Baton Rouge, LA Tornado History — 124 Tornadoes Since 1950
How many tornadoes has Baton Rouge, LA had?
Baton Rouge has had 124 tornadoes on record within 25 miles since 1950, including 7 violent (EF3+) tornadoes.
When was the most recent tornado near Baton Rouge?
The most recent tornado within 25 miles of Baton Rouge was an EF0 on December 28, 2024.
When is tornado season in Baton Rouge?
June is historically the peak month for tornadoes near Baton Rouge, with 22 on record. Spring through early summer (April–June) generally sees the highest activity across most of the central and southern United States.
At a Glance
Recent Tornado Activity Near Baton Rouge
The last 20 years of confirmed tornadoes within 25 miles — 47 total, averaging 2.4 per year over this window.
Preliminary tornado reports near Baton Rouge since December 29, 2025
These is a preliminary report, not confirmed tornadoes. It has not yet been through an NWS damage survey, and is not counted in the confirmed totals above.
Preliminary reports are revised, merged, and sometimes withdrawn — historically about 23% are consolidated downward once surveys complete. Ratings are omitted until a survey assigns one.
Confirmed records above are complete through December 29, 2025. NOAA publishes the confirmed archive annually, so tornadoes after that date appear here first and move into the totals above once finalized.
Within 25 miles of Baton Rouge. Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center preliminary storm reports, updated daily.
Tornadoes by Decade
Tornadoes by Enhanced Fujita Rating
F0–F5 ratings (pre-2007) are grouped with their EF equivalents. The Enhanced Fujita scale replaced the original Fujita scale in February 2007.
Tornadoes by Month
Casualties on Record Near Baton Rouge
5 fatalities have been recorded within 25 miles of Baton Rouge since 1950, across 4 events. 159 injuries have been reported across all events. 1989 was the deadliest year on record.
The deadliest single event was a F2 on June 8, 1989, which caused 2 fatalities along a 10.0-mile track.
Notable Tornadoes Near Baton Rouge
About Tornadoes in Baton Rouge
This overview was written August 10, 2026. The tornado counts and notable-event figures elsewhere on this page reflect the latest data and may differ from this summary.
Tornado season in south Louisiana refuses to keep to a calendar. The Gulf of Mexico lies close enough that warm, unstable air rides inland nearly year-round, and whenever a vigorous cold front, an upper-level disturbance, or the remnants of a tropical system crosses the lower Mississippi valley, rotating storms can follow — in December as readily as in spring. Baton Rouge, spread across low, flat ground on the river's east bank, sits squarely in this environment, and the documentation maintained by the NOAA Storm Prediction Center bears it out.
The F3 entries in the city's history show what such setups can do. On October 16, 1957, an F3 tornado tracked 37.9 miles through the area; it killed 1 person and injured 29. Another F3 arrived on Christmas Day, December 25, 1969, and an F3 on October 14, 1984 cut a 16-mile path. On June 8, 1989, F2 tornadoes struck in close succession; one killed 2 people and injured 30, another injured 60.
Tornadoes have continued through the 1990s, 2000s, 2010s and 2020s, more often brief spin-ups within squall lines or tropical rainbands than long-tracked storms. Even modest ones carry risk: an F1 on June 7, 2001 killed 1 person along a short path. The event list elsewhere on this page holds the full chronology; its lesson is that the local threat spans every month, cool-season fronts included.