The 1936 North American heat wave was the most severe heat wave in the modern history of North America. It took place in the middle of the Great Depression and Dust Bowl of the 1930s, and caused catastrophic human suffering and an enormous economic toll. The death toll exceeded 5,000, and huge numbers of crops were destroyed by the heat and lack of moisture. Many state and city record high temperatures set during the 1936 heat wave still stand to this day. The heat wave followed one of the coldest winters on record.
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“We’re having a heat wave, a tropical heat wave.”
—Irving Berlin (1888–1989)
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—Agnes E. Meyer (1887–1970)
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—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
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—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)