Live/Radar/Every radar/KRLX
Single radar / West Virginia
Charleston, WV radar KRLX
The weather service radar at Charleston, WV, West Virginia, 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
- 38.311°N 81.723°W, 1,099 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S2 | 7 mi east northeast of Ravenswood, WV47 mi from the radar, bearing 5° | Toward the north northeast at 40 mph | 3 mi east of Parkersburg, WV | - | 1.7 mi |
| V4 | 3 mi south southwest of Ripley, WV32 mi from the radar, bearing 359° | Toward the north northeast at 46 mph | 9 mi south southwest of Mineralwells, WV | At Reno, OH | 0.6 mi |
| V7 | 89 mi south of the radar89 mi from the radar, bearing 173° | Toward the north at 48 mph | 4 mi southeast of Welch, WV | 8 mi east northeast of Oceana, WV | 0.2 mi |
| C8 | 14 mi southeast of Spencer, WV38 mi from the radar, bearing 51° | Toward the north northeast at 55 mph | 10 mi northwest of Glenville, WV | - | 1.6 mi |
| S8 | 75 mi south of the radar75 mi from the radar, bearing 183° | Toward the north at 46 mph | 9 mi east of Gilbert Creek, WV | 13 mi north of Oceana, WV | 0.6 mi |
| V1 | 2 mi north of Sissonville, WV15 mi from the radar, bearing 14° | Toward the north northeast at 44 mph | 9 mi west of Spencer, WV | - | 1.6 mi |
| U2 | 14 mi south southeast of Richwood, WV70 mi from the radar, bearing 106° | Toward the northeast at 30 mph | 11 mi east of Richwood, WV | - | 1.8 mi |
| I2 | 5 mi south of Caldwell, OH96 mi from the radar, bearing 7° | Toward the north northeast at 41 mph | 7 mi east of Byesville, OH | 8 mi south southeast of Gnadenhutten, OH | 0.9 mi |
| A6 | 9 mi south southeast of Cumberland, KY122 mi from the radar, bearing 214° | Toward the north at 25 mph | - | - | 2.5 mi |
| Y7 | 2 mi southeast of Shinnston, WV107 mi from the radar, bearing 46° | Toward the east northeast at 75 mph | 5 mi northeast of Kingwood, WV | - | 1.4 mi |
| N2 | 7 mi west southwest of Powhatan Point, OH113 mi from the radar, bearing 22° | First seen this scan | - | - | 0 mi |
| B4 | 5 mi south southwest of Hazard, KY113 mi from the radar, bearing 227° | Toward the north at 54 mph | 12 mi south southwest of Salyersville, KY | 13 mi east northeast of West Liberty, KY | 0.9 mi |
| B9 | 100 mi east of the radar100 mi from the radar, bearing 100° | First seen this scan | - | - | 0 mi |
| M5 | 105 mi southeast of the radar105 mi from the radar, bearing 140° | First seen this scan | - | - | 0 mi |
| Z5 | 5 mi east southeast of Spencer, WV40 mi from the radar, bearing 37° | First seen this scan | - | - | 0 mi |
| H4 | At Madison, WV18 mi from the radar, bearing 199° | Toward the north northeast at 51 mph | 3 mi north northwest of Charleston, WV | - | 1.4 mi |
| D8 | 4 mi southeast of Sistersville, WV93 mi from the radar, bearing 26° | First seen this scan | - | - | 0 mi |
| F8 | 11 mi south southeast of Welch, WV71 mi from the radar, bearing 171° | First seen this scan | - | - | 0 mi |
| R4 | 9 mi northeast of Weston, WV93 mi from the radar, bearing 53° | Toward the north northeast at 49 mph | 1 mi east of Pleasant Valley, WV | 8 mi north northeast of Star City, WV | 0.3 mi |
| N4 | 5 mi east southeast of St. Marys, WV81 mi from the radar, bearing 24° | Toward the east northeast at 63 mph | - | - | 3.5 mi |
| E0 | 5 mi east of Whitesburg, KY99 mi from the radar, bearing 214° | Toward the north northeast at 60 mph | 3 mi west northwest of Coal Run Village, KY | 12 mi southeast of Louisa, KY | 1 mi |
| B3 | 10 mi north of Glenville, WV73 mi from the radar, bearing 42° | Toward the north northeast at 41 mph | 6 mi northwest of Salem, WV | - | 1.2 mi |
| O1 | 2 mi west of Lewisburg, WV76 mi from the radar, bearing 117° | Toward the north at 44 mph | 10 mi southeast of Richwood, WV | 74 mi east of the radar | 0.3 mi |
| J7 | 10 mi west northwest of Glenville, WV62 mi from the radar, bearing 39° | First seen this scan | - | - | 0 mi |
| L6 | 10 mi west southwest of Washington, WV59 mi from the radar, bearing 354° | First seen this scan | - | - | 0 mi |
| Y1 | 6 mi west southwest of Coal Run Village, KY75 mi from the radar, bearing 223° | Toward the north northeast at 54 mph | 51 mi southwest of the radar | - | 1.3 mi |
| I8 | 6 mi south southwest of Mineralwells, WV55 mi from the radar, bearing 10° | First seen this scan | - | - | 0 mi |
| H3 | 10 mi southeast of Richwood, WV71 mi from the radar, bearing 101° | Toward the north northeast at 55 mph | - | - | 4 mi |
| K2 | 10 mi south southeast of New Haven, WV39 mi from the radar, bearing 346° | Toward the north northeast at 79 mph | - | - | 2.9 mi |
| O0 | 107 mi east of the radar107 mi from the radar, bearing 82° | First seen this scan | - | - | 0 mi |
| D2 | 12 mi northeast of Devola, OH91 mi from the radar, bearing 14° | Toward the north northeast at 43 mph | 8 mi south of Barnesville, OH | - | 1 mi |
| Z3 | 6 mi north of Spencer, WV45 mi from the radar, bearing 27° | Toward the north northeast at 58 mph | 8 mi south southeast of St. Marys, WV | - | 2.1 mi |
| G1 | 9 mi east northeast of Buffalo, WV25 mi from the radar, bearing 347° | Toward the north northeast at 41 mph | - | - | 3.7 mi |
| P6 | 7 mi south southwest of Glenville, WV59 mi from the radar, bearing 52° | 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=KRLX, the times of its frames, and /radar/s/KRLX/storms.json, the storms it tracks.