On the afternoon of Sunday, February 21, 1971, a deadly and long-tracked F5 tornado impacted the Mississippi Delta, killing 48 and injuring over 500. The tornado was the strongest tornado of the February 21–22, 1971 tornado outbreak, and second deadliest behind an earlier F4 tornado the same day. The tornado is most notable for tracking directly through Inverness, Mississippi, destroying over 90% of the town. The tornado is the first and only F5/EF5 tornado to impact the state of Louisiana.

Inverness is a town in Sunflower County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 1,019 at the 2010 census. As the town had the largest cotton gin in the Mississippi Delta, it served as a gathering place for farmers from the region when they brought their cotton for processing. The town was heavily damaged by a tornado in 1971.