Tornado Alley Map

Tornado Alley has no official boundary: NOAA's storm lab calls it a nickname invented by the media. Mapping every tornado NOAA recorded from 2021–2025, the most per square mile fall in Mississippi, Illinois and Alabama, and 51% come in March, April and May.

By Home Stats Data · Data: NOAA Storm Events, 2021–2025

1,635County tornado reports a year in the US (205 rated EF2 or stronger)

124Most reports a year: Texas. Most per square mile: Mississippi.

327Tornado deaths, 2021–2025. Most: Kentucky, 94.

Where tornadoes touch down

US county map of tornado reports per 1,000 square miles per year, 2021–2025. The highest densities run from the southern Plains through the lower Mississippi and Tennessee valleys into the Southeast. Full figures are in the tables below. — None
0.5–1
1–2
2–3
3–5
5+
County tornado reports per 1,000 square miles per year, 2021–2025 average. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database. Map: US Census Bureau via us-atlas.

Tornado season

Nationally, tornado reports peak in May. NOAA notes the threat shifts from the Southeast in the cooler months toward the southern and central Plains in May and June.

Share of US county tornado reports by month, 2021–2025.

Tornadoes by state

Yearly averages, 2021–2025, sorted by reports per 10,000 square miles. Delaware, Idaho, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, Nevada, District of Columbia, Alaska, Hawaii, Maine have too few reports (under 10 in five years) to rank per square mile. State names link to each state's hail statistics.

Tornado reports by state. Column headers sort the table.

1	Mississippi	23.4	112	16.8	34	March
2	Illinois	20.6	116	10.4	10	July
3	Alabama	18.7	97.0	16.2	23	March
4	Iowa	17.0	95.4	14.8	13	April
5	Oklahoma	14.7	103	9.4	12	May
6	Indiana	13.1	47.2	7.2	8	March
7	Louisiana	12.5	59.6	8.0	7	May
8	Ohio	12.2	50.2	6.0	3	April
9	Kentucky	12.1	49.0	8.6	94	December
10	Tennessee	11.7	49.2	10.6	31	December
11	Florida	10.8	63.4	6.4	10	October
12	Missouri	9.6	66.6	11.8	24	May
13	New Jersey	9.5	7.4	1.6	0	April
14	Arkansas	9.5	50.6	10.6	11	May
15	Georgia	9.3	54.6	6.4	7	April
16	South Carolina	9.0	28.0	1.6	0	August
17	Nebraska	8.1	62.2	7.6	0	May
18	Maryland	7.5	7.8	0.6	0	June
19	Wisconsin	7.1	39.6	3.6	0	May
20	Minnesota	6.2	51.8	2.6	0	May
21	Kansas	6.1	49.8	5.8	0	May
22	Pennsylvania	5.7	26.0	2.4	1	May
23	North Carolina	5.3	26.6	1.8	5	May
24	Connecticut	5.2	2.6	0.0	0	November
25	Massachusetts	5.1	4.2	0.0	0	August
26	Texas	4.7	124	20.2	21	May
27	Colorado	4.2	43.8	2.6	0	June
28	North Dakota	4.1	28.6	2.4	3	June
29	Michigan	3.2	18.8	1.6	5	May
30	New York	2.8	13.8	1.2	4	July
31	Virginia	2.8	11.2	1.0	0	May
32	South Dakota	2.7	21.0	2.8	0	May
33	West Virginia	2.2	5.4	0.8	0	April
34	New Mexico	1.0	11.6	0.0	0	May
35	Wyoming	0.8	7.8	0.6	0	June
36	Arizona	0.6	7.0	0.0	0	June
37	California	0.3	5.2	0.0	0	January
38	Washington	0.3	2.2	0.0	0	May
39	Utah	0.3	2.4	0.6	0	July
40	Oregon	0.2	2.4	0.0	0	June
41	Montana	0.2	2.8	0.2	0	July
–	Delaware	–	1.6	0.2	1	July
–	Idaho	–	1.6	0.0	0	May
–	Rhode Island	–	1.4	0.2	0	November
–	New Hampshire	–	1.0	0.0	0	July
–	Vermont	–	0.8	0.0	0	July
–	Nevada	–	0.6	0.0	0	August
–	District of Columbia	–	0.4	0.0	0	July
–	Alaska	–	0.2	0.0	0	April
–	Hawaii	–	0.0	0.0	0	–
–	Maine	–	0.0	0.0	0	–

Counties with the most tornadoes per square mile

Counties averaging at least one report a year, 2021–2025.

Top counties by tornado reports per square mile. Column headers sort the table.

Spalding County, Georgia	11.1	2.2	0.8
DuPage County, Illinois	10.7	3.6	0.2
Floyd County, Indiana	9.2	1.4	0.0
Trousdale County, Tennessee	8.8	1.0	0.2
Kendall County, Illinois	8.1	2.6	0.0
Cleveland County, Oklahoma	7.9	4.4	0.8
Jefferson Davis County, Mississippi	7.8	3.2	0.6
McClain County, Oklahoma	7.6	4.4	0.8
Kane County, Illinois	7.3	3.8	0.0
Vanderburgh County, Indiana	6.9	1.6	0.4
Simpson County, Mississippi	6.8	4.0	0.0
Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma	6.6	5.2	1.0
St. Louis County, Missouri	6.5	3.4	0.4
Boyle County, Kentucky	6.5	1.2	0.2
Butts County, Georgia	6.3	1.2	0.2

How this map is built

Every tornado in NOAA's Storm Events Database from 2021–2025, counted in each county it touched and averaged per year, then divided by the county's area. NOAA logs a tornado once for each county it crosses, so these are county tornado reports: a long-track tornado counts in every county on its path. EF ratings come from National Weather Service damage surveys; "EFU" (unknown) tornadoes count in the totals but not as EF2+.

This is a record of past tornadoes, not a forecast or a live tracker. For warnings, follow your local National Weather Service office. Full methodology.

Cite: Home Stats Data, "Tornado Alley Map," https://homestatsdata.com/storm-risk/tornado-alley-map/