Live/Radar/Every radar/KDYX
Single radar / Texas
Dyess AFB radar KDYX
The weather service radar at Dyess AFB, Texas, alone: each picture it makes from its own scans, at four tilts from its lowest up, every few minutes. Reflectivity, velocity, storm relative velocity, correlation coefficient and differential reflectivity, the storms it tracks and where they are headed, and how high its beam passes. How to read them.
- Latest scan
- Scanning
- Precipitation mode, pattern 212
- Tilts
- 0.5°, 1.3°, 2.4°, 3.1°
- Stands at
- 32.538°N 99.254°W, 1,517 ft above sea level
- Reaches
- 286 mi with reflectivity, 186 mi with velocity, 143 mi with storm relative velocity
Storms it tracks
The radar follows each storm cell from scan to scan, measures the way it is moving, and puts it ahead 15 to 60 minutes. Each is drawn on the map above, its track to the hour ahead marked each quarter hour.
| Storm | Where | Moving | In 30 minutes | In 60 minutes | Last forecast off by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| U6 | 4 mi southeast of Stephenville, TX68 mi from the radar, bearing 112° | Toward the southwest at 10 mph | - | - | 3.5 mi |
| F7 | 11 mi east northeast of Early, TX60 mi from the radar, bearing 151° | Toward the southwest at 13 mph | - | - | 3.2 mi |
| Z7 | 14 mi south southwest of Santa Anna, TX69 mi from the radar, bearing 187° | Toward the north at 5 mph | 12 mi south southwest of Santa Anna, TX | - | 1.7 mi |
| O3 | 11 mi south of Brownwood, TX70 mi from the radar, bearing 168° | Toward the south southwest at 49 mph | 11 mi northeast of Brady, TX | - | 2.1 mi |
| B1 | 13 mi northeast of Brady, TX89 mi from the radar, bearing 177° | Toward the north northeast at 13 mph | 83 mi south of the radar | - | 1.5 mi |
| B0 | 4 mi southeast of Early, TX61 mi from the radar, bearing 159° | Toward the southwest at 43 mph | - | - | 3.9 mi |
| P2 | 14 mi north northeast of Early, TX47 mi from the radar, bearing 152° | Toward the east northeast at 15 mph | - | - | 2.3 mi |
| N0 | 10 mi west of Tolar, TX69 mi from the radar, bearing 99° | First seen this scan | - | - | 0 mi |
| P6 | 6 mi southwest of Carter, TX86 mi from the radar, bearing 75° | Toward the north northeast at 8 mph | 2 mi west southwest of Carter, TX | 2 mi north of Carter, TX | 1 mi |
| Z4 | 1 mi south southeast of Eastland, TX28 mi from the radar, bearing 113° | Toward the east northeast at 10 mph | - | - | 4.3 mi |
| M4 | 8 mi south southwest of Comanche, TX63 mi from the radar, bearing 145° | Toward the west southwest at 15 mph | 11 mi east of Early, TX | - | 2.2 mi |
| D4 | 8 mi west southwest of Cisco, TX17 mi from the radar, bearing 150° | Toward the northwest at 9 mph | 11 mi west of Cisco, TX | - | 1.3 mi |
| A7 | 13 mi north northwest of Lake Brownwood, TX38 mi from the radar, bearing 173° | Toward the north northeast at 25 mph | - | - | 2.5 mi |
| T7 | 10 mi east northeast of Grape Creek, TX91 mi from the radar, bearing 227° | Toward the northeast at 17 mph | 83 mi southwest of the radar | - | 1.7 mi |
| N5 | 54 mi east northeast of the radar54 mi from the radar, bearing 70° | First seen this scan | - | - | 0 mi |
How high it sees
The beam leaves the radar tilted up and the earth curves away under it, so the farther from the radar, the higher it passes. Rain or snow falling under the lowest beam is not seen: far from the radar, shallow snow and drizzle can fall unseen. The heights are the standard ones, the air bending the beam as the weather service’s own rule takes it.
| Tilt | 25 mi | 50 mi | 100 mi | 150 mi | 200 mi |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.5° | 1,500 ft | 3,600 ft | 9,600 ft | 18,200 ft | 29,200 ft |
| 1.3° | 3,300 ft | 7,200 ft | 17,000 ft | 29,300 ft | 44,000 ft |
| 2.4° | 5,800 ft | 12,300 ft | 27,200 ft | 44,500 ft | 64,400 ft |
| 3.1° | 7,500 ft | 15,600 ft | 33,600 ft | 54,200 ft | 77,400 ft |
| Width | 2,200 ft | 4,400 ft | 8,800 ft | 13,100 ft | 17,500 ft |
How to read the pictures
- Reflectivity
- How strongly rain, snow and hail send the pulse back, in dBZ: the stronger, the heavier.
- Velocity
- The wind along the beam, in mph: green toward the radar, red away. Where the two meet tightly, the wind turns.
- Storm relative velocity
- The same wind with the storms’ own motion taken away, so a storm’s turning stands out: a tight pair of green and red is a rotating storm.
- Correlation coefficient
- How alike the returns of one pulse are, 0 to 1: rain and snow near 1, hail and melting snow lower, and debris a tornado lifts well below 0.8.
- Differential reflectivity
- How much wider than tall what falls is, in dB: large flat raindrops read high, hail and dry snow near 0.
Each picture is one tilt of one scan, as the radar sent it: its lowest tilt first, then three above it, the angles its scan pattern sets. A picture at a higher tilt sees higher into a storm, and farther over the ground at each distance. Press a point on the map to read the value there.
As data: /radar/now.json?show=sref&site=KDYX, the times of its frames, and /radar/s/KDYX/storms.json, the storms it tracks.