Tennessee tornadoes

Are tornadoes common in Tennessee?

Tennessee averages about 32 tornadoes a year since 2000, 21st of 52 states and territories by count. The busiest year on record was 2011 (101). Per 10,000 square miles of land, Tennessee records 359 tornadoes since 1950, 17th 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
11. 17. Tennessee 359

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 Tennessee have the most tornadoes?

Per square mile, Trousdale County leads Tennessee: 11 days with a tornado record since 1950, 96.2 per 1,000 square miles of land. By raw count, Shelby County has the most tornado records (56 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. Trousdale County 96.2 (14)
2. Moore County 92.9 (13)
3. Davidson County 75.5 (53)
4. Shelby County 63.8 (56)
5. Rutherford County 63.0 (47)
6. Wilson County 61.3 (46)
7. Sumner County 60.4 (45)
8. Lawrence County 60.0 (42)
9. Coffee County 58.3 (28)
10. Lincoln County 57.9 (45)
11. Lake County 54.3 (10)
12. Benton County 53.3 (25)

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 Tennessee?

44% of its tornadoes since 1950 fell in April and May. The busiest month is April (365 tornadoes).

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

What were the deadliest tornadoes in Tennessee?

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

Where have the strongest tornadoes tracked in Tennessee?

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 Tennessee

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

The longest tornado paths in Tennessee

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

Tornadoes in every Tennessee 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 Tennessee 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, Tennessee ranks 11th of 50 states for tornadoes rated 1 or higher per square mile since 1950 (241 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 Tennessee

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 22, 1991 (tornado, McNairy County, 4 killed); March 22, 1991 (tornado, Lewis County, 1 killed); December 24, 1988 (tornado, Williamson County, 1 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 Tennessee?

Tennessee'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 Tennessee

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 Tennessee

FEMA has declared 36 disasters in Tennessee for tornadoes, counting its incident type and declarations that name tornado in the title (FEMA files most storm disasters under Severe Storm); 34 were major disasters, the latest on June 19, 2025.

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

Next

• Trousdale County: the county's whole recordThe Tennessee county with the most tornadoes per square mile
• Tornadoes across the United StatesEvery state ranked, by year and month
• Every natural hazard in TennesseeTornadoes, floods, storms, heat and the federal declarations
• Severe thunderstorm wind in Tennessee20,119 records
• Hail in Tennessee7,175 records
• Winter storms in Tennessee5,914 records