PHKI radar — Kauai, HI
PHKI is the National Weather Service's WSR-88D Doppler radar for the Kauai area, operated with the NWS office HFO. View it live in TALON — the loop, super-res reflectivity, storm-relative velocity, rotation and correlation coefficient.
| Station | PHKI (Kauai, Hawaii) |
|---|---|
| Location | 21.8800°, -159.5500° · Kauai County |
| Elevation | 180 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 PHKI see?
A radar beam travels in a nearly straight line while the Earth curves away underneath it, so the farther a storm is from PHKI, 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 PHKI | 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 PHKI's range
Since 1950, NOAA has recorded 8 tornadoes within 60 miles of the PHKI radar, all of them weak (EF0–EF1). They have been most common in December. The strongest was an F1 on December 17, 1967, which touched down about 8 miles west-northwest of the radar. The most recent was an EF0 on December 13, 2008, which touched down about 8 miles northwest of the radar.
| Tornadoes since 1950 | 8 |
| EF2/F2 or stronger | 0 |
| Strongest tornado | F1 · Dec 1967 |
| Busiest tornado month | December |
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
- PHMO · Molokai, HI 162 mi
- PHKM · Kohala, HI 272 mi
- PHWA · South Shore, HI 322 mi
- KBHX · Eureka, CA 2425 mi
- KMUX · San Francisco, CA 2476 mi
PHKI radar FAQ
How often does PHKI 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 PHKI?
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 PHKI down?
Radars occasionally go offline for maintenance. When one does, TALON's US radar map fills the gap from neighboring radars (PHMO, PHKM, PHWA).