KRAX radar — Raleigh/Durham, NC
KRAX is the National Weather Service's WSR-88D Doppler radar for the Raleigh/Durham area, operated with the NWS office RAH. View it live in TALON — the loop, super-res reflectivity, storm-relative velocity, rotation and correlation coefficient.
| Station | KRAX (Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina) |
|---|---|
| Location | 35.6650°, -78.4900° · Johnston County |
| Elevation | 459 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 KRAX see?
A radar beam travels in a nearly straight line while the Earth curves away underneath it, so the farther a storm is from KRAX, 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 KRAX | 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 KRAX's range
Since 1950, NOAA has recorded 361 tornadoes within 60 miles of the KRAX radar, 76 of them rated EF2/F2 or stronger. They have been most common in April and May. The strongest was an F4 on March 28, 1984, which passed about 46 miles east-southeast of the radar and caused 16 deaths. The most recent was an EF1 on July 6, 2025, which touched down about 35 miles west of the radar.
Hail: 1,320 reports of hail 1 inch or larger within 60 miles of the KRAX radar since 1955, 68 of them 2 inches or larger. The largest was 4.00-inch hail (softball size) on March 28, 2005.
| Tornadoes since 1950 | 361 |
| EF2/F2 or stronger | 76 |
| Strongest tornado | F4 · Mar 1984 |
| Busiest tornado month | April |
| Largest hail | 4.00 in · Mar 2005 |
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 KRAX
- Raleigh, NC 11 mi northwest
- Charlotte, NC 136 mi west-southwest
Nearby radars
- KMHX · Morehead City, NC 110 mi
- KLTX · Wilmington, NC 116 mi
- KAKQ · Wakefield, VA 123 mi
- KFCX · Blacksburg, VA 137 mi
- KCAE · Columbia, SC 191 mi
KRAX radar FAQ
How often does KRAX 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 KRAX?
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 KRAX down?
Radars occasionally go offline for maintenance. When one does, TALON's US radar map fills the gap from neighboring radars (KMHX, KLTX, KAKQ).