A NEXRAD WSR-88D weather radar in Louisiana, the United States, operated by National Weather Service, NOAA.
- Station
- Lake Charles (KLCH)
- Operator
- National Weather Service, NOAA
- Network
- NEXRAD WSR-88D
- Antenna
- 30.125° N, 93.216° W, 56 ft (17 m) above sea level
- Products
- Reflectivity, composite reflectivity, echo tops, vertically integrated liquid, velocity, correlation coefficient, differential reflectivity, specific differential phase (KDP), spectrum width
KLCH is the National Weather Service NEXRAD WSR-88D weather radar at Lake Charles, Louisiana, in Calcasieu Parish. The NWS forecast office at Lake Charles is responsible for it, and for the Fort Polk radar, KPOE, further north. NCEI's station record for the radar begins in May 1995.
The radar was destroyed on 27 August 2020 when the eye of Hurricane Laura, a category 4 hurricane, passed over the site after landfall; the radome and the dish were blown away. The Houston, Shreveport and Fort Polk radars filled the gap in southwestern Louisiana until the site was rebuilt. Service returned in January 2021 after a four-month, 1.65 million dollar reconstruction that replaced the antenna, the pedestal and all the equipment inside the radome, and repaired the tower, fence and equipment shelters.
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.