Counties with the most tornadoes in Mississippi
Counties with the most tornadoes in Mississippi
It's been a busy year for tornadoes in the U.S. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, as many as 1,155 twisters have touched down across the country since the start of the year, above the average for this time of year.
A single day can drive up tornado counts. March 31, 2023, accounted for 163 tornadoes across the Midwest and South. Tornado activity usually peaks in the spring and early summer, and the pace of tornadoes usually slows around late summer. A smaller-scale second tornado season emerges in the fall, mostly in the Gulf Coast states.
Stacker used data from NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information to find the counties in Mississippi that have experienced the most tornadoes since 2000. While data is available going back to 1950, tornado tracking by the National Weather Service became more robust and accurate in the 1990s. Since counties can vary in size, they are ranked by the number of tornadoes per 100 square miles. Counties that experienced less than five tornadoes are not included.
The counties that encounter the most tornadoes aren't all in the infamous Tornado Alley. When adjusted for county area, the top 10 counties that experienced the most tornadoes since 2000 are from nine different states, all in the Southeast with the exception of Cleveland County, Oklahoma.
Research has shown that Tornado Alley is shifting due to warming temperatures fueled by climate change. In the future, the Southeast could become the region that receives the bulk of the country's tornadoes. It's a concerning trend as the South is more populated than the Great Plains and has a higher concentration of mobile homes than other parts of the country, making the storms potentially deadlier and costlier.
As of August 2023, 75 people have died from tornadoes this year, and over 60% of those deaths occurred in mobile homes.
The best way to stay protected during tornadoes is to have multiple ways of receiving storm updates including social media, radio, television, and sirens, and to immediately seek shelter in a basement or interior room without windows when a tornado watch escalates to a warning.
Read on to see which counties experience the most tornadoes in Mississippi.
#50. Sunflower County
- #692 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#49. Wayne County
- #573 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#48. Leflore County
- #561 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#47. Union County
- #552 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 3
#46. Prentiss County
- #550 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#45. Montgomery County
- #523 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#44. Tishomingo County
- #474 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 1
#43. Kemper County
- #449 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#42. Pearl River County
- #413 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#41. Jefferson County
- #392 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#40. Copiah County
- #368 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#39. Humphreys County
- #367 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#38. Monroe County
- #349 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 3
#37. Bolivar County
- #345 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#36. Lawrence County
- #331 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 2
#35. Clarke County
- #275 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#34. Holmes County
- #237 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#33. Choctaw County
- #222 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#32. Sharkey County
- #204 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#31. Yazoo County
- #164 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#30. Walthall County
- #160 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 1
#29. Jasper County
- #141 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#28. Winston County
- #139 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#27. Attala County
- #135 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#26. Lincoln County
- #111 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 1
#25. Jackson County
- #109 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#24. Oktibbeha County
- #105 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#23. Lee County
- #100 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 4
#22. Lowndes County
- #96 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#21. Hancock County
- #88 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#20. Noxubee County
- #87 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#19. Claiborne County
- #85 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#18. Lauderdale County
- #81 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#17. Madison County
- #72 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#16. Simpson County
- #71 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 3
#15. Newton County
- #67 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#14. Forrest County
- #60 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#13. Marion County
- #53 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#12. Harrison County
- #44 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#11. Jones County
- #32 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 2
#10. Neshoba County
- #31 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#9. Warren County
- #26 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#8. Scott County
- #23 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#7. Jefferson Davis County
- #21 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#6. Lamar County
- #19 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#5. Hinds County
- #16 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#4. Covington County
- #14 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#3. Smith County
- #13 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 1
#2. Rankin County
- #12 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0
#1. Leake County
- #8 nationally
- Tornadoes this year, as of May 31: 0