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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“Ah! on Thanksgiving day, when from East and from West,
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What calls back the past, like the rich Pumpkin pie?”
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—H.L. (Henry Lewis)
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Pardie! Summer is like a fat beast, sleepy in mildew....”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)
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—Henry Miller (1891–1980)