A NEXRAD WSR-88D weather radar in North Dakota, the United States, operated by Department of Defense (United States Air Force).
- Station
- Minot AFB (KMBX)
- Operator
- Department of Defense (United States Air Force)
- Network
- NEXRAD WSR-88D
- Antenna
- 48.392° N, 100.864° W, 1,493 ft (455 m) above sea level
- Products
- Reflectivity, composite reflectivity, echo tops, vertically integrated liquid, velocity, correlation coefficient, differential reflectivity, specific differential phase (KDP), spectrum width
KMBX is the NEXRAD WSR-88D weather radar listed as Minot AFB, North Dakota. The antenna does not stand on the base: it is in McHenry County about 35 km east of Minot Air Force Base and 37 km east-northeast of the city of Minot, with Towner about 34 km to the east and Velva about 38 km to the south. The NWS radar list gives the owner as the Department of Defense, and the National Weather Service in Bismarck, which holds the radar's control facility, calls it the United States Air Force Minot WSR-88D.
The transmitter was refurbished in April 2018 and the pedestal replaced in April 2021, the second and third Service Life Extension Program projects. On July 31, 2019 technicians added a lower surveillance scan at 0.3 degrees; the lowest scan had been 0.5 degrees. NOAA's environmental assessment for that change says the aim was to see more of the lower atmosphere. When KMBX is down, the Bismarck office points people to the Bismarck, Mayville and Glasgow, Montana radars.
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.