Name: Damaging Wind in Alabama, March 12, 2001
Start: 2001-03-12T11:55
End: 2001-03-12T12:05
Location: Alabama

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. 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
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The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 1
Property damage: $1.0 million
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 Mobile, AL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 12, 9:50 AM CST, 2 hours 5 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 12, 9:50 AM CST, 2 hours 5 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
950 AM CST MON MAR 12 2001

NEW TORNADO WATCH #60 COVERS ALL OF SE MS AND SW AL.  BECOMING
INCREASINGLY CONCERNED ABOUT FAIRLY HIGH HELICITY VALUES IN REGION
OF DEEPLY VEERED BNDRY LAYER WINDS OVER THIS REGION OVER NEXT 3 TO 6
HRS.  UPDATED ZONES ALREADY SENT.  COASTAL MARINE RUNNING A BIT LATE
DUE TO GETTING THE NEW WATCH BOX OUT.  MARINE PACKAGE OUT ASAP.

/05

.MOB...
AL...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY GMZ650-670.
FL...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY GMZ655-675.
MS...NONE.

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.

Thunderstorm Wind, Escambia

When: March 12, 11:55 AM CST to 12:05 PM CST
Where: Escambia County, Huxford
Measured: 90 kt (104 mph)
Injuries: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Property damage: $1.0 million
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 31.217, -87.467

A line of severe thunderstorms produced an intense and well defined bow echo, or downburst, over the northwestern part of the county. The extremely high downburst winds, estimated to be around 100 mph, produced extensive damage in the Little River State Forest Park. Media reports indicated several hundred acres of pine forest was destroyed. It was noted that the downed pine timber in the Little River State Park possessed some of the largest known diameters of any of the downed trees in the 3/12/01 severe weather outbreak that occurred over Southwest Alabama. A Park Ranger was severely injured when the vehicle he was in was crushed by one of the falling trees. The same line of storms produced wind damage to structures, and 1 inch hail in Huxford, which is just north of the State Park.

What these are

Thunderstorm Wind: Winds from a thunderstorm of 50 knots (58 mph) or more, or lower winds that caused damage or casualties. Measured gusts are marked MG, estimated EG.

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: 5237163.