A NEXRAD WSR-88D weather radar in Arizona, the United States, operated by National Weather Service, NOAA.
- Station
- Phoenix (KIWA)
- Site
- Mesa Gateway Airport (former Williams Air Force Base)
- Operator
- National Weather Service, NOAA
- Network
- NEXRAD WSR-88D
- Antenna
- 33.289° N, 111.670° W, 1,362 ft (415 m) above sea level
- Products
- Reflectivity, composite reflectivity, echo tops, vertically integrated liquid, velocity, correlation coefficient, differential reflectivity, specific differential phase (KDP), spectrum width
KIWA is the National Weather Service's NEXRAD weather radar for Phoenix. The antenna stands at the former Williams Air Force Base in Maricopa County, Arizona, south-east of the city. The base closed in 1993 and became Williams Gateway Airport, now Mesa Gateway Airport, whose ICAO code is also KIWA. Queen Creek is 6 km from the antenna, Gilbert 13 km, Chandler 16 km and Mesa 21 km; central Phoenix is 42 km to the west-north-west. The NWS Phoenix forecast office is responsible for it, and for the Yuma radar.
The radar is a WSR-88D owned by the NWS. NCEI's archive of its data begins on 30 June 1993, which Wikipedia also gives as its commissioning date. An NWS Western Region note from June 1993 already describes forecasters using the new radar at Williams to track a gust front and dust storm moving into the Phoenix 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.