North Dakota 1936

Speaking about his home state the journalist Eric Sevareid called North Dakota "a large rectangular blank in the national consciousness". Even as recently as 1989 Rand McNally left part of North Dakota out of one of its atlases. (Only a part though - around the same time an East Coast TV weather map was showing New Mexico as entirely missing with Texas bordering Arizona).

But there is one fact that will stick in the mind about this unmemorable state: the lowest temperature ever recorded there was a February low of -60 °F (-51 °C) and the highest temperature ever recorded was a July high of 121 °F (49 °C). And both of those were recorded in 1936.

When considering the entire USA the coldest spell on record remains the Cold Wave of 1899. Every single state (there were 45 at the time) recorded sub-zero temperature, and that means sub 0 °F (-18 °C). Even in Florida a temperature of -2 °F (-19 °C) was recorded. A Great Blizzard brought snow to New Orleans and record snowfalls along the East Coast; there were ice floes in the Mississippi reaching the Gulf of Mexico. However for the Northern Rockies and the Plain States the Winter of 1935-6 was more severe. In North Dakota in addition to the all-time record low temperature at Parshall, temperatures below 0 °F (-18 °C) were recorded in Langdon for 41 days in a row (92 days in a row without reaching 32 °F (0 °C) ). However this severe cold was unusual; previously the 1930s had seen relatively mild Winters. What happened in the Summer that followed however was all too familiar.

The 1930s were the Dust Bowl years in the Plain States. High temperatures and severe drought for years on end caused the top soil to blow away in dense black clouds which reached as far as the East Coast. This and the Great Depression made it a period of unprecedented hardship. The Great Heat Wave of 1936 saw the hottest Summer in this decade with July being the hottest month. States and cities across the USA recorded record high temperatures. Almost every state recorded temperatures over 100 °F (38 °C) except those in the extreme North West which fell a few degrees short. In North Dakota the record high was recorded at Steele.

So, in a span of six months a temperature range of 100 °C was recorded in two North Dakotan towns only 128 miles apart.

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Background information on the extraordinary weather of the period is widely available on-line.

This is a good article on the cold spell:

http://www.markvoganweather.com/2015/12/20/a-look-back-us-winter-of-1935-36/

The following is a good blog on the heat wave:

https://www.wunderground.com/blog/weatherhistorian/the-great-heat-wave-of-1936-hottest-summer-in-us-on-record.html

The information in the first paragraph is from the book:

These United States: Original Essays by Leading American Writers on Their State within the Union edited by John Leonard