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.
Population over time
2 figuresCoaling 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 1,657 | |
| 2020 | 2,035 | +378 (+23%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
8 surveys from 19 printed sheetsMatched 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.
- 1899 USGS Brookwood quadrangle1:125000, 4 printings
- 1931 USGS Cottondale quadrangle1:48000
- 1934 USGS Cottondale quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1953 USGS Birmingham quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1956 USGS Birmingham quadrangle1:250000
- 1957 USGS Birmingham quadrangle1:250000
- 1969 USGS Coaling quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1984 USGS Tuscaloosa quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
92 since 1994Regional 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/incendiarism | 45 |
| Debris and open burning | 24 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 3 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 2 |
| Smoking | 2 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 2 |
| Natural | 1 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 September 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 10 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 4 September 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 26 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 16 September 1998 | Debris and open burning | 2.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 14 September 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | 2.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | 20160914-7 |
| 11 September 1995 | Debris and open burning | 5.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 31 August 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 5.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 14 August 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 6 July 2019 | Debris and open burning | 5.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | 20190706-2 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 16 shownRegional 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Big Sandy Area | Iron, Calcium, Aluminum, Phosphorus-Phosphates, Silica, Water, Free | Past Producer | 1900, 1903 | |
| Big Sandy No. 1 Mine | Iron | Past Producer | ||
| Gulf States Paper Corp Prospect | Iron | Occurrence | ||
| Pinckard | Iron | Unknown | ||
| Unnamed | Iron | Unknown | ||
| Unnamed | Iron | Unknown | ||
| Unnamed | Iron | Unknown | ||
| Unnamed | Iron | Unknown | ||
| Unnamed | Iron | Unknown | ||
| Unnamed | Iron | Unknown |
Storms near this place
8 since 2001Regional 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 2011 | Tornado (EF3) | Coaling | $9,200,000 | This 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 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Coaling | $25,000 | Trees 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 2007 | Lightning | Coaling | $20,000 | A lightning strike caused a house fire on Unicorn drive, in the Coaling community. |
| November 2001 | Hail | Coaling | $20,000 | no account filed |
| March 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Coaling | $10,000 | The roof of a house sustained damage from a downed tree limb. |
| December 2015 | Tornado (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 2006 | Hail | Coaling | - | Penny sized hail. |
| March 2005 | Hail | Coaling | - | Nickel size hail was reported in Coaling with a separate thunderstorm from the one that produced the hail swath just to the north. |
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 | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cedar Cove | 1.5 miles | 19 | |
| Dudley | 2.2 miles | 19 | |
| Grimes | 2.7 miles | 19 | |
| Eastern Hills | 4.6 miles | 19 | |
| Hazelhurst | 4.7 miles | 19 | |
| Nichol Hills | 4.8 miles | 19 | |
| Canyon Lakes | 5.2 miles | 19 | |
| Vance | 5.8 miles | 19 |
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 Coaling | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1259007 | The 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.







