KLVX radar — Louisville, KY
KLVX is the National Weather Service's WSR-88D Doppler radar for the Louisville area, operated with the NWS office LMK. View it live in TALON — the loop, super-res reflectivity, storm-relative velocity, rotation and correlation coefficient.
| Station | KLVX (Louisville, Kentucky) |
|---|---|
| Location | 37.9750°, -85.9440° · Harrison County |
| Elevation | 830 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 KLVX see?
A radar beam travels in a nearly straight line while the Earth curves away underneath it, so the farther a storm is from KLVX, 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 KLVX | 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 KLVX's range
Since 1950, NOAA has recorded 482 tornadoes within 60 miles of the KLVX radar, 133 of them rated EF2/F2 or stronger. They have been most common in April and May. The strongest was an F5 on April 3, 1974, which passed about 10 miles west-northwest of the radar and caused 31 deaths. The most recent was an EF0 on December 28, 2025, which touched down about 16 miles northwest of the radar.
Hail: 1,411 reports of hail 1 inch or larger within 60 miles of the KLVX radar since 1955, 109 of them 2 inches or larger. The largest was 4.50-inch hail (grapefruit size) on May 1, 2002.
| Tornadoes since 1950 | 482 |
| EF2/F2 or stronger | 133 |
| Strongest tornado | F5 · Apr 1974 |
| Busiest tornado month | April |
| Largest hail | 4.50 in · May 2002 |
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 KLVX
- Louisville, KY 22 mi north-northeast
- Lexington, KY 79 mi east
- Evansville, IN 89 mi west
- Cincinnati, OH 110 mi northeast
- Indianapolis, IN 124 mi north
- Nashville, TN 133 mi south-southwest
- Knoxville, TN 178 mi southeast
Nearby radars
- KVWX · Evansville, IN 99 mi
- KHPX · Fort Campbell, KY 113 mi
- KIND · Indianapolis, IN 121 mi
- KOHX · Nashville, TN 124 mi
- KJKL · Jackson, KY 146 mi
KLVX radar FAQ
How often does KLVX 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 KLVX?
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 KLVX down?
Radars occasionally go offline for maintenance. When one does, TALON's US radar map fills the gap from neighboring radars (KVWX, KHPX, KIND).