Tornadoes · United States · Mississippi

1965 tornadoes in Mississippi

20 tornadoes touched down in Mississippi in 1965, 47 percent below the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

1964 1966 The whole country in 1965

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  1. F040 to 72 mph

    Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

  2. F173 to 112 mph

    Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

  3. F2113 to 157 mph

    Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

  4. F3158 to 206 mph

    Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

  5. F4207 to 260 mph

    Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

  6. F5261 to 318 mph

    Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

  7. Unrated

    The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

Every tornado in Mississippi in 1965

January 22 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
January 223:10 PM GMT-6F1Hinds0.1105$5,000 to $50,000

January 23 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
January 236:30 PM GMT-6F2Calhoun0.523$500 to $5,000

February 9 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
February 92:30 PM GMT-6F1Washington0.110$50 to $500

February 11 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
February 115:00 PM GMT-6F2Newton11.9220$5,000 to $50,000

March 1 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
March 16:25 AM GMT-6F2Walthall7.2110$5,000 to $50,000

March 17 3 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
March 176:00 AM GMT-6F3Union14.740010$50,000 to $500,000
March 176:30 AM GMT-6F2Alcorn0.5200$5,000 to $50,000
March 177:15 AM GMT-6F3Monroe8.52301$5,000 to $50,000

March 25 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
March 257:30 PM GMT-6F1Neshoba54.110$5,000 to $50,000

May 27 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 273:30 AM GMT-5F1Quitman0.5100$5,000 to $50,000

June 6 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 612:30 PM GMT-5F2Walthall0.173$500 to $5,000

June 13 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 136:00 PM GMT-5F2Scott1.087$5,000 to $50,000

July 6 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 61:00 PM GMT-5F2Marion0.110

July 14 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 145:30 PM GMT-5F1Simpson0.3100$500 to $5,000

July 26 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 267:20 PM GMT-5F1Attala0.110

August 19 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 192:45 PM GMT-5F1Lamar0.560$50 to $500

September 10 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
September 101:00 PM GMT-5F1Simpson0.110$500 to $5,000
September 107:30 PM GMT-5F1Tippah0.110$500 to $5,000

November 27 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
November 2712:24 AM GMT-6F1Hinds0.110$500 to $5,000

December 12 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
December 129:00 AM GMT-6F1Forrest0.110$50 to $500

Crossed into Mississippi

Tornadoes that touched down in a neighboring state and ran into Mississippi. They are counted under the state they began in.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
February 112:15 PM GMT-6F2DeSoto, AR to MS19.62504$50,000 to $500,000

Nearby

Every tornado in Mississippi since 1950Warnings in force in MississippiThe live radar over Mississippi

What this means

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

Sources

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.