KMUX radar — San Francisco, CA
KMUX is the National Weather Service's WSR-88D Doppler radar for the San Francisco area, operated with the NWS office MTR. View it live in TALON — the loop, super-res reflectivity, storm-relative velocity, rotation and correlation coefficient.
| Station | KMUX (San Francisco, California) |
|---|---|
| Location | 37.1550°, -121.8980° · Santa Cruz County |
| Elevation | 3,550 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 KMUX see?
A radar beam travels in a nearly straight line while the Earth curves away underneath it, so the farther a storm is from KMUX, 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 KMUX | 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 KMUX's range
Since 1950, NOAA has recorded 41 tornadoes within 60 miles of the KMUX radar, 3 of them rated EF2/F2 or stronger. They have been most common in December and April. The strongest was an F2 on May 5, 1998, which touched down about 17 miles north-northwest of the radar. The most recent was an EF1 on December 14, 2024, which touched down about 10 miles southwest of the radar.
Hail: 8 reports of hail 1 inch or larger within 60 miles of the KMUX radar since 1955. The largest was 1.75-inch hail (golf ball size) on April 1, 1965.
| Tornadoes since 1950 | 41 |
| EF2/F2 or stronger | 3 |
| Strongest tornado | F2 · May 1998 |
| Busiest tornado month | December |
| Largest hail | 1.75 in · Apr 1965 |
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
- KDAX · Sacramento, CA 94 mi
- KHNX · San Joaquin Valley, CA 138 mi
- KBBX · Beale AFB, CA 162 mi
- KVBX · Vandenberg AFB, CA 181 mi
- KRGX · Reno, NV 223 mi
KMUX radar FAQ
How often does KMUX 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 KMUX?
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 KMUX down?
Radars occasionally go offline for maintenance. When one does, TALON's US radar map fills the gap from neighboring radars (KDAX, KHNX, KBBX).