A NEXRAD WSR-88D weather radar in Arizona, the United States, operated by National Weather Service, NOAA.
- Station
- Tucson (KEMX)
- Operator
- National Weather Service, NOAA
- Network
- NEXRAD WSR-88D
- Antenna
- 31.894° N, 110.630° W, 5,205 ft (1,586 m) above sea level
- Products
- Reflectivity, composite reflectivity, echo tops, vertically integrated liquid, velocity, correlation coefficient, differential reflectivity, specific differential phase (KDP), spectrum width
KEMX is the National Weather Service's NEXRAD weather radar for Tucson. The antenna stands in Pima County, Arizona, about 46 km south-east of the city and 19 km from Vail, at about 1,500 m above sea level. The NWS Tucson forecast office is responsible for it.
The radar is a WSR-88D, the S-band Doppler type used across the United States network, and the NWS itself owns it. NCEI's archive of its data begins in October 1995, the month Wikipedia gives for its commissioning.
NWS staff in Tucson note that the site is about 750 m above the Tucson valley, so the lowest scans pass over the low levels of the metro area rather than through them.
The NWS Tucson office notes the radar stands about 750 m above the Tucson valley, so its lowest scans do not fully capture the low levels over the Tucson metro area. Radar shows rain, snow and hail, not cloud, and nothing below its lowest beam; far from the antenna the beam passes high above the ground.