Tornadoes since 1950 1,966
Average a year 26
Deaths 227
F4/EF4 or stronger 11
Busiest year 2017 (118)
Peak month April
Counties with a tornado 158
Georgia recorded 1,966 tornadoes from 1950 through 2024, an average of 26 a year, in NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center database. They killed 227 people. The busiest year was 2017, with 118.
Haralson: 24 tornadoes since 1950 Bleckley: 20 tornadoes since 1950 Sumter: 27 tornadoes since 1950 Meriwether: 30 tornadoes since 1950 Douglas: 11 tornadoes since 1950 Coweta: 30 tornadoes since 1950 Clarke: 7 tornadoes since 1950 Bartow: 30 tornadoes since 1950 Decatur: 29 tornadoes since 1950 Jones: 13 tornadoes since 1950 Tift: 26 tornadoes since 1950 Morgan: 7 tornadoes since 1950 Barrow: 5 tornadoes since 1950 Calhoun: 14 tornadoes since 1950 Madison: 10 tornadoes since 1950 Dooly: 20 tornadoes since 1950 McDuffie: 9 tornadoes since 1950 Grady: 21 tornadoes since 1950 Fannin: 10 tornadoes since 1950 Bibb: 22 tornadoes since 1950 Pulaski: 15 tornadoes since 1950 Butts: 8 tornadoes since 1950 Lamar: 14 tornadoes since 1950 Evans: 4 tornadoes since 1950 Atkinson: 11 tornadoes since 1950 Miller: 14 tornadoes since 1950 Crisp: 15 tornadoes since 1950 Coffee: 29 tornadoes since 1950 Ben Hill: 14 tornadoes since 1950 Chattahoochee: 13 tornadoes since 1950 Heard: 12 tornadoes since 1950 Newton: 16 tornadoes since 1950 DeKalb: 16 tornadoes since 1950 White: 10 tornadoes since 1950 Floyd: 23 tornadoes since 1950 Murray: 12 tornadoes since 1950 Walker: 14 tornadoes since 1950 Liberty: 16 tornadoes since 1950 Jeff Davis: 8 tornadoes since 1950 Emanuel: 14 tornadoes since 1950 Glynn: 26 tornadoes since 1950 Charlton: 10 tornadoes since 1950 Appling: 19 tornadoes since 1950 Polk: 12 tornadoes since 1950 Rockdale: 8 tornadoes since 1950 Cherokee: 31 tornadoes since 1950 Fulton: 40 tornadoes since 1950 Glascock: 4 tornadoes since 1950 Clayton: 12 tornadoes since 1950 Greene: 5 tornadoes since 1950 Gilmer: 17 tornadoes since 1950 Ware: 20 tornadoes since 1950 Hart: 12 tornadoes since 1950 Pike: 15 tornadoes since 1950 Pickens: 13 tornadoes since 1950 Hancock: 10 tornadoes since 1950 Webster: 7 tornadoes since 1950 Echols: 5 tornadoes since 1950 Whitfield: 8 tornadoes since 1950 Baldwin: 8 tornadoes since 1950 Bryan: 9 tornadoes since 1950 Thomas: 19 tornadoes since 1950 Early: 37 tornadoes since 1950 Clinch: 9 tornadoes since 1950 Macon: 12 tornadoes since 1950 Baker: 10 tornadoes since 1950 Dade: 9 tornadoes since 1950 Dougherty: 19 tornadoes since 1950 Mitchell: 28 tornadoes since 1950 Seminole: 8 tornadoes since 1950 Schley: 7 tornadoes since 1950 Henry: 19 tornadoes since 1950 Taylor: 20 tornadoes since 1950 Burke: 21 tornadoes since 1950 Union: 3 tornadoes since 1950 Upson: 20 tornadoes since 1950 Walton: 13 tornadoes since 1950 Washington: 23 tornadoes since 1950 Wayne: 16 tornadoes since 1950 Berrien: 14 tornadoes since 1950 Wheeler: 9 tornadoes since 1950 Columbia: 7 tornadoes since 1950 Dodge: 18 tornadoes since 1950 Gwinnett: 12 tornadoes since 1950 Dawson: 7 tornadoes since 1950 Johnson: 11 tornadoes since 1950 Jefferson: 15 tornadoes since 1950 Effingham: 15 tornadoes since 1950 Lanier: 8 tornadoes since 1950 Franklin: 13 tornadoes since 1950 Telfair: 13 tornadoes since 1950 Elbert: 14 tornadoes since 1950 Lowndes: 22 tornadoes since 1950 Talbot: 20 tornadoes since 1950 Hall: 31 tornadoes since 1950 Houston: 24 tornadoes since 1950 Pierce: 16 tornadoes since 1950 Irwin: 12 tornadoes since 1950 Lincoln: 10 tornadoes since 1950 Long: 6 tornadoes since 1950 Monroe: 18 tornadoes since 1950 Oconee: 12 tornadoes since 1950 Peach: 13 tornadoes since 1950 Quitman: 8 tornadoes since 1950 Randolph: 16 tornadoes since 1950 Stewart: 15 tornadoes since 1950 Jasper: 5 tornadoes since 1950 Forsyth: 10 tornadoes since 1950 Taliaferro: 0 tornadoes since 1950 Toombs: 11 tornadoes since 1950 Troup: 22 tornadoes since 1950 Twiggs: 