Columbus, MS Tornado History — 157 Tornadoes Since 1950
How many tornadoes has Columbus, MS had?
Columbus has had 157 tornadoes on record within 25 miles since 1950, including 16 violent (EF3+) tornadoes.
When was the most recent tornado near Columbus?
The most recent tornado within 25 miles of Columbus was an EF0 on March 31, 2025.
When is tornado season in Columbus?
April is historically the peak month for tornadoes near Columbus, with 40 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 Columbus
The last 20 years of confirmed tornadoes within 25 miles — 80 total, averaging 4.0 per year over this window.
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 Columbus
32 fatalities have been recorded within 25 miles of Columbus since 1950, across 13 events. 561 injuries have been reported across all events. 2011 was the deadliest year on record.
The deadliest single event was an EF4 on April 27, 2011, which caused 13 fatalities along a 127.8-mile track.
Notable Tornadoes Near Columbus
About Tornadoes in Columbus
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.
The Tombigbee River lowlands around Columbus open westward into the Black Prairie, a belt of flat, fertile ground stretching across northeastern Mississippi. Humid air streaming north from the Gulf of Mexico crosses this gently rolling landscape with little terrain to slow it, and when spring cold fronts and strong jet-stream winds arrive from the west, the clash can organize rotating thunderstorms. The threat extends beyond spring: vigorous November systems drawing on deep Gulf moisture have also produced tornadoes here, a cool-season pattern familiar across the Deep South. The catalog maintained by the NOAA Storm Prediction Center traces local activity from the 1950s into the 2020s.
The harsh end of that history features long-track storms. During the Super Outbreak on April 3, 1974, an F4 tornado tore a 110.6-mile path near Columbus, killing 3 people and injuring 178. On April 27, 2011, an EF4 carved 127.8 miles across the region on a track up to 1,408 yards wide, causing 13 deaths and 54 injuries locally. An F3 on February 17, 1956 killed a resident and injured 55 others. An EF3 on February 23, 2019 left 1 person dead and 11 hurt near the city. The event list elsewhere on this page details these and other strikes drawn from the same federal data.