Watershed Year in U.S. History, Most Terrible Day in Alabama Weather History

The front page of The Birmingham News from the day after the March 21, 1932 tornado outbreak. The death toll was seriously underestimated.

Please be sure to follow all the links to previous stories we have written on AlabamaWx.com about this infamous disaster.

There are four watershed years in American history in my opinion. Obviously, 1776 was a critical point in our history with the Declaration of Independence. I think 1865 was the next major year with the ending of the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln’s plan for restoring the Union derailed by his assassination. I think 1968 was another year where America had its eyes opened by the assassinations of Bobby Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King. Sandwiched in there was 1932. The United States and much of the world was mired in a deep depression that threatened the very base of our economy. A critical Presidential campaign was just kicking off and totalitarianism was coming to the forefront in Europe.

Headlines on the morning of Monday, March 21, 1932 in The Birmingham Age-Herald were dominated by the threat of an Irish civil war and the Japanese aggression against China in Manchuria. No one wanted another World War after the horrors of the first one. “Alfalfa” Bill Murray, the Oklahoma Governor, was kicking off his campaign for the Democratic nomination for President with a stop in Birmingham. Nationally, it was becoming apparent that New York Governor Franklin Roosevelt was the favorite for the nomination. The kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby was getting less and less publicity as the trail went cold.

Locally, the big news was the Age-Herald cooking school to be held at the Boutwell Auditorium. The Birmingham Chamber of Commerce was leading a jobs drive for local unemployed. There was a banking crisis, with bank failures piling up and people were being urged to stop hoarding money at home and put it into circulation. There were initiatives nationally to bring the issue of prohibition to a vote and it was becoming clear that when this happened, the wets would win.

In sports, Babe Ruth had signed a one year contract with the New York Yankees for the unthinkable sum of $75,000.

The Birmingham weather forecast at the bottom of the front page said simply: “Increasing cloudiness, showers in north portion; Tuesday rain, colder.”

The day before, Palm Sunday, had been the finest weather day in recollected memory across Alabama. The landscape was blazing to life with bright yellows, pinks, lavenders and new green growth.

The U.S. Weather Bureau Office in Birmingham was located in a fine building on 13th Street North in the Fountain Heights neighborhood. Mr. E.C. Horton was the Chief of the office. He was the James Spann of his time, quoted by local residents regularly and revered as the “man who makes the weather”. On the morning of March 21st, it was cloudy when he made his morning observations. The wind was blowing out of the south at 12 mph. The temperature was 62 with a dewpoint of 54. By noon, it would be 70 with a dewpoint of 64. The barometer stood at a low 29.72 inches.

Horton coded his observations with the ingenious code used by Weather Bureau personnel and rushed it to the telegraph office. All over the country, 200 observers did the same. Operators would transmit the observations during a short period after 7 a.m., when the lines were kept open for such an operation. They also recorded all of the other observations around the country in order. This information was rushed to Horton, who charted them on a map. A big high pressure cell was over New England. But of more concern to Horton was a low between Oklahoma City and Fort Smith. The low was very intense with a minimum pressure less than 29.20 inches. Warm, moist air was being drawn northward. Horton drew the 70F isotherm from northern Texas into southern Arkansas and southern Mississippi.

It was tornado weather. But Horton couldn’t use that word in his forecasts. It was banned by Weather Bureau policy. His morning forecast called for thundershowers then colder Monday night. That was all the advance warning that Alabama would get as its deadliest natural disaster began to unfold. But Alabamians were no stranger to severe weather and tornadoes. And many had an uneasy feeling that morning.

The first tornado touched down at 3:15 p.m. in Marengo County. It would cut a 7 mile path, passing just southeast of Demopolis. It killed 7 people.

A few minutes later, a tornado touched down southwest of Linden. It killed one man near Faunsdale and a total of 3 people along its 20 mile path.

The third tornado of the day touched down at 4 p.m. near Ralph, passed across the western and northwestern edge of Tuscaloosa and devastated the main business district of Northport. Experts believe it was an F4 from damage photos. Along its 20 mile path, it killed 37 people. Additional story.

Next was a tornado that snaked to the ground 4 miles south of Cullman at 4:30 p.m. Phelan, Bolti, Berlin and Fairview were in the path. It would dissipate just west of Arab, but not before it killed 18 people.

Meanwhile, there was more trouble further south. About the same time as the Cullman County storm formed over Perry County about 4:30 p.m. A total of 21 people died across rural Perry County, including 7 in one family. The Cox community near Lawley in southern Bibb County was destroyed. The tornado fell with a hellish fury on Chilton County. A total of 49 people died.

Just after 5 p.m., a powerful tornado roared out of the sky southwest of Columbiana in Shelby County and struck the southern and western parts of the city. Fourteen people died along the 15 mile path into Talladega County. Read Mr. Harry Atcheson’s story here.

Around 5:30, a second tornado formed over Perry County near the path of the earlier tornado. Twelve people died near the touchdown point around Plantersville, including Mr. Jack Lathem, his wife and five of his nine children. A total of 31 people died as this tornado rushed out of Perry, across Chilton and into Coosa County.

There was a short lull of about 45 minutes, then the action shifted back to the southwest. A tornado struck Greensboro. Another formed over Marengo County. People cleaning up damage at Faunsdale stared in disbelief as another tornado roared by them.

One of the worst tornadoes of the deadly day touched down near Gantt’s Quarry in Talladega County and roared into Sylacauga. A total of 41 people died. More information on Sylacauga.

The eleventh tornado killed four in the Piney Grove community between Moulton and Hartselle. More action over North Alabama as a deadly tornado killed eight between Corinth and the Battle Ground communities. A baby was reportedly blown over one half mile.

Thirteen people were killed by the second Sylacauga tornado just after 8 p.m., mainly over rural Clay county. A total of 110 farms were damaged and 75 homes destroyed.

The final tornadoes of the day were a family of twisters that started in Morgan County before racing northeastward across Madison and Jackson Counties. Four people died in Paint Rock, but a bigger disaster was narrowly averted as the tornado hit a mill that had just been vacated by over a hundred workers. Thirty two people died across rural Jackson County.

It was the deadliest day in Alabama weather history. A total of at least 300 people died and 3,000 were injured. It is the third deadliest tornado outbreak in United States history. Read the special weather statement that J.B. wrote several years ago about the day.

Category: Alabama's Weather, Met 101/Weather History