Tornadoes · United States · Mississippi · 2001

F0 tornado, Bolton to Cynthia, Mississippi, November 24, 2001

Name: F0 tornado, Bolton to Cynthia, Mississippi, November 24, 2001
Start: 2001-11-24T10:51:00.000Z
Location: Bolton to Cynthia, Mississippi

From Bolton to Cynthia, this F0 tornado ran 0.2 miles across Hinds County on November 24, 2001, touching down at 4:51 AM CST and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $1,000 of property damage.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

F040 to 72 mphthis tornado
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
F173 to 112 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
F2113 to 157 mph
Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.
F3158 to 206 mph
Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.
F4207 to 260 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
F5261 to 318 mph
Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.
Unrated
The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

The record

Rating: F0
Date: November 24, 2001
Touchdown: 4:51 AM CST (10:51 UTC)
Path length: 0.2 miles (0.3 km)
Path width: 50 yards (46 m)
Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $1,000
County: Hinds County
Touchdown point: 32.320, -90.430
Lift-off point: 32.320, -90.430
Record number: 718

What the Weather Service recorded

Numerous trees were blown down along the Natchez Trace southeast of Bolton.

A brief F0 tornado was sighted in an open field about two miles north of Cynthia.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the tornado touched down, 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 tornado touched down at Nov 24, 3:40 AM CST, 1 hour 11 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Nov 24, 3:40 AM CST, 1 hour 11 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSON MS
340 AM CST SAT NOV 24 2001

REF. SPC WW 814...
STRONG SOUTHERLY VEERING FLOW CONTINUING OVER THE LOWER MISSISSIPPI
VALLEY REGION AHEAD OF SYNOPTIC SQUALL LINE FROM ERN AR TO SE TX.
SBCAPES HOLDING IN THE 500-1500J/KG RANGE WITH BRN SHEAR VALUES OF
60-90 AND 0-1KM STORM RELATIVE HELICITIES 300-400M*M/S*S AHEAD OF
THE LINE. MESOETA APPEARS TO HAVE A BEST HANDLE ON CURRENT
CONVECTIVE SITUATION(AVN TOO FAST) AND WILL FOLLOW META CLOSELY FOR
DETAILS THROUGH THIS EVENING. RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF 1/2 TO 1 INCH
MOST PROBABLE WITH PASSAGE OF LINE.

EXPECT SQUALL LINE TO PROGRESS TO NEAR I-55 BY EARLY AFTERNOON AND
PASS THROUGH SERN MS BY DARK. DEGREE OF AFTERNOON HEATING WILL PLAY
MAJOR ROLE IN ADDITIONAL SEVERE WEATHER POTENTIAL DURING THE
DAYLIGHT HOURS. ALSO LOOK FOR MORE UNIDIRECTIONAL FLOW TO DEVELOP
DURING THE AFTERNOON AS LINEAR MODE OF SEVERE THREAT SHOULD DOMINATE
BY THAT TIME. NO REAL COLD AIR WITH THIS PACIFIC FRONT AND WEAK
SURFACE RIDGE MOVES NEWD FROM TX TONIGHT AND SUNDAY ALLOWING A
TEMPORARY DRYING OUT PERIOD. MID-UPPER FLOW REMAINS SWLY THROUGH
MONDAY WHEN RETURN LOW LEVEL MOISTURE GETS GOING AGAIN.

NEXT MID LEVEL SHORTWAVE ROTATES THROUGH THE OZARKS MONDAY NIGHT
INTO TUESDAY BRINGING ANOTHER QUICK ROUND OF SHRA/TSRA TO MS. MEAN
LONGWAVE TROUGH STUCK IN THE CENTRAL CONUS WILL BRING ANOTHER STRONG
TROUGH THROUGH IT/S BASE ON WEDNESDAY WITH A POTENTIAL FOR EVEN
HEAVIER RAINFALL. FINALLY...IN THE MEDIUM RANGE...WE SHOULD GET
MAJOR COLD FRONTAL PASSAGE WITH HIGHS NEXT THURSDAY AND FRIDAY SOME
15-20 DEGREES BELOW CLIMATOLOGY.

PRELIM NUMBERS...
JAN 75/48/71/51/74 720-4
MEI 77/51/71/52/74 750-4

.JAN...
MS...NONE.
LA...NONE.
AR...NONE.

