The Great Heat Wave

Above is one of the reading at my house on July 6 2012.
Here in Michigan  the hottest recorded Heat Wave started on July 7th 1936 and lasted until July 18th The heat started off to our west in June, however here in Michigan June 1936 was in some locations much cooler than average. In fact at Muskegon June 1936 set the record for the coldest June on record there with a mean of only 57.2° (-9.1°) the warmest for the whole month was only 78° and on June 20th 1936 the temperature fell to 35° At Lansing June 1936 was -3.4° and here in Grand Rapids it was -1.2° elsewhere around the state Detroit, Saginaw, Alpena, Houghton Lake, and the Sault were all below average.
Now for the Great Heat Wave. It started on July 6th 1936 here in Grand Rapids with a high of 89° (using Mookie’s definition)  Here are the high/lows for the next 12 days.  The 7th 98/67 the 8th 101/78, the 9th 101/78, the 10th 102/78, the 11th 99/78, the 12th 106/74, the 13th 108/79, the 14th 102/74, the 15th 86/69, the 16th 94/65, the 17th 93/67 and the 18th 91/69. In Lansing the “heat” was not as extreme there the high/low during the above dates were. 91/56, 98/70, 96/70, 98/71, 96/72, 99/71, 99/74, 101/69, 84/60, 86/59, 88/61 and 88/64. Now while it was hot in both GR and Lansing for any one who could get over there at the lake shore it was much cooler and on some dates it was not hot at all. Here are the readings for Muskegon for the dates between July 7th 1936 and July 18th 1936. Starting out on July 7th 89/67, 80/65, 82/69, 78/70, 82/73, 82/71, 88/71, 86/70, 86/70, 85/69, 81/68, 78/66 and 79/66. Muskegon was one of the few locations that did not reach 100 or better in the 1936 heat wave. In other locations around the state here is a list of the high temperatures for the dates July 7th to the 18th Detroit 89,104,102,102,101,100,102,104,87,90,89,89. Flint 94,108,105,102,104,105,108,105,91,91,91,92. Saginaw 98,107,104,107,107,105,111,92,95,96,87. It was not any cooler in norther Michigan as here are the readings from Alpena starting on July 7th 100,104,100,105,106,91,87,85,86,81. After a low of 35° on July 1st at Houghton Lake the highs starting on the 7th 100,107,105,106,105,104,107,101,91,92,91,87. At the Sault like Muskegon it was cooler than other locations and also like Muskegon the Sault was one of the few locations that did not reach 100 or better. At the Sault the highs were 93,95,96,93,95,96,89,87,81,83,83,78.
Here are some of the records that were set in 1936
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
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
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
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
July 24
Kansas state record, 121 at Alton and Fredonia
Nebraska state record, 118 at Minden
Grand Island, NE 117
Topeka, KS 114

I know that there has been talk of the heat this past week or more but the truth is this past weeks heat and humidity are no comparison to the heat of 1936. It very well may not have been nearly as humid in 1936 as that was a very dry summer but there is no comparison to the amount and length of the it in 1936 This years 7 day Heat Wave seen highs here in Grand Rapids of 91,94,94, 87,92,94, and 93. Below I use a different definition of Heat Wave but using Mookie’s lose definition here is an updated version on the 1936 Heat Wave when Grand Rapids seen a 12 day Heat Wave with highs of 89,98,101,101,102,99,106,108,86,94,93,and 91 Remember back in 1936 most people did not have air so the heat was just that much more impressive

My house July 2012

In July of 2012 Grand Rapids had a 21 day Heat Wave (using Mookie’s definition) when Grand Rapids had highs of 90,97,89,89,91,96,99,101,104 (108 to 106 at my house) 99,87,89,86,89,90,94,94,91,99, and 91. The 1936 and 2012 were a couple of Grand Rapids biggest Heat Waves.
Slimjim