22 tornadoes since 1950 Paulding: 9 tornadoes since 1950 Fayette: 10 tornadoes since 1950 Jackson: 10 tornadoes since 1950 Turner: 11 tornadoes since 1950 Bulloch: 17 tornadoes since 1950 Lumpkin: 12 tornadoes since 1950 Spalding: 22 tornadoes since 1950 Towns: 1 tornadoes since 1950 Wilkinson: 14 tornadoes since 1950 Lee: 16 tornadoes since 1950 Tattnall: 13 tornadoes since 1950 Marion: 11 tornadoes since 1950 Camden: 25 tornadoes since 1950 Carroll: 24 tornadoes since 1950 Gordon: 15 tornadoes since 1950 Rabun: 7 tornadoes since 1950 Laurens: 34 tornadoes since 1950 Screven: 24 tornadoes since 1950 Warren: 6 tornadoes since 1950 Candler: 6 tornadoes since 1950 Colquitt: 41 tornadoes since 1950 Habersham: 18 tornadoes since 1950 Jenkins: 10 tornadoes since 1950 Bacon: 20 tornadoes since 1950 McIntosh: 7 tornadoes since 1950 Richmond: 10 tornadoes since 1950 Wilkes: 5 tornadoes since 1950 Crawford: 14 tornadoes since 1950 Catoosa: 8 tornadoes since 1950 Cobb: 34 tornadoes since 1950 Chattooga: 6 tornadoes since 1950 Cook: 21 tornadoes since 1950 Montgomery: 6 tornadoes since 1950 Brooks: 15 tornadoes since 1950 Chatham: 32 tornadoes since 1950 Clay: 10 tornadoes since 1950 Muscogee: 18 tornadoes since 1950 Worth: 38 tornadoes since 1950 Brantley: 8 tornadoes since 1950 Putnam: 7 tornadoes since 1950 Stephens: 12 tornadoes since 1950 Banks: 10 tornadoes since 1950 Harris: 26 tornadoes since 1950 Terrell: 11 tornadoes since 1950 Oglethorpe: 6 tornadoes since 1950 Wilcox: 14 tornadoes since 1950 Treutlen: 9 tornadoes since 1950 Tornadoes per 1,000 square miles since 1950:
Tornadoes by year
4 50
3
12
12
26
15
17
18
11
10
7 60
46
12
19
11
14
21
24
24
12
20 70
46
42
31
30
22
20
17
14
20
32 80
8
15
26
36
11
9
2
4
38
18 90
17
19
21
52
22
18
22
38
12
28 00
12
24
27
44
54
21
42
63
55
11 10
42
15
17
31
25
28
118
25
46
62 20
47
42
56
31
The rise since the 1990s is mostly better detection of weak tornadoes, not a jump in strong ones.
Tornado season in Georgia
201 Jan
143 Feb
275 Mar
437 Apr
225 May
120 Jun
77 Jul
81 Aug
85 Sep
62 Oct
123 Nov
137 Dec
April is the peak, with 437 tornadoes since 1950 (22% of the total).
How strong
Rating
Estimated 3-second gust
Tornadoes
F0 / EF0
Light damage: 65 to 85 mph (EF scale)
604
F1 / EF1
Moderate: 86 to 110 mph
924
F2 / EF2
Considerable: 111 to 135 mph
343
F3 / EF3
Severe: 136 to 165 mph
79
F4 / EF4
Devastating: 166 to 200 mph
11
F5 / EF5
Incredible: over 200 mph
0
EF-U
Unknown: no damage to rate (mostly since 2016)
5
The deadliest tornadoes in Georgia
Date
Rating
Deaths in Georgia
Counties
April 30, 1953
F4
18
Houston County
March 20, 1998
F3
12
Hall County , White County
February 13, 2000
F3
11
Mitchell County
January 22, 2017
EF3
11
Berrien County , Brooks County , Cook County
April 3, 1974
F4
9
Gordon County , Murray County , Whitfield County
March 27, 1994
F3
9
Bartow County , Cherokee County , Gordon County , Pickens County
April 27, 2011
EF4
8
Catoosa County
April 12, 2020
EF2
8
Murray County
February 13, 2000
F3
7
Grady County , Mitchell County , Thomas County
April 3, 1974
F4
6
Dawson County , Lumpkin County , Pickens County
Counties with the most tornadoes
Big counties collect more tornadoes simply because they are big. By area, the most tornado-dense counties are Spalding County (111 per 1,000 sq mi), Cobb County (99 per 1,000 sq mi), Tift County (97 per 1,000 sq mi), Bleckley County (91 per 1,000 sq mi), Cook County (89 per 1,000 sq mi).
Every county in Georgia
Staying safe
When a tornado warning is issued, act at once. Go to a basement, storm shelter or safe room. With none, use a small windowless room on the lowest floor, as far from outside walls as you can, and cover your head and neck. Mobile homes and cars are not safe places to ride out a tornado: leave early for a sturdy building or shelter. Read the full tornado safety guide and the National Weather Service advice linked below.
Sources
Sources last checked 1 November 2026.