Live/Radar/Every radar/KIWA
Single radar / Arizona
Phoenix radar KIWA
The weather service radar at Phoenix, Arizona, 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
- 33.289°N 111.670°W, 1,362 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N1 | 101 mi west of the radar101 mi from the radar, bearing 277° | Toward the north at 46 mph | 13 mi east northeast of Salome, AZ | 115 mi west northwest of the radar | 0.1 mi |
| L3 | 140 mi west southwest of the radar140 mi from the radar, bearing 240° | First seen this scan | - | - | 0 mi |
| F2 | 86 mi northwest of the radar86 mi from the radar, bearing 321° | Toward the north at 49 mph | 5 mi south southwest of Williamson, AZ | 6 mi northwest of Paulden, AZ | 0.7 mi |
| K4 | 139 mi west southwest of the radar139 mi from the radar, bearing 244° | Toward the north at 53 mph | 129 mi west southwest of the radar | - | 1 mi |
| J4 | 145 mi southwest of the radar145 mi from the radar, bearing 230° | Toward the north at 41 mph | 130 mi southwest of the radar | 117 mi west southwest of the radar | 0.8 mi |
| Q4 | 144 mi southwest of the radar144 mi from the radar, bearing 233° | First seen this scan | - | - | 0 mi |
| R2 | 101 mi west southwest of the radar101 mi from the radar, bearing 251° | Toward the north at 51 mph | 93 mi west of the radar | - | 1.7 mi |
| H3 | 11 mi west northwest of Salome, AZ128 mi from the radar, bearing 287° | Toward the north at 68 mph | - | - | 2 mi |
| J3 | 107 mi west of the radar107 mi from the radar, bearing 261° | First seen this scan | - | - | 0 mi |
| V4 | 10 mi southeast of Cordes Lakes, AZ67 mi from the radar, bearing 345° | 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=KIWA, the times of its frames, and /radar/s/KIWA/storms.json, the storms it tracks.