Texas, 2001

High Wind in Texas, March 14, 2001

March 14, 2001 · NWS AMA · 13 events in 13 counties and zones

central and eastern Texas panhandle during the evening hours. and a tractor-trailer rig blown off the road in and around Dumas.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 13 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
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$120,000
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
13

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 happened

The episode as NWS AMA wrote it up.

Very damaging non-thunderstorm winds ravaged much of the northern...central and eastern Texas panhandle during the evening hours. These winds resulted in numerous reports of telephone and power poles down...trailer homes blown over...windows of cars and businesses blown out...and a tractor-trailer rig blown off the road in and around Dumas. Also...windows were reported blown out of cars in Pampa by Pampa Central Dispatch.

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 Amarillo, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 14, 3:05 PM CST, 4 hours 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 14, 3:05 PM CST, 4 hours 30 minutes before
TEXAS/OKLAHOMA PANHANDLES FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX
305 PM CST WED MAR 14 2001

SFC LOW DEVELOPING ACROSS THE ERN OK PNHDL...WITH SFC TROF EXTENDING
SOUTH TO NEAR KPVW. WINDS BEHIND TROF ARE LIGHT NLY. SLY FLOW
CONTINUE ACROSS ERN ZONES.

STRONG JET DIVING INTO ROCKIES WILL RESULT IN NEXT UPR LOW RAPIDLY
DEVELOPING AS IT MOVES SE TO SOUTH CNTL KS BY 12Z THU.
AFORMENTIONED SFC LOW WILL ALSO RAPIDLY INTENSIFY OVERNIGHT AS IT
MOVES E INTO SE KS BY 12Z THU. VERY STRONG SFC WINDS WILL BE THE
RESULT...ESPECIALLY DURING THE MORNING THU...AND ESPECIALLY ACROSS
THE NE ZONES. LAKE CAUTION CRITERIA INCLUDED IN ALL ZONES FOR
TONIGHT AND THU. HAVE OPTED TO ISSUE A WIND ADVISORY FOR NE ZONES FOR
THU. MID SHIFT MAY NEED TO ADJUST ADVISORY PER LATER PROGS. PCPN CHCS
ARE DWINDLING AS MOISTURE IS SCARCE AND MAIN DYNAMICS EXPECTED TO
STAY N OF THE FA. WILL RETAIN SLGT CHC POPS ACROSS THE NE THIRD...AND
REMOVE POPS ELSEWHERE. WILL RETAIN CURRENT TEMP FCST OF UPPER 40S TO
LOW 50S ACROSS THE AREA FOR THU...SLIGHTLY UNDER-CUTTING GUIDANCE.
WIND CHILL VALUES WILL BE SIGNIFICANT.

NEXT SYSTEM EXPECTED THIS WEEKEND CONTINUES TO HAVE A LOT OF
UNCERTAINTY. ALL MODELS ARE IN AGREEMENT THAT SAT WILL BE WET...OR
PERHAPS WHITE IN THE NORTH. LATEST AVN RUNS WEAKENS AND SPEEDS
SYSTEM UP...SO THAT CURRENT FCST MAY BE TOO AGGRESSIVE WITH POPS ON
SUNDAY. DUE TO UNCERTAINTY...WILL LEAVE SUNDAY FCST AS IS.  WILL
LOWER DAYTIME TEMPS A BIT SAT AS SYSTEM LOOKS COLDER THAN PREVIOUS
RUNS. SYSTEM MAY BEGIN TO AFFECT THE PNHDLS BY FRI NITE...ESPECIALLY
IN THE WEST...SO HAVE ASSIGNED POPS ACCORDINGLY.  SFC LOW WITH THIS
SYSTEM PROGGED TO GO WELL SOUTH OF FA...SO SAT MAY BE MORE OF A
COLD RAIN EVENT...POSSIBLY CHANGING TO A WET SNOW EVENT...WITH TSTMS
NOT AS LIKELY...ESPECIALLY NORTH. MON THRU WED LOOK DRY AND WARMER.

