Thursday: Other Violent Tornadoes in Mississippi History

While it was a landmark tornado in central Mississippi during the last half of the 20th century, the Candlestick Park is unfortunately one of a number of infamous tornadoes to strike the state of Mississippi in recorded history. Without question, the most notorious tornado in Mississippi history is the Natchez tornado of May 7, 1840. This tornado started across the river in Concordia Parish, LA, and moved up the Mississippi River, killing hundreds of people on boats and barges before killing several dozen more in Natchez itself. At least 317 people were killed by this tornado, making it the second deadliest tornado in United States history.

During the 20th century, the most devastating Mississippi tornado was the Tupelo tornado of April 5, 1936. This tornado killed 216 people, making it the fourth most deadly tornado in United States history. Other than the Candlestick Park tornado, the only other F5 tornado in Mississippi was the Vicksburg tornado of December 5, 1953. This tornado killed 38 people.

Three other dates are particularly infamous in the tornado history of Mississippi. The most recent was Feburary 21, 1971. On this date, an outbreak of several strong and violent tornadoes occurred across the Arklamiss region, with three separate violent (F4 or F5) tornadoes occurring. A total of 117 people would be killed by these three tornadoes, over 100 of which were in the Delta counties of Mississippi. More than 1200 people were injured.

The other two outbreak dates of note were much earlier in the century. On the morning of April 20, 1920, three violent tornadoes occurred over east central Mississippi and west central Alabama. More than 150 people were killed in this area. Nearly 100 were killed by the most devastating tornado, which started in Oktibbeha County and tracked northeast for well over 100 miles into northern Alabama, finally dissipating in Lawrence County. Another devastating morning occurred on April 24, 1908. Two violent tornadoes, both with more than 100 mile path lengths, killed more than 200 people across south Mississippi and east central and southeast Louisiana. More than 50 people were killed in Purvis, which was nearly totally destroyed by the tornado that raged through town during the late morning hours.

Luckily, Mississippi has for the most part been spared in recent years the destruction of violent tornadoes moving through our cities and communities. The most notable exception to this was the late night and early morning hours of November 21-22, 1992, when a long track, violent tornado moved across central Mississippi killing 12 people, with most of the fatalities in Brandon. Other than that tornado, our region has not seen a particularly devastating, long tracked violent tornado in many years. In fact, central Mississippi has only seen two violent tornadoes since 1992, both occurring on November 24, 2001.

Ten Deadliest Tornadoes in Mississippi 1950-2005