Mississippi Tornado History: The 3rd-Deadliest Tornado State in America
Mississippi has recorded 500 tornado deaths since 1950 — the third-most of any state, behind only Alabama and Texas — from just 2,731 tornadoes. It kills more people with tornadoes than Oklahoma despite a fraction of the storms. The reason is Dixie Alley: tornadoes that strike fast, after dark, and across two separate seasons.
Pull the NOAA Storm Prediction Center archive and rank the states by tornado deaths, and Mississippi lands third: 500 fatalities from 1950 to 2024, trailing only Alabama (677) and Texas (611). What makes that startling is the denominator. Mississippi has recorded 2,731 tornadoes; Oklahoma, the state most people picture, has more than 4,300 and yet has buried fewer people (449). Mississippi’s tornadoes simply kill at a higher rate.
That lethality is geography and timing, not luck. Mississippi is core Dixie Alley, and its tornadoes are built to kill: fast, nocturnal, rain-wrapped, and spread across two seasons. Here’s what 75 years of data show.
Tornado deaths by state: Mississippi is third
Total tornado fatalities since 1950, from the SPC record. Mississippi ranks third by deaths despite ranking well down the list by tornado count — look at the tornado column next to the deaths column and the lethality gap jumps out.
| Rank | State | Deaths | Tornadoes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alabama | 677 | 2,597 |
| 2 | Texas | 611 | 9,476 |
| 3 | Mississippi | 500 | 2,731 |
| 4 | Oklahoma | 449 | 4,371 |
| 5 | Tennessee | 425 | 1,392 |
| 6 | Arkansas | 409 | 2,028 |
Mississippi loses about 18 people per 100 tornadoes; Texas, about 6. The two states ranked above it, Alabama and Texas, tell the rest of the story — see our Alabama tornado history and the full states with the most tornadoes analysis.
Mississippi’s deadliest tornadoes
Ranked by fatalities, from the SPC record. Notice the spread of months: two of the top four struck in winter (December and January), not spring. SPC totals run slightly under press tallies because the archive counts confirmed segments only, and it rates some tornadoes lower than later surveys did.
| Date | Area | Rating | Deaths |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 21, 1971 | Mississippi Delta The deadliest tornado of the catastrophic February 21, 1971 Delta outbreak, which killed more than 100 people across the region and all but erased the town of Inverness. Rated F4 in the SPC archive. | F4 | 58 |
| Mar 3, 1966 | Candlestick Park / Jackson Mississippi’s signature catastrophe. An F5 that tore through the Candlestick Shopping Center on the south side of Jackson, killing 58 along a 200-mile path. | F5 | 58 |
| Dec 5, 1953 | Vicksburg A December F5 that struck downtown Vicksburg two weeks before Christmas — a reminder that Mississippi’s tornado threat runs into the dead of winter. | F5 | 38 |
| Jan 23, 1969 | Hazlehurst A January F4 that carved a 117-mile path across central Mississippi, devastating Hazlehurst and Sardis. Still the deadliest January tornado in the SPC record. | F4 | 32 |
| Apr 27, 2011 | Smithville / Monroe County One of two Mississippi EF5s on April 27, 2011 — the day of the great Super Outbreak. The Smithville EF5 flattened the small northeast Mississippi town. | EF5 | 23 |
| Mar 24, 2023 | Rolling Fork – Silver City A recent nighttime EF4 that obliterated Rolling Fork in the Delta — proof the deadly pattern is still very much alive. | EF4 | 17 |
The Candlestick Park F5, March 3, 1966
Ask a Mississippian to name the state’s worst tornado and most will say Candlestick Park. On the evening of March 3, 1966, an F5 tore across the south side of Jackson and destroyed the Candlestick Shopping Center, one of the city’s newest. It killed 58 people and injured 518 along a track the SPC logs at more than 200 miles across central Mississippi — one of the longest damage paths in the database.
It shares the top of the death list with the deadliest tornado of the February 21, 1971 Mississippi Delta outbreak, an F4 that also killed 58 and helped push that two-day event past 100 deaths region-wide. Between them, they define how bad a single day can get in this state.
Why Mississippi’s tornadoes are so deadly
On the Plains, tornadoes tend to form in the late afternoon under high cloud bases, in open country you can see across for miles. Mississippi’s are the opposite. They often strike after dark, when people are asleep and can’t see the sky. They tend to move faster, leaving little time to react. And they come rain-wrapped and hidden inside larger storm systems, so there’s often no visible funnel to warn you. The landscape compounds it: dense tree cover hides the funnel, and Mississippi has a high share of manufactured and mobile homes — among the most dangerous places to be in a tornado.
Put those together and the same tornado that would be a spectacular but survivable event in Kansas becomes a mass-casualty event in Mississippi. It’s the same pattern that makes the broader region so lethal — see our Dixie Alley analysis for how Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee compare, and our Columbus, Mississippi tornado history for a city that has been hit again and again.
Mississippi’s two tornado seasons
This is what most people miss about Mississippi. April is the clear peak (588 tornadoes), but look at November: a second, distinct spike of 294, with December close behind (264). Plains states shut down by fall; Mississippi does not. Monthly counts from the SPC data:
The late-fall and winter season is driven by Gulf moisture surging north ahead of strong cold fronts — the same ingredients as spring, minus the calendar warning. Modern activity is intensifying, too: the three busiest years on record are 2022 (118 tornadoes), 2019 (113) and 2008 (109). You can pull the actual conditions for any Mississippi tornado day back to 1970 with our historical weather lookup.
Frequently asked questions
Is Mississippi one of the deadliest tornado states?
Yes. The NOAA SPC record shows 500 tornado deaths in Mississippi from 1950 to 2024 — the third-most of any US state, behind only Alabama (677) and Texas (611), and ahead of Oklahoma (449). Mississippi reaches that total from just 2,731 tornadoes, so its tornadoes are far more lethal on average than those on the Plains.
How many F5 tornadoes has Mississippi had?
Four F5 tornadoes since 1950, plus 31 F4s. They are the 1953 Vicksburg F5 (38 killed), the 1966 Candlestick Park F5 near Jackson (58 killed), and two EF5s on April 27, 2011 — the Smithville EF5 (23 killed) and a second in Neshoba County. The famous 1971 Inverness tornado is rated F4 in the SPC archive.
What was the worst tornado in Mississippi history?
Two tornadoes tie for the most deaths at 58: the March 3, 1966 Candlestick Park F5 that struck the south side of Jackson, and the deadliest tornado of the February 21, 1971 Mississippi Delta outbreak, an F4 that leveled much of Inverness. The 1966 Candlestick tornado is the one most Mississippians remember by name.
Why are Mississippi’s tornadoes so deadly?
Mississippi sits in Dixie Alley. Its tornadoes often strike at night, move fast, and are wrapped in rain and hard to see, and the state has a high share of manufactured homes and dense tree cover. Mississippi also has two tornado seasons — a spring peak in April and a distinct second peak in November — so the threat lasts much of the year, often when people are asleep.
When is tornado season in Mississippi?
Mississippi has two seasons. The main peak is April (588 tornadoes in the record), building through March (357). But unlike the Plains, Mississippi has a strong secondary peak in November (294) and an active December (264) — a cool-season threat driven by Gulf moisture and strong winter fronts. Several of the state’s deadliest tornadoes struck in these months and after dark.
Explore the tornado record yourself
Every figure here comes from the NOAA SPC database, which we've made browsable. Map any state, filter by rating, or read the stories behind the record books: