PHWA radar — South Shore, HI
PHWA is the National Weather Service's WSR-88D Doppler radar for the South Shore 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 | PHWA (South Shore, Hawaii) |
|---|---|
| Location | 19.0800°, -155.5700° · Hawaii County |
| Elevation | 1,381 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 PHWA see?
A radar beam travels in a nearly straight line while the Earth curves away underneath it, so the farther a storm is from PHWA, 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 PHWA | 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 PHWA's range
Since 1950, NOAA has recorded 6 tornadoes within 60 miles of the PHWA radar, 1 of them rated EF2/F2 or stronger. They have been most common in March. The strongest was an F2 on January 28, 1971, which touched down about 49 miles northwest of the radar. The most recent was an F0 on February 28, 2004, which passed about 10 miles northeast of the radar.
Hail: 2 reports of hail 1 inch or larger within 60 miles of the PHWA radar since 1955. The largest was 1.00-inch hail (quarter size) on March 24, 2006.
| Tornadoes since 1950 | 6 |
| EF2/F2 or stronger | 1 |
| Strongest tornado | F2 · Jan 1971 |
| Busiest tornado month | March |
| Largest hail | 1.00 in · Mar 2006 |
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
- PHKM · Kohala, HI 73 mi
- PHMO · Molokai, HI 175 mi
- PHKI · Kauai, HI 322 mi
- KBHX · Eureka, CA 2367 mi
- KMUX · San Francisco, CA 2383 mi
PHWA radar FAQ
How often does PHWA 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 PHWA?
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 PHWA down?
Radars occasionally go offline for maintenance. When one does, TALON's US radar map fills the gap from neighboring radars (PHKM, PHMO, PHKI).