Name: High Wind in Alabama, March 12, 2001
Start: 2001-03-12T20:10
End: 2001-03-12T20:10
Location: Alabama

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 1
Injuries: 1
Property damage: $14,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Birmingham, AL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 12, 7:45 PM CST, 25 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 12, 7:45 PM CST, 25 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM, AL
745 PM CST MON MAR 12 2001

MOST OF THE RAIN HAS MOVED OUT OF THE CWA EXCEPT FOR THE EXTREME
SOUTHEAST.  THE CHALLENGE WILL BE DETERMINING IF ANYTHING WILL
HAPPEN WITH THE APPROACHING COLD.  THE COLD FRONT SHOULD BE AROUND
MUSCLE SHOALS ABOUT MIDNIGHT.

OUT AHEAD OF THE FRONT IN SOUTHERN SOUTHERN IL...SOUTHEASTERN
MO...AND MORTHEASTERN AR...LIGHTNING HAS DEVELOPED IN THE UNSTABLE
AIR.

SURFACE LI/S OVER THE CWA STAY NEGATIVE THROUGH 12Z...AND THE
SHOWALTER/S INDEX IS NEGATIVE OVER ALABAMA AFTER 06Z.  WITH
THIS...WILL LEAVE THUNDER IN FOR TENNESSEE VALLEY.  AM INCLINED TO
DECREASE POPS...BUT WILL LEAVE AS IS FOR NOW.  SPC HAS REMOVED ALL
OF ALABAMA FROM ANY KIND OF OUTLOOK.

00Z KBMX SOUNDING IS VERY DRY ABOVE 950 MB.  PW 0.85 AND LI 2.3.
KJAN DRY ABOVE 900MB WITH PW 0.78 AND LI -0.6.  STRONG WEST WINDS
WILL BRING IN DRY AIR.  MM5 AND MESOETA SHOW CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN
PART OF CWA FAIRLY DRY TONIGHT.  AFTER LOOKING AT ALL THIS...WILL
DECREASE POPS SLIGHTLY IN CENTRAL AL.

UPDATE OUT SHORTLY...AND WILL CONTINUE TO MONITOR THE APPROACHING
COLD FRONT.

.BHM...NONE.

80

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Tuscaloosa

When: March 12, 8:10 PM CST
Where: Tuscaloosa forecast zone
Measured: 40 kt (46 mph)
Deaths: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Injuries: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Property damage: $14,000
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 33.290, -87.525 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Saturated ground conditions and winds of 25 to 40 miles an hour caused a large pine tree to fall down. The tree subsequently fell onto an automobile traveling on SR 216 near Brookwood crushing the car and killing a female passenger. The driver, a man, was seriously injured.

The people who died

As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.

Event	Date	Age	Sex	Where	Kind
High Wind, Tuscaloosa	2001-03-12	17	Female	Vehicle/Towed Trailer	Direct

What these are

High Wind: Sustained non-thunderstorm winds of 40 mph or more for an hour, or gusts of 58 mph or more.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Alabama in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Alabama, March 2001

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5236743.