A NEXRAD WSR-88D weather radar in Nebraska, the United States, operated by National Weather Service, NOAA.
- Station
- Grand Island (KUEX)
- Site
- Blue Hill
- Operator
- National Weather Service, NOAA
- Network
- NEXRAD WSR-88D
- Antenna
- 40.321° N, 98.442° W, 1,976 ft (602 m) above sea level
- Products
- Reflectivity, composite reflectivity, echo tops, vertically integrated liquid, velocity, correlation coefficient, differential reflectivity, specific differential phase (KDP), spectrum width
KUEX is the National Weather Service WSR-88D weather radar that the NWS lists as Grand Island, Nebraska. The antenna stands at Blue Hill in Webster County, about 30 km south of Hastings and 68 km south of Grand Island. NCEI files the same radar under Hastings, the forecast office responsible for it.
The radar is part of the NEXRAD network. The Hastings office's history says the Doppler radar site at Blue Hill was chosen for the radar coverage it gives the 30 counties of the office's warning area, and that the old Grand Island weather office was moved to Hastings for the same reason. The Hastings office opened in November 1992, the radar was commissioned in October 1994, and the Grand Island office closed in January 1995. The WSR-57 radar at the Grand Island airport, in service since 1971, was decommissioned in January 1996.
The radar was upgraded to dual polarization in spring 2013. In October 2019 its pedestal was replaced under the Service Life Extension Program, work that needed the antenna taken apart and the dome removed.
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.