Learn how to switch on weather radar in MSFS 2024, set range, tilt and gain, read return colours, and fix a blank radar display.
To use weather radar in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, select an aircraft with a functional radar, power its avionics, set the weather display to WX, choose a useful range, then adjust antenna tilt and gain if modelled. Coloured returns show precipitation intensity—not ordinary cloud, wind or guaranteed turbulence.
Does every MSFS 2024 aircraft have working weather radar?
No. Weather radar is an aircraft-specific system rather than a universal MSFS 2024 option, and a cockpit containing a radar panel or WXR button does not necessarily have a functional implementation.
Supported features also vary. One aircraft may model tilt, gain, ground clutter and attenuation, while another provides only a basic precipitation overlay. Consult the aircraft's documentation and test it against known precipitation before assuming the equipment is faulty.
Switching on weather radar in MSFS 2024
The exact controls differ between aircraft, but the operating sequence is broadly the same.
- Load weather containing precipitation. Clouds alone may produce no return. Use Live Weather during rain or create a preset containing a defined storm cell; our guide to Live Weather, presets and custom conditions explains how those sources differ. For repeatable practice, the storm and low-visibility preset expansion provides controlled scenarios.
- Power and initialise the aircraft. The relevant electrical buses, avionics displays and navigation systems must be operating. Some aircraft will show a powered display while the separate radar transmitter remains off.
- Turn on the radar system. Move its selector from
OFForSTBYtoON,WXor the equivalent position. Airliner installations may have a separate system selector and weather button. - Select the weather overlay. On the navigation display or MFD, enable the layer labelled
WX,WXRorRDR. Do not confuse it withTERR, which displays terrain rather than precipitation. - Start with automatic gain and tilt. If the aircraft offers credible
AUTOmodes, use them while learning. Select a medium or long range to find weather ahead, then reduce the range to inspect the shape of nearby returns. - Scan rather than fixing one tilt angle. With manual tilt, move the beam slightly up and down. This helps distinguish elevated cells from ground returns and prevents the beam from passing above or below precipitation.
- Avoid the strongest returns. Use the display to identify and route around convective weather, not to find the narrowest path through it.
Which range, tilt and gain settings should I use?
Use a longer range for strategic planning, a shorter range for detail, automatic gain for normal operation and a changing tilt angle to scan the volume of air ahead.
| Control | Useful starting point | Common mistake |
|---|---|---|
| Range | About 40–80 NM for planning, then 10–20 NM for closer detail | Leaving a short range selected and discovering a cell too late |
| Tilt | AUTO where modelled well; otherwise sweep above and below the current setting | Leaving tilt at one angle and assuming a blank screen means clear air |
| Gain | AUTO for normal use | Reducing manual gain until significant returns disappear |
| Mode | WX or WXR | Selecting the display overlay but leaving the transmitter in standby |
Those ranges are practical starting points, not aircraft limitations. Available increments and the quality of automatic tilt vary between flight decks. At cruise altitude, a small change in tilt can move the beam by thousands of feet at longer ranges, so a permanent zero-degree setting is not a complete scan.
What do weather radar colours mean?
Weather-radar colours represent increasing simulated reflectivity, which normally corresponds to precipitation intensity.
- Green: light precipitation.
- Yellow or amber: moderate precipitation and a reason for caution.
- Red: heavy precipitation or a strong convective core that should be avoided.
- Magenta: extreme intensity where the aircraft's display supports that colour.
The palette and thresholds can differ by aircraft. Radar does not directly show ordinary cloud, and clear space behind an intense return may be a radar shadow caused by attenuation rather than a safe gap. Ground reflections can also resemble weather when the antenna is tilted too far down.
Turbulence may exist outside a coloured return, while a turbulence setting can change how violently the aircraft responds without changing the radar picture. Our explanation of MSFS 2024 turbulence controls covers that separate system.
Why is the weather radar blank?
A blank radar usually means there is no detectable precipitation, the transmitter or overlay is off, the beam is pointed incorrectly, or the selected aircraft does not model radar fully.
- Confirm that rain or snow actually exists ahead; thick cloud by itself is not enough.
- Check both controls: the radar transmitter and the navigation-display weather overlay.
- Increase display brightness and select a different range.
- Return gain to automatic and sweep the tilt through several positions.
- Make sure the aircraft has completed any required avionics or navigation-system initialisation.
- Test with a strong custom precipitation preset. If that works but Live Weather does not, follow our checks for restoring Live Weather data.
- Disable aircraft or weather add-ons temporarily if the display stopped working after installing one.
Is the EFB weather map the same as airborne radar?
No. An EFB or navigation-map weather layer is generally a broad-area planning display, while airborne radar looks forward through a selected range and antenna angle.
A datalink-style overlay may not respond to tilt or gain and can cover areas outside the aircraft's radar scan. Use the planning map to identify the wider weather pattern, then use functional cockpit radar to judge precipitation ahead. Neither display should be treated as permission to penetrate a red convective return.