1 thunderstorm wind, as filed by the National Weather Service.
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Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Little Rock, AR wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 20, 3:00 AM CST, 8 hours 55 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR 400 AM CDT SUN MAY 20 2001 MCS MOVING INTO WESTERN ARKANSAS EARLY THIS MORNING IS WEAKENING AND APPEARS TO BE DISSIPATING ON SATELLITE. UNDOUBTEDLY, THIS WILL LEAVE SOME BOUNDARIES AROUND FOR NEW THUNDERSTORMS TO DEVELOP ON THIS AFTERNOON. LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS IN SOUTHWESTERN OKLAHOMA COULD REACH WESTERN PART OF CFA LATE THIS MORNING OR AROUND MIDDAY. UPPER WINDS ARE WEAK THIS MORNING BUT WILL INCREASE BY THIS AFTERNOON AS LOW LEVEL JET BEGINS TO DEVELOP OVER WESTERN ARKANSAS AND 500 MB WIND MAX APPROACHES FROM THE SOUTHWEST. WARM ADVECTION PATTERN SETS UP BY MIDDAY MOSTLY IN THE NORTHWEST. LOOKS LIKE NORTH AND NORTHWEST PARTS OF CWA WILL HAVE THE BEST THREAT OF SEVERE WEATHER TODAY INTO EARLY TONIGHT. WILL CARRY LIKELY POPS IN THAT AREA WITH CHANCE POPS ELSEWHERE. VORTICITY PATTERN WITH SHORT WAVES IS POSITIVELY TILTED AND MAY EVEN BE SHEARING. DUE TO THIS, HAVE HARD TIME SEEING MAJOR OUTBREAK OF SEVERE WEATHER IN CWA, BUT WITH HIGHLY UNSTABLE AIR IN PLACE THIS AFTERNOON ALONG WITH A BOUNDARY OR TWO AND INCREASING WIND DYNAMICS, COULD SEE A SUPERCELL OR TWO WITH ISOLATED SIGNIFICANT SEVERE HAIL, WIND, OR EVEN A TORNADO OR TWO. THUS, WILL KEEP MENTION OF SEVERE IN FORERCAST AND WILL PLAY UP SEVERE THREAT, ESPECIALLY SINCE AREA HAS HAD A LIGHT SEVERE WEATHER SPRING SO FAR. THREAT OF SEVERE CONTINUES TONIGHT AND COLD FRONT SHOULD MOVE INTO NORTHWEST, WITH A SQUALL LINE POSSIBLE WITH THAT. POPS WILL BE LIKELY TO CATEGORICAL TONIGHT, EXCEPT IN THE FAR SOUTHEAST, WHERE THUNDERSTORMS MAY HOLD OFF UNTIL MONDAY. WILL KEEP LIKELY POPS IN SOUTH AND EAST MONDAY, AND CONTINUE THREAT FOR SEVERE. ISOLATED SEVERE MAY CONTINUE EARLY IN THE MORNING, THEN NEW SEVERE STORMS MAY DEVELOP ALONG THE FRONT IN THE SOUTHEAST MONDAY AFTERNOON. LOOKS LIKE STRONG STORMS SHOULD BE OUT OF AREA BY EARLY MONDAY NIGHT. MAIN SHORT WAVE FROM PLAINS DOES NOT PASS AREA UNTIL TUESDAY MORNING, SO WILL KEEP CHANCE POPS FOR MONDAY IN REST OF FA AND KEEP SOME POPS IN FOR MONDAY NIGHT. PROBABLY LOOKING AT OVERRUNNING RAIN LATE MONDAY IN THE CENTRAL AND NORTH AND IN MOST OF THE AREA MONDAY NIGHT. LIKELY WILL SEE GOOD WARMING AGAIN TODAY, BUT CLOUD DEBRIS FROM CONVECTION WILL HOLD MINS DOWN A LITTLE FROM YESTERDAY. IF THUNDERSTORMS RAGE ACROSS THE CWA TONIGHT, THINK MOS WILL BE TOO HIGH ON MINS, BUT WILL NOT VENTURE TOO FAR FROM IT AS MAIN LINE OF STORMS MAY NOT ARRIVE UNTIL 12Z MONDAY OR LATER. WILL GO WITH LITTLE WARMING FOR MONDAY AND WILL GO CLOSER TO MAV MOS ON MAXES. .LIT...NONE
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Thunderstorm winds knocked down trees, power lines and caused roof damage to several buildings.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Arkansas in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in Arkansas, May 2001
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5250626.