Mississippi tornadoes

Are tornadoes common in Mississippi?

Mississippi averages about 65 tornadoes a year since 2000, 8th of 52 states and territories by count. The busiest year on record was 2022 (138). Per 10,000 square miles of land, Mississippi records 614 tornadoes since 1950, 3rd of 51 states and territories by that measure.

1. 1. Florida 701
2. 2. Oklahoma 658
3. 3. Mississippi 614
4. 4. Louisiana 579
5. 5. Illinois 567
6. 6. Kansas 564
7. 7. Iowa 555
8. 8. Alabama 537
9. 9. Indiana 492
10. 10. Maryland 438

Source: NOAA SPC, tornadoes 1950-2025, per 10,000 square miles of land area (Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer; places under 1,000 square miles not ranked). Damage colours: Storm Events damage, 2025 dollars.

Which counties in Mississippi have the most tornadoes?

Per square mile, Smith County leads Mississippi: 72 days with a tornado record since 1950, 113.2 per 1,000 square miles of land. By raw count, Hinds County has the most tornado records (127 since 1950); large counties collect more records simply by covering more ground, so the ranking counts days with a record per unit of area (a storm filed for several forecast zones adds several records but one day).

1. Smith County 113.2 (93)
2. Simpson County 110.3 (82)
3. Harrison County 108.1 (91)
4. Hancock County 107.6 (67)
5. Jones County 106.5 (85)
6. Hinds County 104.6 (127)
7. Rankin County 101.9 (114)
8. Jefferson Davis County 100.4 (57)
9. Covington County 99.1 (56)
10. Warren County 93.5 (71)
11. Leake County 89.2 (75)
12. Lincoln County 88.7 (67)

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, days with a record in the county since 1950 per 1,000 square miles of land (Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer); in brackets, the count of records.

When is tornado season in Mississippi?

Mississippi's tornadoes by month. The busiest month is April (624 tornadoes).

Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, state segments by the month they began, 1950-2025.

What were the deadliest tornadoes in Mississippi?

Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database (state segments: deaths and path inside Mississippi), 1950-2025; counties are the first four the SPC lists for the segment. SPC severe weather database.

Where have the strongest tornadoes tracked in Mississippi?

Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, start and end points of each track; county lines: Census Bureau cartographic boundaries (2017), via us-atlas. SPC severe weather database. Census cartographic boundary files.

The strongest tornadoes in Mississippi

Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database; F scale before February 1, 2007, EF scale after.

The longest tornado paths in Mississippi

Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, state segments: path length and width inside the state. SPC severe weather database.

Tornadoes in every Mississippi county

Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database: whole tornadoes whose track touched the county (any state segment listing it). SPC severe weather database.

Is Mississippi in Tornado Alley?

Tornado Alley has no official boundary; the Storm Prediction Center calls it a media nickname for the central U.S. area of relatively high tornado occurrence. By the record, Mississippi ranks 1st of 50 states for tornadoes rated 1 or higher per square mile since 1950 (428 per 10,000 square miles), and it lies in the Southeast area often called Dixie Alley.

Tornado Alley, measured: the states by density and maps of where tornadoes began in two eras.

Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database and Online Tornado FAQ. SPC's tornado FAQ.

The costliest tornadoes in Mississippi

Before 1993 NOAA filed damage by category, not amount, so the list above starts in 1993. The highest category filed here before then (entered as $25M, in the dollars of the day) holds: March 3, 1966 (tornado, Hinds County, 57 killed); December 5, 1953 (tornado, Warren County, 38 killed); November 21, 1992 (tornado, Rankin County, 10 killed); February 21, 1971 (tornado, Sharkey County, 9 killed); April 21, 1984 (tornado, Yalobusha County, 7 killed).

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database: property and crop damage as estimated by the National Weather Service, in 2025 dollars.

Are tornadoes becoming more frequent in Mississippi?

Mississippi's count per decade against the whole country's, and its share. The Storm Prediction Center notes that tornado reports rose especially around the installation of the NEXRAD Doppler radar network in the mid-1990s, so a rising count is partly better detection; the share of the national total is the fairer comparison across decades.

Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, state segments.

The most recent tornadoes in Mississippi

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records through June 30, 2026; the newest months are revised by NCEI as reports arrive. Search the record at NCEI.

Federal disaster declarations for tornadoes in Mississippi

FEMA has declared 49 disasters in Mississippi for tornadoes, counting its incident type and declarations that name tornado in the title (FEMA files most storm disasters under Severe Storm); 45 were major disasters, the latest on June 30, 2026.

Source: FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries (v2), through October 2, 2026. OpenFEMA dataset page.

Next

• Smith County: the county's whole recordThe Mississippi county with the most tornadoes per square mile
• Tornadoes across the United StatesEvery state ranked, by year and month
• Every natural hazard in MississippiTornadoes, floods, storms, heat and the federal declarations
• Severe thunderstorm wind in Mississippi18,161 records
• Hail in Mississippi8,457 records
• Floods in Mississippi3,812 records