KPOE radar — Fort Polk, LA
KPOE is the National Weather Service's WSR-88D Doppler radar for the Fort Polk area, operated with the NWS office LCH. View it live in TALON — the loop, super-res reflectivity, storm-relative velocity, rotation and correlation coefficient.
| Station | KPOE (Fort Polk, Louisiana) |
|---|---|
| Location | 31.1550°, -92.9760° |
| Elevation | 469 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 KPOE see?
A radar beam travels in a nearly straight line while the Earth curves away underneath it, so the farther a storm is from KPOE, 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 KPOE | 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 KPOE's range
Since 1950, NOAA has recorded 529 tornadoes within 60 miles of the KPOE radar, 106 of them rated EF2/F2 or stronger. They have been most common in April and May. The strongest was an F4 on December 3, 1953, which passed about 0 miles southeast of the radar and caused 9 deaths. The most recent was an EF1 on May 26, 2025, which passed about 36 miles northeast of the radar.
Hail: 754 reports of hail 1 inch or larger within 60 miles of the KPOE radar since 1955, 53 of them 2 inches or larger. The largest was 4.00-inch hail (softball size) on January 26, 2024.
| Tornadoes since 1950 | 529 |
| EF2/F2 or stronger | 106 |
| Strongest tornado | F4 · Dec 1953 |
| Busiest tornado month | April |
| Largest hail | 4.00 in · Jan 2024 |
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 KPOE
- Lafayette, LA 86 mi southeast
- Shreveport, LA 105 mi north-northwest
- Baton Rouge, LA 117 mi east-southeast
- Houston, TX 172 mi west-southwest
- Jackson, MS 182 mi east-northeast
Nearby radars
- KLCH · Lake Charles, LA 73 mi
- KSHV · Shreveport, LA 103 mi
- KHDC · Hammond, LA 159 mi
- KHGX · Houston, TX 171 mi
- KDGX · Jackson, MS 192 mi
KPOE radar FAQ
How often does KPOE 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 KPOE?
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 KPOE down?
Radars occasionally go offline for maintenance. When one does, TALON's US radar map fills the gap from neighboring radars (KLCH, KSHV, KHDC).