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Coaling, Alabama

19 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1899 and the latest in 1984. It stands in the Coaling-Vance census division. It lies in ZIP code area 35453. It stands on Beatty Branch. The Survey maps it on the Coaling quadrangle. 2,035 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 407 feet above sea level.

Coaling within Tuscaloosa County

Population over time

2 figures

Coaling grew from 1,657 to 2,035 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
20101,657
20202,035+378 (+23%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

8 surveys from 19 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Fires near this place

92 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 92 fires within 5 miles of Coaling between 1994 and 2019, burning about 1,431 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 45 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Arson/incendiarism45
Debris and open burning24
Missing data/not specified/undetermined12
Recreation and ceremony3
Misuse of fire by a minor2
Smoking2
Equipment and vehicle use2
Natural1
Railroad operations and maintenance1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
4 September 2000Arson/incendiarism10 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
4 September 2000Arson/incendiarism26 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
16 September 1998Debris and open burning2.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
14 September 2016Equipment and vehicle use2.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commission20160914-7
11 September 1995Debris and open burning5.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
31 August 1999Arson/incendiarism5.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
14 August 2007Missing data/not specified/undetermined8.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commissionnot named
6 July 2019Debris and open burning5.0 acresAlabama Forestry Commission20190706-2

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Tuscaloosa County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 16 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 16 workings within 5 miles of Coaling: 10 unknowns, 3 past producers, 3 occurrences. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Iron, Calcium, Aluminum, Phosphorus-Phosphates, Silica, Water, Free. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Big Sandy AreaIron, Calcium, Aluminum, Phosphorus-Phosphates, Silica, Water, FreePast Producer1900, 1903
Big Sandy No. 1 MineIronPast Producer
Gulf States Paper Corp ProspectIronOccurrence
PinckardIronUnknown
UnnamedIronUnknown
UnnamedIronUnknown
UnnamedIronUnknown
UnnamedIronUnknown
UnnamedIronUnknown
UnnamedIronUnknown

Every working recorded in Tuscaloosa County

Storms near this place

8 since 2001

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Coaling in 8 storm reports between 2001 and 2015: 3 hail, 2 thunderstorm wind, 2 tornado, 1 lightning. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
April 2011Tornado (EF3)Coaling$9,200,000This tornado developed along a Quasi-Linear Convective System in southeast Tuscaloosa County, near Coaling and moved northeastward for approximately 18 miles. It crossed into Jefferson County between Interstate 20 and Bucksville, then continued for nearly 2 miles into Jefferson County. The tornado touched down in the southwestern extent of Coaling, north of CR 14, along Staghorne Dr where it damaged many trees. The tornado quickly strengthened as it moved through Coaling to an EF3 rating with winds of 155 mph, remaining south of US Hwy 11. At least a dozen homes sustained damage. Several homes were completely destroyed. The tornado weakened as it moved east of Coaling and crossed US Hwy 11. The tornado moved across the Mercedes Plant where it caused minor roof damage to one building, knocked down several light poles along Interstate 20 near the plant, and snapped numerous trees. This damage was consistent with an EF1 rating and winds of 100 mph. The tornado continued to cause tree damage as it moved northeast and approached the Jefferson County line.
April 2011Thunderstorm WindCoaling$25,000Trees and power lines were blown down in several areas of the Coaling community, from Lower Coaling Road eastward to Dudley Road. Several roofs were damaged at the Stone Gate Trailer Park.
August 2007LightningCoaling$20,000A lightning strike caused a house fire on Unicorn drive, in the Coaling community.
November 2001HailCoaling$20,000no account filed
March 2006Thunderstorm WindCoaling$10,000The roof of a house sustained damage from a downed tree limb.
December 2015Tornado (EF0)Coaling-NWS meteorologists determined a weak tornado touched down along Clements Road near Leeman Lane and continued northeast crossing Hagler Coaling Road, Wire Road and Dudley Road. The damage path was at its widest along Wire Road and Dudley Road. No damage was observed along Highway 11 farther to the northeast. The tornado is estimated to have lifted just northeast of Dudley Road, south of Upper Dudley Road. Only minor tree damage was observed along the path with approximately one dozen trees snapped or uprooted.
March 2006HailCoaling-Penny sized hail.
March 2005HailCoaling-Nickel size hail was reported in Coaling with a separate thunderstorm from the one that produced the hail swath just to the north.

Every storm recorded in Tuscaloosa County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Cedar Cove1.5 miles19
Dudley2.2 miles19
Grimes2.7 miles19
Eastern Hills4.6 miles19
Hazelhurst4.7 miles19
Nichol Hills4.8 miles19
Canyon Lakes5.2 miles19
Vance5.8 miles19

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on CoalingAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1259007The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 116314. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.