Winston County

Every recorded tornado

1. Injuries and deaths are for the tornado’s whole path, which may extend beyond the county. Deaths recorded within Winston County: 13.
2. Weak tornadoes were under-recorded before Doppler radar coverage became national in the early 1990s, so earlier decades read low. Ratings use the Fujita scale before February 2007 and the Enhanced Fujita scale after.

Storm Prediction Center severe weather database, 1950 to 2025.

Every storm within 100 miles

1. Tropical storms and hurricanes (34 kt or more, still tropical) at closest approach. Post-tropical remnants with gale-force winds are listed but not counted. Direct: track within 50 miles; near: within 100 miles. Distance is measured to the county boundary for counties and to the city centre for cities, using positions interpolated hourly between HURDAT2 fixes.

National Hurricane Center HURDAT2, 1851 to 2025.

Every large fire

1. Large fires mapped by the Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity program since 1984: 1,000 acres or more in the West, 500 or more in the East. Prescribed burns are excluded. Acres here are the part of each perimeter inside this place.

Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (USGS and U.S. Forest Service), 1984 to 2026.

Smoke overhead

1. A smoke day is a date on which a smoke plume traced by NOAA Hazard Mapping System analysts from satellite imagery covered this place's point (the county's population centre or the city centre). Counts here are of medium or heavy smoke. Since 2018 analysts have often drawn light smoke as one area over most of the continent, so light-smoke counts are not comparable from year to year. The plumes show smoke anywhere in the air above, not air quality at the ground, and smoke hidden by cloud is missed.

NOAA Hazard Mapping System smoke analysis, 2011 to 2026, retrieved October 30, 2026.

Claims by ZIP code

This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).

OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims v3, refreshed August 4, 2026. NOAA Storm Events through 2026.

1. The Palmer Drought Severity Index is computed by NOAA each month from the county's average temperature and precipitation, relative to the county's own climate. Zero is normal; -3 or lower is severe drought and -4 or lower extreme drought. It describes the long-term balance of moisture, not water supply or crop losses.

NOAA NCEI nClimDiv county Palmer Drought Severity Index, 1895 to September 2026, issued October 6, 2026.

1. Earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 or more in the USGS Comprehensive Catalog since 1900. Within 50 miles means the epicentre lies within 50 miles of the county boundary (or inside the county).
2. Small earthquakes were under-recorded before the modern seismic networks of the 1970s and are still missed in remote areas, so early decades read low. Magnitudes are as the catalogue reports them and mix scales (moment, local and body-wave).

USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog, 1900 to present, retrieved October 30, 2026.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Apr 28, 2014Tornado$115 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado first touched down in northeastern Leake County, where the damage was mostly downed trees. As the tornado approached the 4 corners intersection of Leake, Attala, Neshoba, and Winston Counties, it strengthened and began to impact structures. Several mobile homes, medal buildings and single family homes were damaged or destroyed in this area along Highway 25. The tornado continued northeast impacting rural areas of southwest Winston County. There it intensified and began to produce EF3 and some areas of EF4 damage. Numerous homes were destroyed, trees were debarked and severe damage occurred to several chicken farms. The EF4 damage in this area was a building reduced to…

2. Aug 29, 2005Hurricane (Typhoon), Winston$50.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hurricane Katrina will likely go down as the worst and costliest natural disaster in United States history. The amount of destruction, the cost of damaged property/agriculture and the large loss of life across the affected region has been overwhelming. Catastrophic damage was widespread across a large portion of the Gulf Coast region. The devastation was not only confined to the coastal region, widespread and significant damage occurred well inland up to the Hattiesburg area and northward past Interstate 20. This hurricane has changed life as we know it across the Gulf Coast region which will take many years to return to normal.Hurricane Katrina was a very large and powerful storm…

3. Mar 9, 2006Thunderstorm Wind$10.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The squall line which caused the damage across eastern Attala County intensified and tracked across a large portion of central Winston County. A very intense "bow echo" formed in the line and caused a swath of extensive damage from around the Four Corners Community to Louisville and then to points northeast around Betheden.The "bow echo" began near the Four Corners Community and several large signs were blown down or snapped off and a large commercial building had its roof blown off. Many trees and power lines were blown down around this area and across the western portion of the county. As the "bow echo" approached Louisville two homes sustained roof damage and more trees were…

4. Apr 18, 2008Tornado$3.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   This tornado touched down just on the southern side of Louisville and tracked northeast across the eastern side of the city and dissipated about 6 miles northeast of town. Numerous trees were snapped and uprooted along the path. Seven homes sustained significant damage as well as the Island Plaza apartments. The Georgia Pacific Paper Company building was badly damaged as well as damage to a school bus barn. Maximum winds were around 110 mph.

