A comparison of the hourly distribution of tornadoes is given in Fig. 3. The more nocturnal nature of tornadoes over the Southeast would be even more striking if the percent of tornadoes that occur each hour in a region were graphed. Also, it is interesting to note the high number of wind storms in the Southeast compared to the other two regions. One has to wonder if this is based on meteorology of if it is related to higher number of trees in the Southeast as compared to the Great Plains. Tree damage and damage due to falling trees are common severe thunderstorm wind reports.
Insolation plays an important role in initiating hail producing thunderstorms.
Also, these data do not support conventional wisdom, in that the North Plains is not the nation's center of hail activity. Over twice the number of large hail storms have been reported over the South Plains as over the North Plains. This progression is even more pronounced when only the strongest events are considered. In the Southeast, the peak month for the occurrence of hail greater than 51 mm in diameter is in April while the most favored month for any hail greater than 19 mm is in May. There is a rapid decrease in severe hail reports after the onset of summer.