Tornadoes in Mississippi, March 12, 2001

Name: Tornadoes in Mississippi, March 12, 2001
Start: 2001-03-12T09:19
End: 2001-03-12T10:12
Location: Mississippi

March 12, 2001 · NWS JAN · 5 events in 3 counties and zones

5 tornado, as filed by the National Weather Service.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 12
Property damage: $11 million
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 5

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.

What forecasters said that day

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 Jackson, MS wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 12, 3:15 AM CST, 6 hours 4 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 12, 3:15 AM CST, 6 hours 4 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSON MS
315 AM CST MON MAR 12 2001

VERY ACTIVE MORNING OVER MY CWFA WITH ELEVATED CONVECTION ALREADY DEVELOPING
ALONG AND TO THE NORTH OF THE SURFACE-BASED WARM FRONT NOW OVER
EXTREME SOUTHERN ZONES. DEW PTS INCREASING INTO THE 60S ALONG AND
BEHIND THE WARM FRONT. SVR TSTORM WATCH 54 IN EFFECT THROUGH 12Z
GENERALLY SOUTH OF I-20 CORRIDOR FOR HAIL/HIGH WINDS AS THIS IS
WHERE STRONGEST ISENTROPIC LIFT/LLJ AND ASSOCIATED 850MB WAA IS
SITUATED...ALONG WITH DRIER AIR IN MID LVLS IS PUNCHING IN ACROSS
THE MS RIVER PER WATER VAPOR IMAGERY. WITH CONVECTION FIRING
RAPIDLY...WILL BE FAIRLY BRIEF HERE. MODELS HAVE SOME MINOR
DISCREPANCIES ON TIMING OF FAST WAVES IN SWLY FLOW ALOFT AHEAD OF
UPPER TROUGH EXITING ONTO THE PLAINS. BUT THESE ARE MINOR AND A
BLEND OF META/AVN LOOKS THE WAY TO GO HERE.

LOOKING FOR A SQUALL LINE/LEWP TO MOVE INTO SE ZONES EARLY THIS MORNING
AND WEAKEN AS MIXING OCCURS AFTER 12Z...BUT...OUTFLOW BOUNDARY AND
POSSIBLY A PRE-FRONTAL TROUGH SHOULD EXIST OVER CENTRAL/SOUTHERN
ZONES AFTERWARDS BEHIND WARM FRONT THAT SURGES NORTH THROUGH MY CWFA
TODAY. DEEPENING SURFACE LOW OVER EASTERN KS TO MOVE INTO SE IA BY
MIDDAY. BEST LIFT/DIVERGENCE ALOFT AND LOW LVL MOISTURE/INSTABILITY
EXPECTED OVER MY SOUTHERN ZONES TODAY AS LEFT EXIT REGION OF
100-120KT SUB-TROPICAL JET SETS UP ACROSS THE LA/MS/AL GULF COAST.
FEEL BEST CHANCE FOR SEVERE (DAMAGING WINDS AND HAIL) WILL BE OVER
THE SOUTHERN HALF OF CWFA WHERE BEST CAPES (1500-2000 J/KG) WILL
RESIDE THIS AFTERNOON...YET SEVERE STORM OR TWO OVER NORTH ZONES
WILL NOT BE OUT OF THE QUESTION AS HIGH SHEAR AND CAPES NEARING 1000
J/KG WILL CONTINUE THROUGH AT LEAST MIDDAY OR SO (SEE SWODY1 FOR
MORE DETAILS)...THEN 850 FLOW VEERS WEST HERE BY LATE AFTERNOON.
COLD FRONT ENTERS NW ZONES LATE AFTERNOON...THEN EXITS SE ZONES
SOMETIME AFTER 06Z TUESDAY. ONGOING FORECAST TODAY/THIS EVENING
LOOKS PRETTY GOOD AND EXPECT TO ONLY MAKE MINOR MODIFICATIONS FOR
SEVERE POTENTIAL/ETC.

OTHERWISE....SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE MOVES IN LATE TONIGHT IN WAKE OF
UPPER TROUGH LIFTING INTO THE GT LAKES.  WNW FLOW TUESDAY AND
TUESDAY NIGHT TO RESULT IN MOSTLY CLEAR AND NEAR SEASONAL CONDITIONS
AS BEST 850 CAA SHIFTS EAST RATHER THAN SOUTH. FWC/MAV TEMPS CLOSE
THROUGHOUT THE 48-60 HR PERIOD AND WILL STAY CLOSE.

24 HR QPF DISCUSSION...EXPECTED LOCAL 1-2 INCH AMOUNTS SOUTH/CENTRAL
ZONES BY DAY/S END WITH A DECREASE TO 0.25/0.50 AREA AVERAGES UP IN
THE NORTH. RAIN SHOULD END OVER THE SE CWFA BY 06-12Z TUESDAY.

.EXTENDED...WEDNESDAY WILL BE SIMILAR TO TUESDAY (SEASONABLE AND
DRY)...YET SHOULD SEE FLOW RETURN FROM THE SOUTH IN A HURRY AS NEXT
SHORTWAVE TROUGH DEEPENS OVER TX AND MOVE ACROSS WED NIGHT INTO
THURSDAY PER AVN...WITH NOGAPS SHOWING SIMILAR RESULTS. THE HEAVIEST
QPF LOOKS TO EXIST OVER THE SOUTHERN HALF ONCE AGAIN. WILL MENTION
RAIN CHANCES ENDING ON FRIDAY AS BOTH NOGAPS/AVN LIFT THE TROUGH OUT.
IN BEHIND...IT WILL COOL DOWN AND DRY OUT INTO THE WEEKEND. WILL
JUST MAKE A FEW MINOR TWEAKS TO CURRENT EXTENDED FOR FRIDAY.

