KMHX radar — Morehead City, NC
KMHX is the National Weather Service's WSR-88D Doppler radar for the Morehead City area, operated with the NWS office MHX. View it live in TALON — the loop, super-res reflectivity, storm-relative velocity, rotation and correlation coefficient.
| Station | KMHX (Morehead City, North Carolina) |
|---|---|
| Location | 34.7760°, -76.8760° · Carteret County |
| Elevation | 141 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 KMHX see?
A radar beam travels in a nearly straight line while the Earth curves away underneath it, so the farther a storm is from KMHX, 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 KMHX | 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 KMHX's range
Since 1950, NOAA has recorded 313 tornadoes within 60 miles of the KMHX radar, 42 of them rated EF2/F2 or stronger. They have been most common in April and September. The strongest was an F3 on March 17, 1965, which passed about 22 miles north-northwest of the radar and caused 2 deaths. The most recent was an EF0 on September 16, 2024, which touched down about 11 miles west-southwest of the radar.
Hail: 485 reports of hail 1 inch or larger within 60 miles of the KMHX radar since 1955, 30 of them 2 inches or larger. The largest was 3.50-inch hail (teacup size) on May 2, 1995.
| Tornadoes since 1950 | 313 |
| EF2/F2 or stronger | 42 |
| Strongest tornado | F3 · Mar 1965 |
| Busiest tornado month | April |
| Largest hail | 3.50 in · May 1995 |
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 KMHX
- Raleigh, NC 121 mi northwest
Nearby radars
- KLTX · Wilmington, NC 104 mi
- KRAX · Raleigh/Durham, NC 110 mi
- KAKQ · Wakefield, VA 153 mi
- KFCX · Blacksburg, VA 246 mi
- KCAE · Columbia, SC 249 mi
KMHX radar FAQ
How often does KMHX 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 KMHX?
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 KMHX down?
Radars occasionally go offline for maintenance. When one does, TALON's US radar map fills the gap from neighboring radars (KLTX, KRAX, KAKQ).