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 Pendleton, OR wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 23, 1:20 PM PST, 47 minutes earlier.
NORTHEAST OREGON/SOUTHEAST WASHINGTON FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PENDLETON OR 220 PM PDT WED MAY 23 2001 THERMAL RIDGE OVER THE FORECAST AREA RESULTING IN RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURES TODAY...WITH READINGS AROUND 90 IN THE MOUNTAINS AND NEAR 100 IN THE COLUMBIA BASIN. AREAS OF CUMULUS CLOUDS HAVE DEVELOPED OVER THE MOUNTAINS OF CENTRAL AND EASTERN OREGON THIS AFTERNOON. CAP MAY BE TOO STRONG TO BREAK AS NO TOWERING CUMULUS CLOUDS HAVE BEEN REPORTED THUS FAR. WILL KEEP AN ISOLATED MENTION OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE CENTRAL AND OCHOCO MOUNTAINS AND THE JOHN DAY HIGHLANDS THIS EVENING HOWEVER. THURSDAY THE UPPER RIDGE AND THERMAL RIDGE SHIFT EAST OVER EASTERN OREGON/WASHINGTON AND THE IDAHO BORDER. A DISTURBANCE OUT AT 130W/35N WILL MOVE INTO CENTRAL AND EASTERN OREGON. THIS WILL ACT AS A FOCUSING MECHANISM TO SET OFF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE CENTRAL THROUGH NORTHEAST MOUNTAINS. ETA MODEL DID PICK UP ON THIS FEATURE...SO AM USING THAT MODEL FOR THIS PACKAGE. TEMPERATURES OVER THE WESTERN SECTIONS OF THE FORECAST AREA WILL COOL ABOUT 8 TO 10 DEGREES WHILE THE EASTERN SECTIONS ONLY COOL 2 TO 3 DEGREES. GOOD INSTABILITY AND SHALLOW MOISTURE LINGER OVER EASTERN OREGON FRIDAY...SO WILL LEAVE MENTION OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH FRIDAY. TEMPERATURES WILL COOL DOWN ANOTHER FEW DEGREES FRIDAY AS THERMAL RIDGE PUSHES FURTHER TO THE EAST. MEAD. EXTENDED...A SLIGHT INCREASE IN MOISTURE AND INSTABILITY COMBINED WITH A WEAK IMPULSE TRACKING OVER THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST WILL ALLOW FOR A SLIGHT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORM DEVELOP ON SATURDAY. AN UPPER TROUGH WILL SWEEP ACROSS THE REGION SATURDAY AND SUNDAY FOR A CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND THE BEGINNING OF A COOLING TREND. SHOWERS WILL LINGER OVER THE EASTERN MOUNTAINS INTO MEMORIAL DAY...THE REST OF THE AREA SHOULD BE DRY. BEHIND THE TROUGH...WEAK RIDGING WILL DEVELOP...BECOMING ZONAOL BY THE END OF THE PERIOD FOR CONTINUED DRY CONDITIONS. MJB. PDT 0110 ALW 0110 PSC 0000 YKM 0000 .KPDT...WSR-88D...VCP32/CSR21...OPERATIONAL. .KPDT...NONE.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
A weak landspout type tornado formed under a towering cumulus approximently 10 miles west of Brothers. Eyewitnesses reported that it slowly moved towards the ENE and stayed on the ground for 15 minutes. It had a thin funnel made visible only by dust as it crossed over open desert.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Oregon in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Oregon, 2001Warnings in Oregon, 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: 5243255.