KSRX radar — Fort Smith, AR
KSRX is the National Weather Service's WSR-88D Doppler radar for the Fort Smith area, operated with the NWS office TSA. View it live in TALON — the loop, super-res reflectivity, storm-relative velocity, rotation and correlation coefficient.
| Station | KSRX (Fort Smith, Arkansas) |
|---|---|
| Location | 35.2900°, -94.3620° · Sebastian County |
| Elevation | 735 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 KSRX see?
A radar beam travels in a nearly straight line while the Earth curves away underneath it, so the farther a storm is from KSRX, 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 KSRX | 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 KSRX's range
Since 1950, NOAA has recorded 535 tornadoes within 60 miles of the KSRX radar, 137 of them rated EF2/F2 or stronger. They have been most common in May and April. The strongest was an F5 on March 26, 1976, which passed about 8 miles west-southwest of the radar and caused 2 deaths. The most recent was an EF1 on June 18, 2025, which passed about 49 miles north-northwest of the radar.
Hail: 1,798 reports of hail 1 inch or larger within 60 miles of the KSRX radar since 1955, 198 of them 2 inches or larger. The largest was 5.00-inch hail (grapefruit size) on May 4, 2020.
| Tornadoes since 1950 | 535 |
| EF2/F2 or stronger | 137 |
| Strongest tornado | F5 · Mar 1976 |
| Busiest tornado month | May |
| Largest hail | 5.00 in · May 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.
Cities covered by KSRX
- Fort Smith, AR 7 mi north-northwest
- Fayetteville, AR 56 mi north
- Tulsa, OK 109 mi west-northwest
- Little Rock, AR 123 mi east-southeast
- Joplin, MO 124 mi north
- Springfield, MO 145 mi north-northeast
- Stillwater, OK 162 mi west-northwest
- Norman, OK 174 mi west
- Moore, OK 176 mi west
- Oklahoma City, OK 178 mi west
Nearby radars
- KINX · Tulsa, OK 91 mi
- KLZK · Little Rock, AR 123 mi
- KSGF · Springfield, MO 145 mi
- KTLX · Oklahoma City, OK 164 mi
- KSHV · Shreveport, LA 198 mi
KSRX radar FAQ
How often does KSRX 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 KSRX?
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 KSRX down?
Radars occasionally go offline for maintenance. When one does, TALON's US radar map fills the gap from neighboring radars (KINX, KLZK, KSGF).