1936.............. The Greatest Heatwave

[Mike]

Seventy years ago this month, the greatest heat wave since records have been kept in the U.S. and Canada occurred. At its peak, 100 degree plus heat covered the Great Plains, Midwest, South, and much of the Northeast, as well as the provinces of Manitoba and Ontario, Canada. At times the heat even spread into the Pacific Northwest and western Canada. With air conditioning in its infancy, it was only available in some movie theaters, large department stores and other public places, and not in homes at all. Many people were forced to sleep in their yards or in parks when their homes became stifling. The death toll ranks this as one of the deadliest weather disasters on record in the U.S. and in Canada. About 5,000 people are estimated to have died from the effects of the heat in the U.S. during 1936, most of them during this event. The heat was especially deadly in large Midwestern cities such as St. Louis, Minneapolis and Detroit. A death toll of 780 is often mentioned for Canada. Yet, this event is rarely mentioned by the U.S. media, probably because heat waves are silent killers and don't cause massive property destruction. It seems to be better remembered in Canada.

My parents, who are in their late 70s, still mention this heat wave. My dad lived on the northwest side of Chicago and temperatures in his neighborhood reached as high as 106. Sitting in the basement looking at comic books was his way to beat the heat! In Chicago, people were also able to go to the lakefront for relief. My mom grew up in the Philadelphia area, where temperatures reached 104. She was unable to sleep for days in the stifling heat.

The July 1936 heat wave set all-time record highs in 12 states, two Canadian provinces and countless cities. It began around the 4th of July in the Great Plains states and the worst part of it lasted for two weeks in the Midwest. On the East Coast, it lasted for about four days. In Canada, the intense heat lasted seven or eight days in most places. Here is a day-by-day account of records set (all temperatures are all-time record highs which still stand):


July 5, 1936
South Dakota state record, 120 at Gann Valley

July 6
Minnesota state record, 114 at Moorhead
North Dakota state record, 121 at Steele (Wow!!)
Bismarck, ND 114
Fargo, ND 114
Aberdeen, SD 115

July 7
Traverse City, MI 105

July 8
Toronto, Ont. Canada 105
Flint, MI 108

July 9
New York City (Central Park) 106
Syracuse, NY 102
Rochester, NY 102
Scranton, PA 103
Williamsport, PA 106
Youngstown, OH 103
Toronto 105 tied record

July 10
Maryland state record, 109 at Cumberland and Frederick
New Jersey state record, 110 at Runyon
Pennsylvania state record, 111 at Phoenixville
West Virginia state record, 112 at Martinsburg
Baltimore 107
Lynchburg, VA 106
Lexington, KY 108
Toronto 105 (three days in a row!!)

July 11
Manitoba provincial record, 112 at Treesbank
Brandon, Man. Canada 110
Winnipeg, Man. 108
Norway House, Man. 101 (at north end of Lake Winnipeg, northernmost 100 degree reading in this heat wave)
Minot, ND 109

July 12
Manitoba provincial record tied, 112 at Emerson
Kapuskasing, Ont. Canada 101
Grand Forks, ND 109

July 13
Michigan state record, 112 at Mio
Wisconsin state record, 114 at Wisconsin Dells
Ontario provincial record, 108 at Atikokan and Fort Frances
Duluth, MN 106 (Wow!!)
Eau Claire, WI 111
Green Bay, WI 104
Waterloo, IA 112
Evansville, IN 108
Grand Rapids, MI 108
Saginaw, MI 111

July 14
Indiana state record, 116 at Collegeville
Terre Haute, IN 110
Toledo, OH 105
Rockford, IL 112
Moline, IL 111
Dubuque, IA 110
Madison, WI 107
Minneapolis, MN 108
Rochester, MN 108
Average high at 113 stations in Iowa 108.7

July 15
Peoria, IL 113
Quincy, IL 114
Kirksville, MO 113
Lexington, KY 108 (tied record from 7/10)

July 16
Mobridge, SD 116

July 17
Norfolk, NE 116


After a break for a few days, the heat intensified again in the central Plains:

July 24
Kansas state record, 121 at Alton and Fredonia
Nebraska state record, 118 at Minden
Grand Island, NE 117
Topeka, KS 114

July 25
Lincoln, NE 115
Omaha, NE 114


More records were set in August!

