Severe Weather Climatology for the National Weather Service WFO Brownsville County Warning Area

During the late 1990s to early 2000s several National Weather Service offices across the Southern Region conducted Severe Weather Climatology studies for their individual County Warning Area. This study examines the climatology of severe weather (specifically hail, wind, and tornadoes) across the eight most southern counties of South Texas. Severe weather reports from 1950 through 2011 were acquired from the database of the Storm Prediction Center and National Weather Service Brownsville historical records. Results indicated that (1.) hail is the most frequent type of severe weather reported, (2.) severe weather is more likely to be reported during spring and early fall, with a late-afternoon hourly peak, and (3.) a correlation between severe weather reports and El Niño- Southern Oscillation appears to exist.