Currently, the focus of the weather in East Texas, and across our state, is the oppressive heat and lack of rain. It hasn't been zero rain in our state but there has been very little. That's a contrast to what we saw during late winter and through spring as severe thunderstorms seemed to roll through at least once a week. In those severe thunderstorms, we saw hail from very small to some as big as your hand, strong winds that could have been confused for tornadoes and actual tornadoes that did real damage in some areas. In all, Texas has seen almost 2,000 severe weather events in 2023. Let's take a look at them and how the numbers look in East Texas.

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Severe Weather

We have probably forgotten the numerous severe weather events that moved through during late winter and through spring in East Texas simply because we're dealing with the extreme heat right now. Really, this heat wave could be considered a severe weather event of its own since this heat is so dangerous. But during the early part of this year, it was not uncommon to have a tornado warning at least every other week. The storms that rolled through Texas and East Texas didn't last very long but were strong enough to produce high winds, tornadoes and hail of various sizes.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center released their data of severe weather reports so far in 2023 for the entire country. This report lays out the number of tornadoes, strong wind events and large hail reports from every state.

For Texas, there were a combined 1,988 reports of severe weather:

• 78 Tornadoes
• 1016 Large Hail Reports (hail greater than one inch in diameter)
• 894 Wind Reports

In East Texas, we had about 100 large hail reports, numerous wind reports and seven reported tornadoes. You can see where the reported cases came from in Texas and East Texas in the graphics below:

• Red is Tornadoes
• Blue is Wind Damage
• Green is Large Hail (hail larger than one inch in diameter)

With all the extreme heat and lack of rain this summer, I think some of us may be wishing for one of those severe weather days now. See more of the breakdown at spc.noaa.gov.