KPAH radar — Paducah, KY
KPAH is the National Weather Service's WSR-88D Doppler radar for the Paducah area, operated with the NWS office PAH. View it live in TALON — the loop, super-res reflectivity, storm-relative velocity, rotation and correlation coefficient.
| Station | KPAH (Paducah, Kentucky) |
|---|---|
| Location | 37.0680°, -88.7720° · Massac County |
| Elevation | 502 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 KPAH see?
A radar beam travels in a nearly straight line while the Earth curves away underneath it, so the farther a storm is from KPAH, 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 KPAH | 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 KPAH's range
Since 1950, NOAA has recorded 615 tornadoes within 60 miles of the KPAH radar, 163 of them rated EF2/F2 or stronger. They have been most common in April and May. The strongest was an EF4 on December 10, 2021, which passed about 26 miles south-southeast of the radar and caused 57 deaths. The most recent was an EF1 on November 18, 2025, which passed about 40 miles south-southwest of the radar.
Hail: 1,116 reports of hail 1 inch or larger within 60 miles of the KPAH radar since 1955, 95 of them 2 inches or larger. The largest was 4.50-inch hail (grapefruit size) on May 16, 2025.
| Tornadoes since 1950 | 615 |
| EF2/F2 or stronger | 163 |
| Strongest tornado | EF4 · Dec 2021 |
| Busiest tornado month | April |
| Largest hail | 4.50 in · May 2025 |
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 KPAH
- Evansville, IN 91 mi northeast
- Nashville, TN 127 mi east-southeast
- St. Louis, MO 133 mi northwest
- Memphis, TN 151 mi south-southwest
- Louisville, KY 184 mi east-northeast
Nearby radars
- KHPX · Fort Campbell, KY 85 mi
- KVWX · Evansville, IN 100 mi
- KNQA · Memphis, TN 134 mi
- KOHX · Nashville, TN 135 mi
- KLSX · St. Louis, MO 153 mi
KPAH radar FAQ
How often does KPAH 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 KPAH?
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 KPAH down?
Radars occasionally go offline for maintenance. When one does, TALON's US radar map fills the gap from neighboring radars (KHPX, KVWX, KNQA).