5 tornado, 4 thunderstorm wind, 1 hail, 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 Memphis, TN wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 24, 2:30 PM CST, 5 hours 25 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN 230 PM CST SAT FEB 24 2001 A SURFACE LOW OVER THE OK PANHANDLE AT 18Z WILL TRACK NEWD TO WI BY 12Z SUN. THE ASSOCIATED COLD FRONT SHOULD SWING THROUGH OUR FCST AREA BETWEEN 06Z AND 12Z SUN. EXPECT THE STRONG THUNDERSTORMS OVER CENTRAL AND WRN AR TO APPROACH THE WRN COUNTIES LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND MOVE ACROSS MOST OF THE FCST AREA THIS EVENING. SOME STORMS MAY LINGER OVER THE ERN COUNTIES AFTER MIDNIGHT. PLAN TO MENTION SEVERE STORMS IN ALL ZONES. TIGHT PRESSURE GRADIENT AND A STRONG LOW LEVEL JET WILL SUPPORT WINDY CONDITIONS AHEAD OF THE SQUALL LINE THIS EVENING. CLEARING SHOULD OCCUR LATER TONIGHT FROM WEST TO EAST...AND WINDS SHOULD BE SOMEWHAT LIGHTER. A SOUTHWEST FLOW PATTERN WILL SUPPORT OFF AND ON CHANCES OF RAIN FOR THE COMING WEEK. MODELS IN CLOSE AGREEMENT TODAY...BUT ETA HAS THE BEST ANALYSIS OF THE CURRENT SCENARIO. GUIDANCE SEEMS REASONABLE. .MEG...NONE. 012
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...CORRECTED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS, TN
635 PM CST SAT FEB 24 2001
TIME(CST) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0600 PM 7 W JONESBORO AR WIND ESTIMATE 60 MPH
02/24/01 CRAIGHEAD
0610 PM JONESBORO AR WIND DAMAGE
02/24/01 CRAIGHEAD LARGE TREE LIMBS DOWN
3The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
5 tornado, 4 thunderstorm wind, 1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
Forty mobile homes and nineteen houses were damaged or destroyed. A fire station had a severely damaged wall. Some chain link fencing was blown over.
Several trees were knocked down.
The tornado began in rural Calhoun county and tracked northeast moving into Pontotoc county near Matthews.
A statue of an eagle located at the top of the Chickasaw County Courthouse was blown off.
The tornado continued in Pontotoc moving in near Robbs and tracking northeast through the county. The tornado moved through the entire county eventually moving into extreme southeast Union county near the town of Blue Springs. The tornado produced much of its damage between Algona and Pontotoc. At least 360 homes, 15 businesses and 2 churches were damaged or destroyed in Pontotoc. Among the homes destroyed was a restored antebellum plantation home listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Numerous trees and power lines were blown down.
The tornado continued to move northeast across extreme southeast Union county from Pontotoc county. The tornado moved into northern Lee county near Corrona. While the tornado was in Union county, a couple of mobile home were destroyed. Nine mobile homes and several houses were damaged. Some trees and power lines were also knocked down.
The continued into Lee county from Union county and tracked northeast producing damage in Baldwyn. The tornado then moved out of Lee county into Prentiss county. In Guntown, eight homes and 1 business were heavily damaged while 13 other structures were damaged. In Saltillo, a mobile homes overturned. The tornado did significant damage in Baldwyn, which is located on the Lee/Prentiss county line. Nearly 100 homes were damaged or destroyed including the Baldwyn High School which lost the roof to its gymnasium.
The tornado continued from Lee county into Prentiss county finally lifting up near the town of Wheeler. The most significant damage occurred in Baldwyn along the Lee/Prentiss county line. Nearly 100 homes were damaged or destroyed. The Baldwyn High School lost the roof to its gymnasium and had another building damaged. Six homes were damaged in Wheeler.
A few trees were blown down.
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind, Alcorn | 2001-02-24 | 4 | Male | Permanent Home | Direct |
| Thunderstorm Wind, Alcorn | 2001-02-24 | 72 | Female | Permanent Home | Direct |
| Thunderstorm Wind, Alcorn | 2001-02-24 | 9 | Male | Permanent Home | Direct |
| Thunderstorm Wind, Alcorn | 2001-02-24 | 65 | Female | Permanent Home | Direct |
| Thunderstorm Wind, Alcorn | 2001-02-24 | 40 | Male | Permanent Home | Direct |
| Thunderstorm Wind, Alcorn | 2001-02-24 | 36 | Male | Outside/Open Areas | Direct |
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Mississippi in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Mississippi, 2001Warnings in Mississippi, February 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: 5232918, 5232915, 5232919, 5232989, 5232920, 5232921, 5232922, 5232988, 5232916, 5232917.