Name: Tornadoes in Texas, March 12, 2001
Start: 2001-03-12T03:36
End: 2001-03-12T03:55
Location: Texas

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: 0
Property damage: $305,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 2

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, 51 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 12, 2:45 AM CST, 51 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.

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

2 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Tornado, Rusk

When: March 12, 3:36 AM CST to 3:48 AM CST
Where: Rusk County, 10 mi WSW of Tatum
Rating: F1
Path length: 10 mi
Path width: 300 yd
Property damage: $300,000
Reported by: NWS STORM SURVEY
Coordinates: 32.250, -94.667

This tornado continued into Panola County, Texas. A tornado developed on the southern most cell of a squall line as it moved eastward across the county. Six homes lost numerous shingle patches while one home lost part of its roof. Two churches suffered roof damage. Numerous snapped, broken or felled trees.

Tornado, Panola

When: March 12, 3:48 AM CST to 3:55 AM CST
Where: Panola County, Tatum
Rating: F1
Path length: 5.8 mi
Path width: 250 yd
Property damage: $5,000
Reported by: NWS STORM SURVEY
Coordinates: 32.300, -94.517

This tornado continued from Rusk County, Texas. A tornado developed on the southern most cell of a squall line as it moved eastward across the county. Two homes lost numerous shingle patches. Numerous snapped, broken or felled trees.

What these are

Tornado: A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Texas in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history The tornado archive for Texas, 2001 Warnings in Texas, 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: 5234911, 5234912.