Name: Damaging Wind in Louisiana, March 12, 2001
Start: 2001-03-12T05:40
End: 2001-03-12T05:40
Location: Louisiana

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
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 6
Property damage: $500,000
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 Shreveport, LA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 12, 2:45 AM CST, 2 hours 55 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 12, 2:45 AM CST, 2 hours 55 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA
245 AM CST MON MAR 12 2001

MODELS ARE IN DECENT AGREEMENT WITH RESPECT TO THE NEXT COUPLE OF
SYSTEMS TO AFFECT OUR AREA...THIS MORNING AND WED NIGHT INTO THU.
LINE OF STRONG THUNDERSTORMS HAS FORMED THIS MORNING OVER CENTRAL
TEXAS...ALONG THE NOSE OF THE MID/UPR LEVEL DRY PUNCH. THE 06Z ETA
PICKED UP ON THIS DEVELOPMENT PRETTY WELL...AND CARRIES 1/2 INCH OR
BETTER QPF ACROSS MUCH OF THE CWFA. HIGH POPS LOOK LIKE A GOOD BET
FOR TODAY...WITH CLEARING BY LATE IN THE DAY. DRY CONDITIONS WILL
SETTLE OVER THE AREA FOR TUESDAY INTO WEDNESDAY...WITH THE NEXT
SYSTEM APPROACHING WED NIGHT. ETA AND AVN ARE IN GOOD AGREEMENT ON
THE POSITIONING OF THIS SYSTEM AT 60 HRS...SO THERE IS PRETTY HIGH
CONFIDENCE FOR UNSETTLED WEATHER MID TO LATE WEEK.

ALL AVAILABLE TEMP GUIDANCE INDICATES SOME VERY MILD TEMPERATURES
THROUGH THIS PERIOD. WILL STICK VERY NEAR FWC/MAV GUIDAaNCE THRU THE
PERIOD.      05

PRELIMS...
SHV 76/47/73/45 8000
MLU 76/48/72/45 8200
TXK 73/45/70/43 8000
TYR 75/45/73/46 4000
LFK 78/47/76/47 6000

.SHV...NONE.

In the hours before

Local storm report, Mar 12, 5:31 AM CST, 9 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT, LA
531 AM CST MON MAR 12 2001

TIME(CST)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0238 AM    TYLER                     TX   .75 INCH HAIL
03/12/01   SMITH                          REPORTED BY LAW
                                          ENFORCEMENT

0245 AM    3 N TYLER                 TX   WIND DAMAGE
03/12/01   SMITH                          MOBILE HOME FLIPPED OVER
                                          AND TREES DOWN REPORTED BY
                                          LAW ENFORCEMENT

0305 AM    LIBERTY CITY              TX   .75 INCH HAIL
03/12/01   GREGG                          REPORTED BY LAW
                                          ENFORCEMENT

0325 AM    DAINGERFIELD              TX   .75 INCH HAIL
03/12/01   MORRIS                         REPORTED BY LAW
                                          ENFORCEMENT

0328 AM    PITTSBURG                 TX   .75 INCH HAIL
03/12/01   CAMP                           REPORTED BY LAW
                                          ENFORCEMENT

0320 AM    EAST MOUNTAIN             TX   1.75 INCH HAIL
03/12/01   UPSHUR                         REPORTED BY LAW
                                          ENFORCEMENT

The radar

The Ft Polk radar (KPOE), 73 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 11:40 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.

Thunderstorm Wind, Natchitoches

When: March 12, 5:40 AM CST
Where: Natchitoches County, 3 mi NW of Natchitoches
Measured: 87 kt (100 mph)
Injuries: 6 direct, 0 indirect
Property damage: $500,000
Reported by: NWS STORM SURVEY
Coordinates: 31.800, -93.117

A squall line with a bow echo moved across the north side of Natchitoches. Several mobile homes had siding damage in the Hidden Hills mobile home park of north Natchitoches, and two were overturned by straight line winds. They were not tied down. A church and several frame homes were damaged by falling trees. In extreme NE Natchitoches in the 2000 block of Williams Rd., a mobile home was destroyed by wind, estimated by eye witness and NWS Doppler radar at 90 to 100 mph. Six people were injured in this mobile home. Numerous trees snapped and uprooted along the 4.5 mile path of the microburst and several power lines were knocked down by falling trees. All debris was blown from west to east in a fan pattern.

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 Louisiana in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Louisiana, 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: 5234913.