KUDX radar — Rapid City, SD
KUDX is the National Weather Service's WSR-88D Doppler radar for the Rapid City area, operated with the NWS office UNR. View it live in TALON — the loop, super-res reflectivity, storm-relative velocity, rotation and correlation coefficient.
| Station | KUDX (Rapid City, South Dakota) |
|---|---|
| Location | 44.1250°, -102.8300° · Pennington County |
| Elevation | 3,192 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 KUDX see?
A radar beam travels in a nearly straight line while the Earth curves away underneath it, so the farther a storm is from KUDX, 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 KUDX | 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 KUDX's range
Since 1950, NOAA has recorded 171 tornadoes within 60 miles of the KUDX radar, 26 of them rated EF2/F2 or stronger. They have been most common in June and July. The strongest was an F3 on May 11, 1991, which touched down about 20 miles west-northwest of the radar. The most recent was a tornado of unknown strength on May 6, 2024, which passed about 53 miles north-northwest of the radar.
Hail: 3,026 reports of hail 1 inch or larger within 60 miles of the KUDX radar since 1955, 436 of them 2 inches or larger. The largest was 6.00-inch hail (grapefruit size) on June 19, 2015.
| Tornadoes since 1950 | 171 |
| EF2/F2 or stronger | 26 |
| Strongest tornado | F3 · May 1991 |
| Busiest tornado month | June |
| Largest hail | 6.00 in · Jun 2015 |
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
- KLNX · North Platte, NE 188 mi
- KBIS · Bismarck, ND 209 mi
- KCYS · Cheyenne, WY 229 mi
- KABR · Aberdeen, SD 235 mi
- KRIW · Riverton, WY 292 mi
KUDX radar FAQ
How often does KUDX 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 KUDX?
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 KUDX down?
Radars occasionally go offline for maintenance. When one does, TALON's US radar map fills the gap from neighboring radars (KLNX, KBIS, KCYS).