1989 tornadoes in Mississippi

36 tornadoes touched down in Mississippi in 1989, about the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

1988 1990 The whole country in 1989

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 1989

January 7 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
January 7	10:00 PM CST	F2	Monroe	4.0	100			$50,000 to $500,000
January 7	10:05 PM CST	F1	Monroe	2.0	60			$5,000 to $50,000

February 20 5 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
February 20	8:15 PM CST	F1	Hinds	7.0	100	$50,000 to $500,000
February 20	8:18 PM CST	F1	Hinds	9.5	120	$50,000 to $500,000
February 20	10:00 PM CST	F2	Monroe	2.5	100	$50,000 to $500,000
February 20	11:02 PM CST	F1	Jasper	8.0	80	$50,000 to $500,000
February 20	11:25 PM CST	F1	Jasper	5.0	60	$5,000 to $50,000

March 4 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
March 4	7:05 PM CST	F1	Hinds	11.0	70		$5,000 to $50,000
March 4	7:15 PM CST	F3	Hinds	11.0	350	5	$500,000 to $5 million
March 4	7:35 PM CST	F1	Madison	5.0	60		$5,000 to $50,000

March 5 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
March 5	5:10 AM CST	F1	Monroe	1.0	60			$5,000 to $50,000
March 5	9:20 AM CST	F1	Jasper	0.7	40			$5,000 to $50,000

March 29 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
March 29	11:35 AM CST	F1	Lowndes	3.0	50			$50,000 to $500,000
March 29	11:50 AM CST	F1	Noxubee	1.5	70			$50,000 to $500,000

April 4 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
April 4	7:45 AM CDT	F1	Leflore	0.5	50	$50,000 to $500,000
April 4	7:55 AM CDT	F1	Leflore	1.0	70	$50,000 to $500,000
April 4	8:45 AM CDT	F0	Washington	0.3	50

May 4 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
May 4	12:00 PM CDT	F1	Rankin	0.5	30
May 4	12:05 PM CDT	F1	Rankin	1.5	150	$50,000 to $500,000
May 4	12:31 PM CDT	F1	Scott	0.5	30	$5,000 to $50,000

May 18 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 18	5:15 PM CDT	F1	Amite	1.0	40			$50,000 to $500,000

May 20 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 20	9:10 AM CDT	F0	Alcorn	0.4	30

June 5 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 5	9:50 AM CDT	F1	Scott	5.0	73			$5,000 to $50,000
June 5	12:00 PM CDT	F1	Perry	0.3	30			$500 to $5,000

June 8 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 8	10:45 AM CDT	F1	Jones	0.8	70			$5,000 to $50,000
June 8	5:00 PM CDT	F1	Lauderdale	0.5	50			$5,000 to $50,000

June 12 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 12	10:45 PM CDT	F1	Alcorn	2.0	70			$5,000 to $50,000

June 28 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 28	10:10 AM CDT	F1	Wilkinson	1.0	73		5	$50,000 to $500,000

July 2 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 2	5:00 PM CDT	F1	Oktibbeha	1.0	73			$5,000 to $50,000

July 3 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 3	5:55 PM CDT	F0	Copiah	0.1	20

July 19 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 19	3:45 PM CDT	F0	Kemper	0.8	50			$500 to $5,000

October 16 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
October 16	3:20 PM CDT	F2	Yazoo	3.0	80			$50,000 to $500,000

November 8 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
November 8	6:45 PM CST	F0	Clarke	0.5	20
November 8	7:05 PM CST	F1	Clarke	1.0	40			$5,000 to $50,000

November 15 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
November 15	3:50 PM CST	F0	Kemper	5.0	17			$500 to $5,000

November 22 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
November 22	3:30 PM CST	F2	Lamar	2.5	400			$50,000 to $500,000

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.