Tornadoes · United States · Mississippi · 2001
F2 tornado, Sabino to Sarah, Mississippi, November 24, 2001
From Sabino to Sarah, this F2 tornado ran 43.5 miles across Quitman, Panola and Tate counties on November 24, 2001, touching down at 3:10 AM CST and reaching 300 yards wide. It killed 3 people and injured 33, and did $7.5 million 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 mph
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 mphthis tornado
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
- F2
- Date
- November 24, 2001
- Touchdown
- 3:10 AM CST (09:10 UTC)
- Path length
- 43.5 miles (70.0 km)
- Path width
- 300 yards (274 m)
- Deaths
- 3
- Injuries
- 33
- Property damage
- $7.5 million
- Counties
- Quitman, Panola and Tate counties
- Touchdown point
- 34.150, -90.450
- Lift-off point
- 34.670, -90.100
- Record number
- 590
What the Weather Service recorded
The tornado touched down in the western part of the county near Walnut and tracked northeast eventually crossing into Panola county. Two women were killed when the tornado destroyed their homes. Numerous buildings were destroyed in the county. A cotton plant was damaged just west of the town of Belen. Over 100 homes were damaged or destroyed.
The tornado moved into the far western part of Panola county from Quitman county and tracked northeast eventually moving into Tate county. One girl was killed when the mobile home where she was staying was destroyed. A cluster of homes and a Baptist church were destroyed. In all 35 homes damaged or destroyed.
The tornado moved into the southwest part of Tate county from Panola county and lifted up northeast of Strayhorn. Numerous buildings were damaged or destroyed.
The deaths
3 direct deaths are recorded for this tornado, each with what Storm Data knows of it.
| Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 73 | F | Permanent Home | Direct |
| 61 | F | Permanent Home | Direct |
| 10 | F | Mobile/Trailer Home | Direct |
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 Memphis, TN wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at Nov 24, 2:30 AM CST, 40 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Nov 24, 2:30 AM CST, 40 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN
230 AM CST SAT NOV 24 2001
SEVERE WEATHER EXPECTED IN MIDSOUTH REST OF TONIGHT AND THROUGH MUCH
OF SATURDAY. STORMS NOW IN AR AND WESTERN PART OF N MS AROUND
CLARKSDALE...MOVING EAST/NORTHEAST. ALL OF CWA UNDER TOR WATCH
EXCEPT DECATUR AND HARDIN CO IN W TN AND THE TUP AREA.
.MEG...TORNADO WATCH 813 UNTIL 300 AM CST
TORNADO WATCH 814 AND 815 UNTIL 700 CST...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.
Little Rock, AR (KLZK), 00:00Z
9.2 hours before the tornado, 55 km from the path. November 24, 2001.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 571 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -11 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 750 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 945 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 57 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 31 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 331 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 419 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 1.6
- Supercell composite
- 6.1
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 6.5 K/km
Little Rock, AR (KLZK), 12:00Z
2.8 hours after it, 55 km from the path. November 24, 2001.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -77395 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1509 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 68 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 46 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -92 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 0 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 3.5 K/km
The surface observations
Clarksdale (CKM), 25 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.
The radar
The Memphis radar (KNQA), 110 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 09:11 UTC.
Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track
Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2001 tornado in MississippiEvery tornado in Mississippi since 1950Warnings in force in Mississippi nowThe 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 | 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 | 4:51 AM CST | F0 | Hinds, MS | 0.2 | 50 | $1,000 | ||
| 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.