Live/Radar/Every radar/KFWS
Single radar / Texas
Dallas/Fort Worth radar KFWS
The weather service radar at Dallas/Fort Worth, 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
- 32.573°N 97.303°W, 696 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| X8 | 6 mi east of Dublin, TX64 mi from the radar, bearing 239° | Toward the south southwest at 8 mph | 6 mi east southeast of Dublin, TX | 9 mi south southeast of Dublin, TX | 0.3 mi |
| U3 | 3 mi south of Pecan Plantation, TX28 mi from the radar, bearing 230° | Toward the north northwest at 12 mph | - | - | 3 mi |
| J1 | 6 mi south southeast of Rio Vista, TX29 mi from the radar, bearing 184° | Toward the north northwest at 18 mph | 3 mi north northwest of Rio Vista, TX | - | 1.6 mi |
| X5 | 9 mi west southwest of Glen Rose, TX44 mi from the radar, bearing 234° | First seen this scan | - | - | 0 mi |
| A4 | 3 mi east of DeCordova, TX22 mi from the radar, bearing 244° | First seen this scan | - | - | 0 mi |
| H4 | 5 mi south of Muenster, TX70 mi from the radar, bearing 356° | Toward the east southeast at 21 mph | 8 mi south of Lindsay, TX | - | 1.3 mi |
| F3 | 11 mi south of Dublin, TX74 mi from the radar, bearing 233° | First seen this scan | - | - | 0 mi |
| D7 | 13 mi north northeast of Goldthwaite, TX97 mi from the radar, bearing 228° | First seen this scan | - | - | 0 mi |
| V3 | 14 mi north of Ranger, TX79 mi from the radar, bearing 275° | Toward the south at 20 mph | 4 mi north of Ranger, TX | - | 1.7 mi |
| I3 | 9 mi east southeast of Stephenville, TX53 mi from the radar, bearing 239° | First seen this scan | - | - | 0 mi |
| L0 | 15 mi north northwest of Mineral Wells, TX61 mi from the radar, bearing 298° | First seen this scan | - | - | 0 mi |
| T3 | 3 mi southeast of Rio Vista, TX25 mi from the radar, bearing 185° | First seen this scan | - | - | 0 mi |
| L9 | 7 mi southeast of Runaway Bay, TX46 mi from the radar, bearing 321° | Toward the east northeast at 20 mph | 6 mi south southwest of Decatur, TX | 5 mi east of Decatur, TX | 0.9 mi |
| Z2 | 3 mi west northwest of Cleburne, TX16 mi from the radar, bearing 212° | Toward the west southwest at 7 mph | 6 mi south southeast of Godley, TX | 7 mi east southeast of Pecan Plantation, TX | 0.8 mi |
| R1 | 3 mi north northwest of Glen Rose, TX35 mi from the radar, bearing 233° | Toward the east at 53 mph | - | - | 3.5 mi |
| J2 | 63 mi west northwest of the radar63 mi from the radar, bearing 283° | First seen this scan | - | - | 0 mi |
| F0 | 13 mi north northeast of Muenster, TX88 mi from the radar, bearing 359° | Toward the east at 15 mph | 7 mi southwest of Marietta, OK | 7 mi south southeast of Marietta, OK | 0.8 mi |
| P6 | 6 mi southeast of Jacksboro, TX61 mi from the radar, bearing 312° | Toward the east at 31 mph | - | - | 3.9 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=KFWS, the times of its frames, and /radar/s/KFWS/storms.json, the storms it tracks.