1 tornado, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
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, 2:40 PM CST, 4 hours 15 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR 340 PM CDT SUN MAY 20 2001 ONE ROUND OF THUNDERSTORMS MOVED ACROSS MUCH OF NORTHERN INTO CENTRAL ARKANSAS THIS MORNING/EARLY AFTERNOON...WITH QUITE A FEW REPORTS OF STRONG/DAMAGING WINDS AND HAIL. MAY HAVE BEEN A COUPLE OF TORNADOES AS WELL. MORE TO COME TONIGHT. SATELLITE SHOWING THAT STORMS THIS MORNING MOVING EAST OF REGION. SKIES CLEARING...WITH SUN WARMING ATMOSPHERE IN A HURRY. AT THE SAME TIME...SYSTEM ALOFT MOVING THROUGH CENTRAL KANSAS/NORTHERN OKLAHOMA...WITH SCATTERED STORMS FIRING JUST AHEAD OF SYSTEM. TORNADO WATCH POSTED UNTIL 9PM IN MUCH OF EASTERN OKLAHOMA. SYSTEM ALOFT WILL MOVE OVER NORTHERN/CENTRAL ARKANSAS TONIGHT. STRONG COLD FRONT WILL PUSH INTO CENTRAL SECTIONS OF THE STATE FROM THE NORTHWEST BY 7 AM MONDAY. FRONT WILL INTERACT WITH SYSTEM ALOFT TO PRODUCE WIDESPREAD THUNDERSTORMS...WITH SEVERE WEATHER LIKELY. WORDED ACCORDINGLY IN FORECAST. FRONT WILL CONTINUE PUSHING THROUGH SOUTHERN ARKANSAS MONDAY MORNING...WITH SEVERE WEATHER STILL POSSIBLE AHEAD OF FRONT. BEHIND FRONT...DRAMATICALLY COOLER WITH BREEZY NORTHWEST WIND AND LOTS OF CLOUDS. LOOKS LIKE THERE WILL BE SOME LEFTOVER RAIN/A FEW THUNDERSHOWERS AS WELL. MONDAY NIGHT/TUESDAY...CLOUDS WILL DECREASE WITH BELOW NORMAL TEMPERATURES EXPECTED. LOOKING AHEAD...UPPER LEVEL LOW PRESSURE IN OHIO VALLEY WILL RETROGRADE TOWARD ARKANSAS WEDNESDAY/THURSDAY...WITH PLENTY OF CLOUDS/COOL WEATHER CONTINUING. UPPER LOW WILL DRIFT BACK TO THE NORTHEAST THROUGH THE WEEKEND...WITH NOT AS MANY CLOUDS AND A SLOW WARMUP. (46) .LIT...NONE
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR
204 PM CDT SUN MAY 20 2001
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
1210 PM 1 E ROSE BUD AR WIND DAMAGE
05/20/01 WHITE TREE DOWN. REPORTED BY
STORM SPOTTER.
1210 PM PEARSON AR WIND DAMAGE
05/20/01 CLEBURNE SEVERAL METAL
COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS
WITH MAJOR DAMAGE. MANY
LARGE TREES DOWN.
SEVERAL BARNS WITH
ROOFS OFF. POWER LINES
DOWN. REPORTED BY
K97.7/THUNDER 101.5
RADIO.ARZ003>007-012>016-021>025-030>034-037>047-052>057-062>069- 210600- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR 355 PM CDT SUN MAY 20 2001 ...SEVERE WEATHER LIKELY FOR MUCH OF ARKANSAS TONIGHT... A ROUND OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS THAT ENTERED WESTERN ARKANSAS AT MID MORNING WAS MOVING EASTWARD OUT OF THE STATE BY MID AFTERNOON. CLOUDS DECREASED BEHIND THE STORMS...WITH THE SUN WARMING THE ATMOSPHERE MAKING IT UNSTABLE. MORE SEVERE STORMS WILL DEVELOP TONIGHT...WITH SEVERE WEATHER LIKELY. AT 330 PM THIS AFTERNOON...SCATTERED STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WERE DEVELOPING IN KANSAS AND OKLAHOMA...WITH A TORNADO WATCH POSTED IN EASTERN OKLAHOMA UNTIL 9 PM. THE STORMS WERE AHEAD OF A COLD FRONT LOCATED OVER THE CENTRAL PLAINS. THIS COUPLED WITH AN APPROACHING UPPER LEVEL SYSTEM WILL SET THE STAGE FOR MORE SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN ARKANSAS LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. THE STORMS WILL LIKELY PRODUCE TORNADOES...LARGE HAIL...AND DAMAGING STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS. WHILE MOST AREAS OF ARKANSAS HAVE THE POSSIBILITY FOR SOME SEVERE STORMS...THE PRIME FOCUS WILL BE ON ABOUT THE NORTHERN HALF OF THE STATE. PEOPLE ACROSS ARKANSAS...ESPECIALLY THOSE IN THE NORTHERN HALF OF THE STATE...SHOULD KEEP TRACK OF THE LATEST WEATHER CONDITIONS AND FORECASTS LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. BE READY TO TAKE QUICK ACTION IF WARNINGS ARE ISSUED. 22/46
ARZ003>007-012>016-021>025-030>034-037>047-052>057-062>065-210200- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR 648 PM CDT SUN MAY 20 2001 ...TORNADO WATCH FOR THE NORTHERN TWO THIRDS OF ARKANSAS UNTIL 11 PM... A TORNADO WATCH HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR MUCH OF NORTH AND CENTRAL ARKANSAS UNTIL 11 PM TONIGHT. THE WATCH GENERALLY COVERS THOSE AREAS NORTH OF A LINE THAT EXTENDS FROM DE QUEEN TO DUMAS. VERY WARM...MOIST AND UNSTABLE AIR HAD OVERTAKEN MUCH OF ARKANSAS SUNDAY AFTERNOON. A STRONG COLD FRONT AND UPPER LEVEL STORM SYSTEM WILL MOVE EAST INTO ARKANSAS TONIGHT. THIS WILL SET THE STAGE FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS...WITH LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WIND GUSTS. IN ADDITION...WINDS ALOFT SUGGEST THE POSSIBILITY OF TORNADOES. THE THUNDERSTORMS MAY PERSIST WELL INTO THE NIGHT. PEOPLE ACROSS ARKANSAS...ESPECIALLY THOSE IN NORTH AND CENTRAL ARKANSAS...SHOULD KEEP TRACK OF THE LATEST WEATHER CONDITIONS. BE PREPARED TO TAKE QUICK ACTION WHEN WARNINGS ARE ISSUED. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO...LOCAL TELEVISION AND RADIO...OR CABLE TV FOR THE LATEST STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS. 45
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR
653 PM CDT SUN MAY 20 2001
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0559 PM ATKINS AR .75 INCH HAIL
05/20/01 POPE REPORTED BY PUBLIC.
0607 PM 1 NW MORRILTON AR 1 INCH HAIL
05/20/01 CONWAY REPORTED BY LAW
ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL.
0640 PM LAMAR AR .75 INCH HAIL
05/20/01 JOHNSON REPORTED BY LAW
ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL.PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR
714 PM CDT SUN MAY 20 2001
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0650 PM CLARKSVILLE AR .75 INCH HAIL
05/20/01 JOHNSON REPORTED BY STORM
SPOTTER.The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
An F0 tornado touched down briefly in an open area 5 miles east of Antioch. No damage was reported.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Arkansas in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Arkansas, 2001Warnings 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: 5249482.