F3 tornado — Pontotoc County, Mississippi

F3 tornado in Pontotoc County, Mississippi

Tornado February 24, 2001 · Pontotoc County, Mississippi

Rating

23.0 mi

Path length

1,000 yd

Path width

Deaths

Injuries

$28.0M

Damage as recorded

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The path drawn at its surveyed width of 1,000 yards (0.57 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What F3 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F3 meant severe damage: whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned; the scale paired it with winds of 158–206 mph, figures later judged too high, especially toward the top of the scale, and revised downward in the Enhanced Fujita scale. Ratings then, as now, came from the damage.

What the National Weather Service wrote

The tornado continued in Pontotoc moving in near Robbs and tracking northeast through the county. The tornado moved through the entire county eventually moving into extreme southeast Union county near the town of Blue Springs. The tornado produced much of its damage between Algona and Pontotoc. At least 360 homes, 15 businesses and 2 churches were damaged or destroyed in Pontotoc. Among the homes destroyed was a restored antebellum plantation home listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Numerous trees and power lines were blown down.

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5232920. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

F3 tornado in Pontotoc County, Mississippi

What the National Weather Service wrote

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

Tornadoes near your address