SOME NUMBERS TO PONDER...
DHT  30/48/22/50 --0
AMA  33/51/25/52 --0

.TX...WIND ADVISORY TXZ003<005-009-010.
.OK...WIND ADVISORY OKZ002-003.

SD

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

13 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Dallam

When
March 14, 7:35 PM CST
Where
Dallam forecast zone
Measured
38 kt (44 mph)
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates
36.278, -102.602 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Sustained winds measured at the Dalhart ASOS. Other sustained winds across the north-central Texas panhandle were estimated to be forty to forty-five miles per hour. A SchoolNet site in Booker measured winds of sixty-seven knots as reported by a local television station. Tradewinds Airport...which is located two miles south of Amarillo...reported winds of fifty-eight knots.

High Wind, Hartley

When
March 14, 7:35 PM CST
Where
Hartley forecast zone
Measured
38 kt (44 mph)
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates
35.840, -102.603 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Sustained winds measured at the Dalhart ASOS.

High Wind, Sherman

When
March 14, 7:50 PM CST
Where
Sherman forecast zone
Measured
40 kt (46 mph)
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates
36.278, -101.893 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Sustained winds interpolated to be greater than forty miles an hour at Stratford.

High Wind, Moore

When
March 14, 8:05 PM CST
Where
Moore forecast zone
Measured
61 kt (70 mph)
Property damage
$110,000
Reported by
EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates
35.838, -101.893 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Report of numerous telephone and power poles down...trailer homes blown over...windows of cars and businesses blown out...and a tractor-trailer rig blown off the road in and around Dumas.

High Wind, Hansford

When
March 14, 8:17 PM CST to 11:00 PM CST
Where
Hansford forecast zone
Measured
39 kt (45 mph)
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates
36.278, -101.354 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Sustained winds estimated to be between forty and forty-five miles an hour at Spearman.

High Wind, Ochiltree

When
March 14, 8:17 PM CST to 11:00 PM CST
Where
Ochiltree forecast zone
Measured
35 kt (40 mph)
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates
36.278, -100.816 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Sustained winds estimated to be forty miles an hour at Perryton.

High Wind, Hutchinson

When
March 14, 8:30 PM CST
Where
Hutchinson forecast zone
Measured
56 kt (64 mph)
Reported by
BROADCAST MEDIA
Coordinates
35.840, -101.355 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Reported from Fritch by a local television station.

High Wind, Carson

When
March 14, 8:55 PM CST
Where
Carson forecast zone
Measured
59 kt (68 mph)
Reported by
GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates
35.404, -101.354 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Reported two miles north of Pantex.

High Wind, Randall

When
March 14, 9:00 PM CST
Where
Randall forecast zone
Measured
58 kt (67 mph)
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates
34.966, -101.897 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Reported by Tradewinds Airport which is located two miles south of Amarillo.

High Wind, Lipscomb

When
March 14, 9:08 PM CST
Where
Lipscomb forecast zone
Measured
67 kt (77 mph)
Reported by
BROADCAST MEDIA
Coordinates
36.278, -100.273 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Reported from a SchoolNet site in Booker by a local television station.

High Wind, Gray

When
March 14, 9:30 PM CST
Where
Gray forecast zone
Measured
56 kt (64 mph)
Property damage
$10,000
Reported by
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates
35.401, -100.813 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Windows were reported blown out of cars in Pampa by Pampa Central Dispatch.

High Wind, Donley

When
March 14, 9:33 PM CST
Where
Donley forecast zone
Measured
61 kt (70 mph)
Reported by
EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates
34.965, -100.814 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Hemphill

When
March 14, 10:00 PM CST
Where
Hemphill forecast zone
Measured
61 kt (70 mph)
Reported by
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates
35.838, -100.270 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

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 Texas in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings 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: 5236275, 5236276, 5236277, 5235968, 5235976, 5235977, 5235969, 5235970, 5235971, 5235972, 5235973, 5235974, 5235975.