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F3 tornado in Lee County, Mississippi

Tornado February 24, 2001 · Lee County, Mississippi

F3
Rating
10.0 mi
Path length
100 yd
Path width
$1.0M
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

NOAA recorded where this tornado touched down but not where it lifted, so it appears as a point. 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 continued into Lee county from Union county and tracked northeast producing damage in Baldwyn. The tornado then moved out of Lee county into Prentiss county. In Guntown, eight homes and 1 business were heavily damaged while 13 other structures were damaged. In Saltillo, a mobile homes overturned. The tornado did significant damage in Baldwyn, which is located on the Lee/Prentiss county line. Nearly 100 homes were damaged or destroyed including the Baldwyn High School which lost the roof to its gymnasium.

Began near Corrona (33.8500, -89.4167).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

4 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

F3 Pontotoc County 6 deadF3 Calhoun CountyF3 Union CountyF3 Prentiss County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5232922. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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