In the hours before

Local storm report, Nov 24, 2:01 AM CST, 2 hours 50 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSON MS
201 AM CST SAT NOV 24 2001

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

0105 AM    WILMOT                    AR   TORNADO
11/24/01   ASHLEY                         WARREN ASP REPORTED
                                          TORNADO ON GROUND...AT
                                          LEAST 2 MOBILE HOMES
                                          OVERTURNED REPORTED BY
                                          CHICOT EMA

Local storm report, Nov 24, 2:22 AM CST, 2 hours 29 minutes before

LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSON MS
222 AM CST SAT NOV 24 2001

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

0105 AM    WILMOT                    AR   TORNADO
11/24/01   ASHLEY                         WARREN ASP REPORTED
                                          TORNADO ON GROUND...AT
                                          LEAST 2 MOBILE HOMES
                                          OVERTURNED REPORTED BY
                                          CHICOT EMA

0145 AM    1SW LAKE VILLAGE          AR   WIND DAMAGE
11/24/01   CHICOT                         EMA REPORTS 2 HOMES
                                          DAMAGED AND POWER
                                          OUTAGES

0150 AM    LAMONT                    MS   0.88 INCH HAIL
11/24/01   BOLIVAR                        PUBLIC REPORTED

0200 AM    2N GREENVILLE AP          MS   TORNADO
11/24/01   WASHINGTON                     EMA REPORTS POWER LINES
                                          DOWN AND PUBLIC REPORTS
                                          OF TORNADO

Local storm report, Nov 24, 2:31 AM CST, 2 hours 20 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSON MS
231 AM CST SAT NOV 24 2001

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

1245 AM    2NE BASTROP               LA   WIND DAMAGE
11/24/01   MOREHOUSE                      S.O. REPORTS 1 HOUSE
                                          DESTROYED AND SHEDS
                                          DAMAGED

0220 AM    1W CLEVELAND              MS   TORNADO
11/24/01   BOLIVAR                        EMA REPORTS TORNADO HAS
                                          DESTROYED 2 HOUSES.

The air that afternoon

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

Jackson, MS (KJAN), 00:00Z

10.9 hours before the tornado, 33 km from the path. November 24, 2001.

Skew-T log-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.

Hodograph

The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.

Mixed-layer CAPE: 607 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -15 J/kg
Surface CAPE: 803 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1061 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 31 kt
0-1 km bulk shear: 17 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 113 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 169 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.3
0-3 km lapse rate: 6.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Jackson, MS (KJAN), 12:00Z

1.1 hours after it, 33 km from the path. November 24, 2001.

Skew-T log-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.

Hodograph

Mixed-layer CAPE: 1201 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -3 J/kg
Surface CAPE: 1879 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 739 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 49 kt
0-1 km bulk shear: 37 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 341 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 479 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 2.6
Supercell composite: 14.4
0-3 km lapse rate: 6.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Jackson/Hawkins Field (HKS), 20 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)	Temp (°F)	Dew point (°F)	Wind	Gust (kt)	Pressure (mb)	Weather
00:00 UTC

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

This ground now

The live radar over the track Every 2001 tornado in Mississippi Every tornado in Mississippi since 1950 Warnings in force in Mississippi now The forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of November 24, 2001

