The Southeast United States - covering Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, Louisiana, and parts of surrounding states - has become the deadliest tornado region in America. Modern Southeast tornadoes kill more people than the traditional Tornado Alley, and the trend is worsening.
Multiple factors combine to make Southeast tornadoes deadlier than Great Plains ones:
Southeast tornadoes strike at night at 2-3x the Great Plains rate. Nighttime tornadoes are 2.5x more likely to kill (Ashley, 2007). Full details →
Southeast US has the highest mobile home density in the country. Mobile homes fail catastrophically at EF2+ winds. Full details →
Southeast storms tend to be high-precipitation (HP) supercells. Tornadoes are rain-wrapped and often invisible until impact.
Forested hills and rolling terrain obscure visibility. Unlike open Plains, you cannot see approaching tornadoes.
Southeast tornadoes tend to move faster than Great Plains events. Response time is compressed.
Two tornado peaks (spring and fall/winter) mean sustained tornado risk from February through December.
The Great Plains has invested more heavily in community shelters than the Southeast. Alabama, Mississippi shelter infrastructure is expanding but lags Oklahoma.
Killed 316 in a single day, mostly in the Southeast. Signature Alabama events: Hackleburg EF5, Tuscaloosa EF4. Signature Mississippi events: Smithville EF5, Philadelphia MS EF5.
158 killed in Missouri (which counts as Southeast for some analyses). The deadliest modern US tornado. Full story →
57 killed in Kentucky during December Quad-State outbreak. Full story →
21 killed in Mississippi Delta. Recent EF4 event. Full story →
25 killed across Tennessee during EF3/EF4 outbreak. Full story →
23 killed in Alabama during a March outbreak. Multiple significant tornadoes struck the same area within hours.
Southeast tornado culture is different from Great Plains:
What needs to happen:
Population growth in the Southeast is concentrated in tornado-prone areas:
More people in tornado-prone areas = more potential deaths in future outbreaks.
Southeast tornado activity has been increasing while Great Plains has been decreasing. Full explanation →
Southeast tornado risk is likely to continue growing in coming decades.
→ Simulate a tornado on our map