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 St. Louis, MO wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 20, 3:32 PM CST, 6 hours 3 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...CORRECTED TO ADD FFA FOR TONIGHT... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST LOUIS MO 340 PM CDT SUN MAY 20 2001 MDLS APPEAR TO BE IN TUNE WITH PREVIOUS RUN FOR TIMING OF CDFNT. CDFNT WL BE ACRS CNTRL MO BY 06Z. AHEAD OF THE FRNT SHRS AND FEW TSTMS ARE PRESENT ACRS NRN AR AND SW AND S-CNTRL MO...AND ANOTHER LINE OF SHRS IN NEB AND WRN IA. SELS JUST ISSUED WTCH # 254 FOR PTN OF ERN AR AND WRN TN AND NRN MS...COVERD ALL THE MO BOOTHEEL UNTIL 6 PM. ETA SHWD -3 LI'S FRM WRN TO SE IL AND -1 AND IN MO. I THINK BEST CHC FOR PCPN WL BE AS THE FNT WL APPROACH MO TNGT. ETA CRS SECTION SHWD BEST LIFT WL AROUND 06Z...WHILE WEAKER LIFT IN COU WL BE AROUND 00Z. HEAVIEST PCPN WL BE IN SRN ZNS WITH MDL QPF APCHG FFG AND WL ISSUE FFA FOR THAT AREA FOR TNGT. BIG WX STORY....VERY COOL WX IN MO WED AND THURS...MAVUIN DROP TEMPS IN THE UPPER 30S BY WED MRNG...AND WRMNG IN THE 50S WED AND THURS. ALSO 1000-500 MB THICKNESS FCST BELOW 5400M...AVN SHWD 850 TEMPS OF -2 PUSHNG IN CNTRL MO BY 18Z WED. IN GENERAL MAVS AND FWCS TEMPS LOOK OK...TEMPS APPEAR COLDER MAVS. LIKE BEST FWC FOR THE NEXT 48H...AND GO FOR A FEW DGRS WARMER MAVS FOR THE REST OF THE PD. .STL...FFA FOR TNGT FOR MOZ072>075-084-085-099. A
The St Louis radar (KLSX), 170 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 03:37 UTC.
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
Severe storm spotters reported a brief tornado southeast of Ellington. Damage was limited to a few uprooted trees.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Missouri in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Missouri, 2001Warnings in Missouri, 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: 5244770.