The March 21, 1932 Outbreak: My God, It’s A Cyclone!

Jack Latham’s father was the Sunday School Superintendent at the Ebeneezer Baptist Church near Stanton, in Chilton County, near Plantersville. Times were hard in 1932, and although the large family had a car, there was no money for gasoline. Mr. Lathem told the storekeeper at the mercantile store were he traded that he had prayed that God would just come and take he and his entire family because he could not provide for them. It was the Great Depression and Mr. Lathem grew cotton as a cash crop, but prices were bad in 1931. Like many other Alabamians, Mr. Lathem grew corn and other food crops to feed his family. There was an organ in the Lathem home, and Mr. Lathem only allowed Gospel music to be played on it. As far as he knew, that was the case. But Jack’s older sister loved the Charleston and other popular music.

It was much too warm across Central Alabama on Monday, March 21, 1932. Temperatures had been in the 80s just the day before, and it was warm and muggy. The air felt sticky and a nervous wind blew all day. It was cyclone weather. Around 6:30 p.m., the Lathem family had just finished the evening meal. It was coming up a cloud. There was no ABC3340 wall to wall coverage. No Doppler radar. No High Risk outlooks for severe weather. Not even a warning on the radio. But six major tornadoes had already touched down across North and Central Alabama. The Lathems had no idea what was coming.

The seventh tornado of the day touched down near Plantersville. Mr. Lathem was reading the Bible to his family in the front room when he heard a terrible sound. He went to the back door and opened it. His family heard him exclaim, “My God, it’s a cyclone!”

When little Jackson Lewis Lathem, age four, came to, he was in a plowed field. Only the four youngest children of the family of nine survived, including Jack, his younger brother, age two, older sister, 7, and older brother, 9. His mother was discovered buried to her neck in the muddy field.

We had the privilege of interviewing Mr. Lathem two springs ago for the Storm Alert Tour. You can view his story here. And he has told his story in a book called “My God!! It’s a Cyclone.” You can find it on Amazon.com.

Chilton County was arguably the hardest hit of the counties affected by the March 21, 1932 tornado outbreak with two destructive long track tornadoes that killed over 49 and 31 people respectively.

Category: ALL POSTS, Met 101/Weather History