National Climatic Data Center
U.S. Department of Commerce

Finding/Ordering NEXRAD Data

To order NEXRAD data, open the NCDC NEXRAD Data Inventory Search page in a web browser. From here, you can either choose a site from the map (hovering over a marker will display the radar station's call sign) or choose a site from the drop-down menu.

Once a site is chosen, you are taken to a page with more details about the site, metadata, and the period of record for that site. Choose the date and product desired from the drop-down menus. The create graph button displays the data available and whether the radar was in clear air mode or precip mode:

Data Graph Screenshot

From here, you can choose to display list of files, which will bring up a window listing the available files for download. Filenames are in the format:

  • YYYY = year
  • MM = month
  • DD = day
  • HH = hour
  • MM = minute
  • SS = second
  • Level-II: AAAAYYYYMMDD_HHMMSS.Z or 6500AAAAYYYYMMDD_HHMMSS.Z
Where:
  • AAAA = 4-letter Radar ID
  • .Z = File Compression Type
  • Example: KHTX20020424_164107.Z or 6500KHTX20020424_164107.Z
  • Level-III: ABBB_CCCCCC_DDDAAA_YYYYMMDDHHMM
Where:
  • AAAA = 4-letter ID of source Radar
  • BBB = 3-letter ID of transmitting Radar
  • CCCCCC = WMO Abbreviated Heading
  • DDD = Level-III Product Code.
  • Example: KMHX_SDUS52_N0RMHX_200309182020 or 7000KMHX_SDUS52_N0RMHX_200309182020

The same information is available from the Order Data option. This is where you can actually choose the files (times) you would like to download. You must enter a valid email address at which to receive notification that your order is complete. Once the order is placed, you will see a message with a HAS ID for the order and a link where you can monitor the progress of your order:

Order Submitted Message

Typically, orders are processed quickly; small orders can be ready within five minutes. Once your order is ready, you will receive an email telling you how to access your data.

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