KMTX radar — Salt Lake City, UT
KMTX is the National Weather Service's WSR-88D Doppler radar for the Salt Lake City area, operated with the NWS office SLC. View it live in TALON — the loop, super-res reflectivity, storm-relative velocity, rotation and correlation coefficient.
| Station | KMTX (Salt Lake City, Utah) |
|---|---|
| Location | 41.2630°, -112.4480° · Weber County |
| Elevation | 6,591 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 KMTX see?
A radar beam travels in a nearly straight line while the Earth curves away underneath it, so the farther a storm is from KMTX, 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 KMTX | 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 KMTX's range
Since 1950, NOAA has recorded 51 tornadoes within 60 miles of the KMTX radar, 4 of them rated EF2/F2 or stronger. They have been most common in August and May. The strongest was an F2 on August 11, 1999, which touched down about 48 miles southeast of the radar and caused 1 death. The most recent was an EF1 on September 2, 2021, which touched down about 39 miles southeast of the radar.
Hail: 118 reports of hail 1 inch or larger within 60 miles of the KMTX radar since 1955. The largest was 1.75-inch hail (golf ball size) on June 7, 2020.
| Tornadoes since 1950 | 51 |
| EF2/F2 or stronger | 4 |
| Strongest tornado | F2 · Aug 1999 |
| Busiest tornado month | August |
| Largest hail | 1.75 in · Jun 2020 |
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.
Nearby radars
- KSFX · Pocatello, ID 128 mi
- KLRX · Elko, NV 230 mi
- KRIW · Riverton, WY 238 mi
- KCBX · Boise, ID 247 mi
- KICX · Cedar City, UT 255 mi
KMTX radar FAQ
How often does KMTX 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 KMTX?
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 KMTX down?
Radars occasionally go offline for maintenance. When one does, TALON's US radar map fills the gap from neighboring radars (KSFX, KLRX, KRIW).