57 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
November 24	12:40 AM CST	F3	Morehouse Parish, LA to AR	30.0	880	3	11	$2.3 million
November 24	12:43 AM CST	F1	Grant Parish, LA	11.5	30
November 24	1:14 AM CST	F0	Winn Parish, LA	2.9	30
November 24	1:25 AM CST	F2	White, AR	5.5	880		3
November 24	1:31 AM CST	F1	Chicot, AR	1.0	100			$500,000
November 24	1:35 AM CST	F1	Caldwell Parish, LA	5.0	30
November 24	1:55 AM CST	F4	Winterville–Mount Bayou tornado, MS	30.3	880		48	$4.1 million
November 24	2:05 AM CST	F2	Avoyelles Parish, LA	1.0	10		3	$50,000
November 24	2:42 AM CST	F1	Coahoma, MS	10.0	400			$130,000
November 24	3:10 AM CST	F2	Quitman, MS	43.5	300	3	33	$7.5 million
November 24	4:10 AM CST	F2	DeSoto, MS	6.0	300		9	$1.9 million
November 24	4:15 AM CST	F3	Humphreys, MS	5.0	400		5	$4.0 million
November 24	5:18 AM CST	F0	Hinds, MS	0.3	50
November 24	5:25 AM CST	F4	Madison–Canton tornado, MS	11.5	880	2	21	$12 million
November 24	6:10 AM CST	F0	Madison Parish, LA	0.5	50			$1,000
November 24	6:25 AM CST	F1	Leake, MS	0.2	50			$1,000
November 24	6:47 AM CST	F2	Calloway, KY	11.5	300		4	$750,000
November 24	9:30 AM CST	F0	Oktibbeha, MS	0.1	50
November 24	10:10 AM CST	F1	Noxubee, MS	8.0	50			$400,000
November 24	10:55 AM CST	F3	Pickens, AL	38.9	300	2	1	$1.4 million
November 24	11:02 AM CST	F0	Hale, AL	0.2	50			$10,000
November 24	11:15 AM CST	F0	Clarke, MS	0.5	50			$30,000
November 24	11:21 AM CST	F2	Winston, AL	1.9	70		13	$890,000
November 24	11:39 AM CST	F1	Tuscaloosa, AL	2.0	75			$30,000
November 24	11:45 AM CST	F0	Choctaw, AL	0.1	20			$10,000
November 24	12:02 PM CST	F0	Clarke, MS	0.3	50			$3,000
November 24	12:10 PM CST	F2	Morgan, AL	4.9	300		2	$500,000
November 24	12:34 PM CST	F0	Hale, AL	2.9	75			$30,000
November 24	12:35 PM CST	F0	Choctaw, AL	0.1	20			$10,000
November 24	12:37 PM CST	F0	Tuscaloosa, AL	0.2	30			$1,000
November 24	12:56 PM CST	F0	Marengo, AL	0.6	50			$4,000
November 24	12:59 PM CST	F1	Cullman, AL	2.1	200			$70,000
November 24	1:00 PM CST	F0	Choctaw, AL	0.1	20			$30,000
November 24	1:02 PM CST	F0	Cullman, AL	0.2	50			$1,000
November 24	1:19 PM CST	F4	Highland Lake–Oneonta tornado, AL	10.1	500		22	$1.1 million
November 24	1:31 PM CST	F2	St. Clair, AL	13.4	125		1	$500,000
November 24	1:41 PM CST	F2	Marshall, AL	2.0	300		7	$400,000
November 24	1:50 PM CST	F2	Madison, AL	2.6	300			$500,000
November 24	2:25 PM CST	F2	DeKalb, AL	7.1	100			$100,000
November 24	3:01 PM CST	F2	Cherokee, AL	8.2	200	2	4	$300,000
November 24	4:06 PM EST	F1	Dade, GA	1.5	528			$70,000
November 24	3:10 PM CST	F2	St. Clair, AL	4.5	100		2	$500,000
November 24	3:42 PM CST	F2	Talladega, AL	3.1	400		15	$800,000
November 24	3:54 PM CST	F1	Autauga, AL	9.8	50			$40,000
November 24	3:59 PM CST	F2	Talladega, AL	9.1	200			$230,000
November 24	4:03 PM CST	F1	Calhoun, AL	7.7	250		5	$250,000
November 24	4:42 PM CST	F0	Conecuh, AL	0.1	20			$10,000
November 24	5:08 PM CST	F0	Butler, AL	3.0	100			$30,000
November 24	5:10 PM CST	F1	Clay, AL	6.1	300			$100,000
November 24	5:42 PM CST	F1	Butler, AL	6.0	150		3	$100,000
November 24	6:30 PM CST	F0	Butler, AL	0.1	20			$10,000
November 24	8:08 PM EST	F1	Shelby, IN	16.0	100			$1.0 million
November 24	7:10 PM CST	F0	Escambia, AL	0.1	20			$30,000
November 24	7:28 PM CST	F0	Covington, AL	0.1	20			$10,000
November 24	8:30 PM CST	F0	Covington, AL	0.2	60			$10,000
November 24	8:42 PM CST	F0	Pike, AL	0.2	50			$2,000
November 24	9:27 PM CST	F1	Pike, AL	11.8	75			$50,000

What this means

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

Sources

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.