PRELIM NUMBERS...
JAN 74/50/70|/42 +400
MEI 73/52/71/40 +500

.JAN...
MS...NONE.
LA...NONE.
AR...NONE.
05/

In the hours before

Local storm report, Mar 12, 4:10 AM CST, 5 hours 9 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSON MS
410 AM CST MON MAR 12 2001

TIME(CST)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....PARISH/COUNTY LOCATION....

0237 AM    RICHLAND                  MS   .75 INCH HAIL
03/12/01   RANKIN                         DIME HAIL REPORTED BY
                                          RANKIN COUNTY EMA

0240 AM    JACKSON                   MS   1.75 INCH HAIL
03/12/01   HINDS                          CHANNEL 16 TV REPORTED
                                          GOLFBALL HAIL AT STATION

0245 AM    RAYMOND                   MS   1 INCH HAIL
03/12/01   HINDS                          SHERIFFS OFFICE REPORTED
                                          QUARTER SIZE HAIL

0250 AM    JACKSON                   MS   1 INCH HAIL
03/12/01   HINDS                          QUARTER SIZE HAIL REPORTED
                                          BY HINDS COUNTY EMERGENCY
                                          MANAGEMENT

0250 AM    1 E BRANDON               MS   .75 INCH HAIL
03/12/01   RANKIN                         DIME SIZE HAIL REPORTED BY
                                          PUBLIC

0255 AM    JACKSON                   MS   .75 INCH HAIL
03/12/01   HINDS                          DIME HAIL REPORTED BY HAM
                                          ON COOPER ROAD

0307 AM    MADISON                   MS   .75 INCH HAIL
03/12/01   MADISON                        DIME HAIL REPORTED BY NWS
                                          EMPLOYEE

0310 AM    JACKSON                   MS   1.25 INCH HAIL
03/12/01   HINDS                          HAM REPORTED HALF DOLLAR
                                          HAIL NEAR SPRING RIDGE AND
                                          HWY 18

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

5 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Tornado, Marion

When: March 12, 9:19 AM CST to 9:24 AM CST
Where: Marion County, 2 mi W of Kokomo
Rating: F1
Path length: 5 mi
Path width: 440 yd
Property damage: $10,000
Reported by: NWS STORM SURVEY
Coordinates: 31.200, -90.033

Tornado, Marion

When: March 12, 9:30 AM CST to 9:36 AM CST
Where: Marion County, 2 mi E of Columbia
Rating: F1
Path length: 6 mi
Path width: 440 yd
Property damage: $700,000
Reported by: NWS STORM SURVEY
Coordinates: 31.250, -89.800

Tornado, Marion

When: March 12, 9:38 AM CST to 9:40 AM CST
Where: Marion County, 9 mi ENE of Columbia
Rating: F1
Path length: 1 mi
Path width: 440 yd
Property damage: $2,000
Reported by: NWS STORM SURVEY
Coordinates: 31.300, -89.700

Tornado, Lamar

When: March 12, 9:40 AM CST to 10:02 AM CST
Where: Lamar County, 3 mi WSW of Oloh
Rating: F1
Path length: 17 mi
Path width: 440 yd
Injuries: 7 direct, 0 indirect
Property damage: $4.5 million
Reported by: NWS STORM SURVEY
Coordinates: 31.300, -89.617

Tornado, Forrest

When: March 12, 10:04 AM CST to 10:12 AM CST
Where: Forrest County, Hattiesburg
Rating: F1
Path length: 7 mi
Path width: 440 yd
Injuries: 5 direct, 0 indirect
Property damage: $6.0 million
Reported by: NWS STORM SURVEY
Coordinates: 31.317, -89.317

A supercell thunderstorm produced a tornado that moved out of Walthall County into Marion County, about two miles west of Kokomo. The tornado traveled five miles to a point three miles eastnortheast of Kokomo. The next tornado touched down about two miles east of Columbia and traveled six miles to a point seven miles eastnortheast of Columbia. The next tornado touched down nine miles eastnortheast of Columbia and traveled into Lamar County to a point four miles northeast of Oak Grove. The final tornado produced by the supercell in the Jackson NWS County Warning Area touched down in the northwest part of the city of Hattiesburg and traveled across northern sections of Hattiesburg and then across the city of Petal. This tornado lifted about two miles east of Petal. Damage reports in Marion County are somewhat difficult to estimate because an earlier tornado affected portions of the county, and the severe thunderstorm that produced the first tornado in the county caused damage in the city of Columbia before the second tornadic storm moved into the county. Damage to homes in Marion County from the tornado is estimated at $700,000 with other damage in the county listed under separate storms. The total damage from the tornado in Lamar County is estimated to have been around $4.5 million. In Lamar County, the tornado destroyed five houses, 24 mobile homes, one business, and 17 farms. The tornado caused major damage to 33 houses, 30 mobile homes, one church, two businesses, and seven farms. Minor damage occurred to approximately 30 mobile homes, eight apartment units, one church, two businesses, and a farm. The total damage from the tornado in Forrest County was estimated to be around $6 million. In Forrest County, the tornado tracked through populated areas of Hattiesburg and Petal. The tornado caused major damage to 112 houses, one mobile home, eight businesses, and six vehicles. Additionally, the tornado caused minor damage to 223 houses, four mobile homes, and 21 businesses. Despite the widespread damage across three counties, no serious injuries were reported in the storms.

What these are

Tornado: A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Mississippi in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history The tornado archive for Mississippi, 2001 Warnings in Mississippi, March 2001

Sources

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: 5238048, 5238049, 5238134, 5238135, 5238136.