KLTX radar — Wilmington, NC
KLTX is the National Weather Service's WSR-88D Doppler radar for the Wilmington area, operated with the NWS office ILM. View it live in TALON — the loop, super-res reflectivity, storm-relative velocity, rotation and correlation coefficient.
| Station | KLTX (Wilmington, North Carolina) |
|---|---|
| Location | 33.9890°, -78.4290° · Brunswick County |
| Elevation | 144 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 KLTX see?
A radar beam travels in a nearly straight line while the Earth curves away underneath it, so the farther a storm is from KLTX, 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 KLTX | 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 KLTX's range
Since 1950, NOAA has recorded 286 tornadoes within 60 miles of the KLTX radar, 40 of them rated EF2/F2 or stronger. They have been most common in September and April. The strongest was an F4 on November 7, 1995, which touched down about 53 miles west-northwest of the radar. The most recent was an EF0 on July 6, 2025, which touched down about 37 miles northeast of the radar.
Hail: 740 reports of hail 1 inch or larger within 60 miles of the KLTX radar since 1955, 35 of them 2 inches or larger. The largest was 4.50-inch hail (grapefruit size) on April 20, 2024.
| Tornadoes since 1950 | 286 |
| EF2/F2 or stronger | 40 |
| Strongest tornado | F4 · Nov 1995 |
| Busiest tornado month | September |
| Largest hail | 4.50 in · Apr 2024 |
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 KLTX
- Raleigh, NC 124 mi north
- Charlotte, NC 162 mi west-northwest
Nearby radars
- KMHX · Morehead City, NC 104 mi
- KRAX · Raleigh/Durham, NC 116 mi
- KCAE · Columbia, SC 154 mi
- KCLX · Charleston, SC 177 mi
- KAKQ · Wakefield, VA 222 mi
KLTX radar FAQ
How often does KLTX 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 KLTX?
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 KLTX down?
Radars occasionally go offline for maintenance. When one does, TALON's US radar map fills the gap from neighboring radars (KMHX, KRAX, KCAE).