KILN radar — Wilmington, OH
KILN is the National Weather Service's WSR-88D Doppler radar for the Wilmington area, operated with the NWS office ILN. View it live in TALON — the loop, super-res reflectivity, storm-relative velocity, rotation and correlation coefficient.
| Station | KILN (Wilmington, Ohio) |
|---|---|
| Location | 39.4200°, -83.8220° · Clinton County |
| Elevation | 1,168 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 KILN see?
A radar beam travels in a nearly straight line while the Earth curves away underneath it, so the farther a storm is from KILN, 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 KILN | 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 KILN's range
Since 1950, NOAA has recorded 490 tornadoes within 60 miles of the KILN radar, 90 of them rated EF2/F2 or stronger. They have been most common in May and April. The strongest was an F5 on April 3, 1974, which passed about 19 miles northwest of the radar and caused 36 deaths. The most recent was an EF0 on September 22, 2025, which passed about 52 miles south-southwest of the radar.
Hail: 1,251 reports of hail 1 inch or larger within 60 miles of the KILN radar since 1955, 114 of them 2 inches or larger. The largest was 5.00-inch hail (grapefruit size) on May 1, 2012.
| Tornadoes since 1950 | 490 |
| EF2/F2 or stronger | 90 |
| Strongest tornado | F5 · Apr 1974 |
| Busiest tornado month | May |
| Largest hail | 5.00 in · May 2012 |
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 KILN
- Cincinnati, OH 43 mi west-southwest
- Columbus, OH 58 mi northeast
- Lexington, KY 102 mi south-southwest
- Indianapolis, IN 127 mi west-northwest
- Louisville, KY 132 mi southwest
Nearby radars
- KJKL · Jackson, KY 129 mi
- KIND · Indianapolis, IN 132 mi
- KRLX · Charleston, WV 136 mi
- KLVX · Louisville, KY 152 mi
- KIWX · Fort Wayne, IN 166 mi
KILN radar FAQ
How often does KILN 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 KILN?
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 KILN down?
Radars occasionally go offline for maintenance. When one does, TALON's US radar map fills the gap from neighboring radars (KJKL, KIND, KRLX).