Starkville, MS Tornado History — 123 Tornadoes Since 1950
How many tornadoes has Starkville, MS had?
Starkville has had 123 tornadoes on record within 25 miles since 1950, including 15 violent (EF3+) tornadoes.
When was the most recent tornado near Starkville?
The most recent tornado within 25 miles of Starkville was an EF0 on March 31, 2025.
When is tornado season in Starkville?
April is historically the peak month for tornadoes near Starkville, with 37 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 Starkville
The last 20 years of confirmed tornadoes within 25 miles — 55 total, averaging 2.8 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 Starkville
47 fatalities have been recorded within 25 miles of Starkville since 1950, across 14 events. 565 injuries have been reported across all events. 1992 was the deadliest year on record.
The deadliest single event was a F4 on November 21, 1992, which caused 12 fatalities along a 128.0-mile track.
Notable Tornadoes Near Starkville
About Tornadoes in Starkville
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.
Oktibbeha County's tornado ledger reads like a family album, with entries from the 1950s sitting alongside storms that today's Starkville students lived through themselves. An F2 crossed the area on March 27, 1950, and a short-track F3 killed 1 person on February 20, 1951. The year 1957 brought a June 28 F3 that killed 1 and injured 10, then a November 17 F2 that killed 2. An F4 carved a 45.2-mile path through the region on March 11, 1963, killing 2. February 23, 1977 delivered another F4, which killed 2 people. On November 22, 1992, an F4 tore along a 128-mile track, killing 12 and injuring 122. A later generation faced the EF4 of April 24, 2010, which killed 10 and injured 146, and the outbreak of April 27, 2011, when an EF3 injured 25 nearby.
The meteorology behind that long record is stubbornly consistent. Warm, humid Gulf of Mexico air flows north across east-central Mississippi's low terrain, and when late-winter cold fronts or a strengthening autumn jet stream cut into that moisture, rotating thunderstorms follow — in spring and in the cool season alike. The NOAA Storm Prediction Center's database, the source of this history, echoes what local memory already holds: grandparents, parents, and children around Starkville have each known such days. The event list elsewhere on this page carries the details.