So, how many tornadoes have touched down in Mississippi this year? Officially, the National Weather Service has confirmed 65….
“That’s an exceptional amount for the state of Mississippi, for even a whole year.”
Chad Entremont at the Weather Service office in Jackson is aware of reports from other weather-tracking groups claiming that we’ve had as many as 95 tornadoes. But he says those numbers are based on preliminary information called local storm reports…
“For, say, a longer or larger tornado, we may get five local storm reports for that one particular tornado (warning) that we put out because it impacted different locations across one or two counties. But, that would give you a total of five preliminary reports. And then when we do the final (damage) survey, it’s just essentially one tornado. So, that’s why you can get a different count or numbers.”
But regardless of which criteria you might use, and whether it’s 65 or 95…
“I’m extremely confident that is, at this point, the most for any state in the country.”
Last year, Mississippi had 85 confirmed tornadoes and 61 the year before. But those numbers pale in comparison to 2022, which was a record year with 136 tornadoes hitting the state.
