The tornado outbreak of May 27, 1973
41 tornadoesMississippi, Alabama, North Carolina and 7 more states
41 tornadoes touched down across 10 states between 3:00 AM and 12:30 AM the next day CDT, 5 of them rated F3 or stronger, and 9 people were killed.
Watch the day unfoldTornado outbreak · May 27, 1973
How the day unfolded
Every tornado recorded that day, at its logged touchdown time and along its path, with the counties it crossed.
The day in numbers
- Tornadoes
- 41
- on Sunday, May 27, 1973
- F3 or stronger
- 5
- 1 rated F4 or F5
- Killed
- 9
- Along all the paths
- Injured
- 346
- Along all the paths
- Path miles
- 593
- All the paths end to end
- First and last
- 3:00 AM to 12:30 AM the next day
- Touchdowns, Central Daylight Time
Hour by hour
Tornadoes touching down in each hour, Central Daylight Time.
Every tornado
In order of touchdown. One has a record page, linked from the rating.
By state
| Mississippi | 10 | 1 | 1 |
| Alabama | 6 | 2 | 8 |
| North Carolina | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| South Carolina | 5 | 1 | 0 |
| Georgia | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| Indiana | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Tennessee | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Michigan | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Hawaii | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Missouri | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Tornadoes in 1973 · On this date in other years · The biggest outbreak days
Storm Prediction Center severe weather database, 1950 to 2025. A day is SPC’s calendar date in Central Standard Time; an outbreak day here has 40 or more tornadoes, or 6 or more rated F3/EF3 or stronger.