This summer has been a scorcher but at least most of us have air conditioning and fans to help cope. That was not the case in 1936 when the hottest summer on record (at the time) blistered the country.
My father grew up on a rural Winn Parish farm during the Depression and remembered sometimes crying at night as a kid because the heat was so oppressive. There was no electricity in the house for a fan, so the only way to cool off was to sleep on the porch. In 1936, millions of other Americans were in the same predicament.
Throughout the 1930s, the nation experienced a catastrophic combination of record-setting heat, prolonged drought and economic depression. This perfect storm came to a head during the summer of 1936 when temperature records were shattered across the nation. As of 2022, the record highs in thirteen states were set that year.
Thousands of people died from heat related causes, and wheat and corn prices rose significantly because the excessive temperatures killed so many fields. In Louisiana, the cotton crop was also damaged after the heat caused bolls to open prematurely.
Because the heat and a prolonged drought had killed much of the ground vegetation that helped moderate temperatures, the Great Plains became like a desert. A ridge of high pressure then settled in and helped spread the heat around the nation.
An absence of such soil conservation methods as terracing fields and planting wind breaks led to serious erosion, and dust storms in the Great Plains turned that area into what became known as the “Dust Bowl.”
Before the heat wave dissipated in late summer, record highs were set or tied in seventeen of the forty-eight contiguous states and hundreds of cities.
The suffering began in June, with my hometown of Dodson, Louisiana, hitting 110 degrees on June 20. The thermometer there reached over 100 degrees for 29 days during that awful summer.
By July 4, cities across the central part of the country were experiencing similar temperatures. That month, Kansas City, Missouri, reached 108 and Des Moines, and Sioux City, Iowa, 109 and 111, respectively. Two days later, New York City saw 106, but that seemed relatively cool compared to the record setting 121 degrees recorded at Steele, North Dakota.
In July, 3,000 people died from heat related causes over a twelve-day period. In Louisiana, water shortages threatened livestock, and town officials worried about their water supplies holding out through the crisis.
The heat wave persisted into August and even worsened in some areas. In Louisiana, Plain Dealing reached 114 degrees on August 10, setting a state record that still stands. And on August 13, Monroe reported its eighth straight day of temperatures over 100 degrees.
Newspapers published one Louisiana doctor’s advice on how to deal with the heat. He recommended that people cut back on food with high sugar and fat content; wear light weight, loose fitting clothing; take lukewarm baths; avoid excessive exercise and try to remain in good spirits. “Worry, despondency, and anxiety should be avoided as far as possible,” the good doctor advised. “Keeping the mind and hands occupied at some interesting task or game goes a long way to make one forget the heat.”
The congregation of Monroe’s First Baptist Church began wondering if the deadly summer might be part of a divine plan. On August 7, the local newspaper reported that the church would debate whether or not the prolonged heat wave was part of the biblical prophecy found in Revelations 16:8-9. “And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat. . . .”
After three months of suffering, people finally got a break when the temperatures began to moderate in September. Thankfully, the weather that autumn was normal.
The summer of 1936 remained the hottest on record for the United States until 2021, and many of the daily records set that year remain unbroken.
In an ironic twist to the story, February 1936 was the coldest February on record. In North Dakota, the town of Parshall shivered at sixty degrees below zero, but less than five months later, Steele hit 121. The two towns are only 110 miles apart.
Surprisingly, five of the twelve months in 1936 were below average in temperature, which makes the year’s temperature as a whole just slightly above average.
Dr. Terry L. Jones is a professor emeritus of history at the University of Louisiana at Monroe. An autographed copy of “Louisiana Pastimes,” a collection of the author’s stories, costs $25. Contact him at tljones505@gmail.com
