1974 tornadoes in Mississippi

34 tornadoes touched down in Mississippi in 1974, 9 percent below the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

1973 1975 The whole country in 1974

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.

F040 to 72 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
F173 to 112 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
F4207 to 260 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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 1974

January 28 5 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
January 28	3:40 AM CDT	F2	Leflore	0.1	10		$5,000 to $50,000
January 28	4:15 AM CDT	F1	Warren	1.0	10
January 28	5:00 AM CDT	F3	Hinds	31.4	100	5	$50,000 to $500,000
January 28	5:25 AM CDT	F2	Oktibbeha	3.0	10	3	$5,000 to $50,000
January 28	6:00 AM CDT	F2	Choctaw	0.1	10	1	$5,000 to $50,000

February 6 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
February 6	6:45 PM CDT	F1	Perry	0.1	10			$500 to $5,000

February 14 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
February 14	9:00 PM CDT	F2	Rankin	0.1	10			$50 to $500

February 21 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
February 21	3:30 PM CDT	F3	Lawrence	9.8	200		13	$50,000 to $500,000
February 21	4:09 PM CDT	F3	Simpson	14.2	10			$5,000 to $50,000

April 1 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
April 1	4:10 PM CDT	F2	Bolivar	0.1	10	$50,000 to $500,000
April 1	7:00 PM CDT	F2	Carroll	0.1	10	$5,000 to $50,000
April 1	8:40 PM CDT	F2	Holmes	0.1	10	$5,000 to $50,000
April 1	8:45 PM CDT	F2	Calhoun	5.1	10	$5,000 to $50,000

April 2 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 2	2:32 AM CDT	F1	Pearl River	0.1	10			$5,000 to $50,000

April 3 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 3	5:00 PM CDT	F3	Jones	12.0	100		1	$50,000 to $500,000

April 12 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 12	3:30 AM CDT	F2	Grenada	0.1	10			$5,000 to $50,000

April 22 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 22	6:30 AM CDT	F2	Washington	22.4	10		3	$50,000 to $500,000
April 22	3:00 PM CDT	F2	Jones	0.1	10			$5,000 to $50,000

May 31 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 31	3:10 PM CDT	F1	Warren	0.1	10			$50 to $500

June 5 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 5	9:50 PM CDT	F0	Attala	0.1	10			under $50

June 6 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 6	7:30 PM CDT	F0	Webster	0.1	10			$50 to $500

June 7 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 7	7:06 PM CDT	F1	Calhoun	0.1	10			$500 to $5,000
June 7	8:40 PM CDT	F1	Prentiss	0.5	500			$500 to $5,000

June 13 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 13	7:40 PM CDT	F0	Jackson	0.1	10			under $50

June 15 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 15	10:40 PM CDT	F2	Bolivar	0.1	10			$5,000 to $50,000

June 20 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 20	3:10 PM CDT	F0	Jackson	0.7	100			$50 to $500

July 16 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 16	1:40 PM CDT	F2	Coahoma	0.5	50			$5,000 to $50,000

August 16 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 16	12:35 AM CDT	F1	Harrison	0.1	10			$500 to $5,000

September 8 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
September 8	2:45 AM CDT	F0	Jackson	0.1	50			under $50

September 9 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
September 9	4:00 PM CDT	F1	Lamar	0.1	30			$50 to $500

September 28 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
September 28	10:00 PM CDT	F0	Smith	0.1	10			$5,000 to $50,000

October 29 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
October 29	8:15 AM CST	F2	Montgomery	0.2	50			$500 to $5,000
October 29	10:00 AM CST	F1	Smith	0.1	20		1	$500 to $5,000

November 4 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
November 4	12:05 PM CST	F1	Jackson	0.1	23			under $50

Nearby

Every tornado in Mississippi since 1950 Warnings in force in Mississippi The 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.