AFB, OK 73 mi
- KTWX · Topeka, KS 114 mi
- KDDC · Dodge City, KS 138 mi
- KINX · Tulsa, OK 146 mi
- KTLX · Oklahoma City, OK 161 mi
KICT radar FAQ
How often does KICT 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 KICT?
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 KICT down?
Radars occasionally go offline for maintenance. When one does, TALON's US radar map fills the gap from neighboring radars (KVNX, KTWX, KDDC).