August 10
Arkansas state record, 120 at Ozark
Louisiana state record, 114 at Plain Dealing
Fort Smith, AR 113
Texarkana, AR 117
Tulsa, OK 115

August 11
Oklahoma City, OK 113

August 12
Wichita, KS 114

August 13
Concordia, KS 116
Salina, KS 118

August 14
Kansas City, MO 113


Wow!! What a summer! Despite global warming in recent decades, this heat wave and others in the "Dirty Thirties" still greatly outrank anything that has occurred in recent years in the Great Plains and Midwest. This shows that we do need to be cautious about attributing heat waves and other extreme weather events to global warming.

 

[Faster horses]

Most interesting, Mike. Thanks.

Guess I'll go get something very cold to drink now. :shock:

 

[efb]

Mike those numbers are almost unbelivable. I can not imagine 120 in Arkansas. I just saw on my computer as I was logging on, This year Jan. through June was the hottest on record in the continental U.S. since weather records have been kept, 1895. I hope those guys up north get some relief soon. We are hot here but only 4 -5 degrees above what would be normal. I think we probably hit 104 here. Our problem is we are so dry everything is burning up. Grass and water are critical and hay production is about 25% of normal.

 

[Murgen]

My dang igloo has melted!

 

[Mike]

Mike those numbers are almost unbelivable. I can not imagine 120 in Arkansas. I just saw on my computer as I was logging on, This year Jan. through June was the hottest on record in the continental U.S. since weather records have been kept, 1895. I hope those guys up north get some relief soon. We are hot here but only 4 -5 degrees above what would be normal. I think we probably hit 104 here. Our problem is we are so dry everything is burning up. Grass and water are critical and hay production is about 25% of normal.

We are hot and dry too.

No pastures and no hay.

Worst summer in my memory.

The trees are whistling to the dogs.

 

[jigs]

The trees are whistling to the dogs.

or so dry the coons were hauling water to the sweet corn patch

 

[Red Robin]

120 at Ozark Arkansas is a hot rascal. Humidity usually is high there as well. It might not have been very humid at 120 but I don't guess it matters much when it's that hot. Wow.

 

[Clarence]

My temp. here saturddat was 110 it was 109 yesterday. Valentine reported 113 the highest on record for that dat.

I don't remember much about 1936, I was only 7 years old then. I do reemember, we had a Kilgore Elevator thermometer tacked up north of the house where we watched the temperature. seems some thermometrs read as high as 120 that summer, but the think the record offocial high at Valentine was about 112. I believe it has reached that temperature several times through the years.

I really can't tell you how we stood the heat in 1936, no refrig, no ice, just kept the windows open. We kids walked barefoot some of the time, but had shoes if we wanted to walk where there were stickers. Waking on bare ground would burn your feet that summer. We got cold water from the well, when there was wind, and made cold drinks. Had Cool Aid sold by the Watkins man, it came in bottles. Also made prairie cocktails, mother said she learned about this back when she was nine years old and went with her mother to her grandmother's funeral in Minnesota. Prairie cocktail was soda, vinager, sugar and water with something for flavor maybe vanilla. It was fizz a few minutes.

We had cold water when the wind blew, our well was to deep to pump by hand. On still days we would wait for whirlwinds, they came often during the day. The windmill head woud turn a couple of times into the wind, then our old Fairbanks Morris Steal Eclipse mill would pump like crazy for a few minutes.

Another thing I remember, Joe reed who lived about 4 miles north of Crookston had an old probaly outdated, threshing outfit he ran with an old Rumley tractor. He threshed in his neighborhood. On still days we could hear the Pum Pum Pumm of that old tractor on the thresh machine, although it was several miles away.

 

[Cal]

Can you imagine if you had todays enviro-ninnies back then?