KBRO radar — Brownsville, TX
KBRO is the National Weather Service's WSR-88D Doppler radar for the Brownsville area, operated with the NWS office BRO. View it live in TALON — the loop, super-res reflectivity, storm-relative velocity, rotation and correlation coefficient.
| Station | KBRO (Brownsville, Texas) |
|---|---|
| Location | 25.9160°, -97.4190° · Cameron County |
| Elevation | 85 ft above sea level |
| Type | WSR-88D (NEXRAD) S-band dual-polarization Doppler radar |
| Products in TALON | Super-res reflectivity (0.25 km), velocity, storm-relative velocity, rotation (azimuthal shear), correlation coefficient PRO |
How high can KBRO see?
A radar beam travels in a nearly straight line while the Earth curves away underneath it, so the farther a storm is from KBRO, the higher above the ground the radar is looking. Tornadoes start in the lowest few thousand feet, so storms close to the radar show low-level rotation much better.
| Distance from KBRO | Lowest scan (0.5°) | Next scan (1.5°) |
|---|---|---|
| 10 mi | 500 ft | 1,400 ft |
| 25 mi | 1,500 ft | 3,800 ft |
| 50 mi | 3,600 ft | 8,200 ft |
| 75 mi | 6,300 ft | 13,200 ft |
| 100 mi | 9,600 ft | 18,800 ft |
| 150 mi | 18,200 ft | 32,000 ft |
Height of the beam's center above the radar, using standard refraction. Terrain can raise or block the beam.
Severe weather inside KBRO's range
Since 1950, NOAA has recorded 120 tornadoes within 60 miles of the KBRO radar, 8 of them rated EF2/F2 or stronger. They have been most common in September and August. The strongest was an F3 on March 15, 1983, which passed about 54 miles west of the radar. The most recent was a tornado of unknown strength on October 27, 2025, which touched down about 19 miles east-northeast of the radar.
Hail: 195 reports of hail 1 inch or larger within 60 miles of the KBRO radar since 1955, 39 of them 2 inches or larger. The largest was 4.50-inch hail (grapefruit size) on April 20, 2012.
| Tornadoes since 1950 | 120 |
| EF2/F2 or stronger | 8 |
| Strongest tornado | F3 · Mar 1983 |
| Busiest tornado month | September |
| Largest hail | 4.50 in · Apr 2012 |
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather database — tornadoes 1950–2025, hail 1955–2025 (the latest year is preliminary). Distances are to each tornado's recorded track; ratings before February 2007 use the original Fujita (F) scale.
Cities covered by KBRO
- Corpus Christi, TX 130 mi north
Nearby radars
- KCRP · Corpus Christi, TX 129 mi
- KEWX · San Antonio, TX 264 mi
- KHGX · Houston, TX 284 mi
- KDFX · Laughlin AFB, TX 291 mi
- KGRK · Central Texas, TX 332 mi
KBRO radar FAQ
How often does KBRO update?
Every NEXRAD radar completes a full scan about every 4–6 minutes in storm mode, and repeats the lowest tilt more often (SAILS) during severe weather. TALON loads each new scan as it arrives.
What is the range of KBRO?
Reflectivity reaches about 290 miles and velocity about 185 miles, but useful low-level detail is within roughly 100 miles — see the table above.
Is KBRO down?
Radars occasionally go offline for maintenance. When one does, TALON's US radar map fills the gap from neighboring radars (KCRP, KEWX, KHGX).