5. Nov 24, 2004Tornado$2.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   This strong tornado moved into Winston county from Neshoba county and tracked northeast for 12 miles before moving into Noxubee county. Just inside the Winston county line four large chicken houses were destroyed. As the tornado tracked northeast across State Route 393 and 397, a few hundred trees were uprooted and snapped. Several homes sustained minor roof damage. One home was totally destroyed on McBrayer Road. Pieces of the home was blown and scattered across a field for 1/4 mile. Here three vehicles were moved with two of them landing on top of tree debris and the other thrown into a ditch. This home was where the two injuries and one fatality occurred. The tornado was at its…

6. Jul 13, 2023Flash Flood$2.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Multiple roads were flooded and several washed out across Winston county due to rainfall totals measured up to 12.91 inches near Louisville. Numerous cars were flooded and stalled with water rescues occurred across the county; most in the vicinity of the city of Louisville. Water entered homes and businesses including residences near Mount Moriah Street, a community center along Church Street, and a retail store along MS highway 14 on the east side of Louisville. Flooding also occurred into the southern part of the county where a truck became stalled on a flooded and partially washed out road in the Nanih Waiya community.

7. Apr 28, 2014Hail$1.5 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   A swath of large damaging hail fell across most of western Winston county, generally along the highway 14 corridor west of Louisville. Many vehicles were damaged along with homes sustaining roof damage.

8. Jun 14, 2023Hail$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Hail of 1 to 2 inches in diameter fell in a swath from Smyth Lake Road on the south side of Louisville to Crystal Ridge Road southeast of town.

9. Aug 29, 2005Flash Flood$600,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   As Hurricane Katrina moved inland a swath of 5 to 8 inches of rain fell along a path where the center moved north-northeast. This heavy rain mainly fell across Southeast, Central and Northeast Mississippi over a 6 to 10 hour period. This rainfall caused many county roads and other secondary roads to flood for a period of time with a many number of roads having to be closed. Additionally, several roads had a small section washed out or nearly washed out. These sections of road were located in low lying areas near creeks and bottoms.

10. Feb 20, 2006Ice Storm, Winston$500,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    During the early morning hours of February 20th, and lasting through early afternoon, portions of the region saw periods of freezing rain. The amount of accumulation varied with only a narrow corridor from Northeast Louisiana to portions of Northeast Mississippi receiving 1/4 to 1/2 of an inch of ice accumulation. A large portion of the region did see freezing rain, but for the most part, accumulations of ice stayed below 1/4 of an inch. Across Northeast Louisiana, the core of heaviest freezing rain occurred from Southwest Richland parish across Northern Franklin parish into the west half of Madison parish. Here 1/4 to 0.4 inches of ice occurred and caused bridges and overpasses…

1. Storm Events records before 1996 cover only tornadoes, thunderstorm wind and hail. Damage figures are as reported by the National Weather Service at the time, not adjusted for inflation.

NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, 1950 to 2026, issued October 26, 2026.

All-time high

111°FJul 29, 1930

All-time low

−12°FFeb 13, 1899

Warmest night

88°FJul 2, 1897

Coldest day

10°FJan 21, 1985

Wettest day

8.28 inFeb 28, 2009

Snowiest day

10.0 in2 times, most recently Feb 13, 1960

Hottest year

1933mean 67.4°F

Coldest year

1968mean 60.1°F

Wettest year

201989.55 in

Driest year

194230.75 in

Station State University (USC00228374), 185 ft elevation, 30.5 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1891 to October 27, 2026; 92.1% of days in the last 30 years are complete. Records at a single station can differ from a city’s official threaded record, which may combine several stations.

NOAA NCEI Global Historical Climatology Network Daily.

This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).

OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries, retrieved October 30, 2026. Statewide declarations are not listed.

Neighbouring counties

• Tornadoes NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather database, through 2025.
• Tropical cyclones NOAA National Hurricane Center HURDAT2 (Atlantic; Northeast and Central Pacific), through 2025.
• Wildfire USGS/USFS Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity, through 2026.
• Storm events NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, through 2026.
• Flood insurance OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims v3, refreshed August 4, 2026.
• Declarations OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2, retrieved October 30, 2026.
• Weather records NOAA NCEI Global Historical Climatology Network Daily, station USC00228374.
• River crests NOAA National Weather Service, National Water Prediction Service river gauges, retrieved October 30, 2026.
• Drought NOAA NCEI nClimDiv county Palmer Drought Severity Index, through September 2026.
• Smoke NOAA NESDIS Hazard Mapping System smoke analysis, retrieved October 30, 2026.
• Earthquakes USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog (ComCat), retrieved October 30, 2026.

Joins, thresholds and known limits are set out in the methodology. Found an error? Report it. Page built October 30, 2026.