Oklahoma Journeys

Week of July 11, 2009

Hottest Day in Oklahoma History

Sunday, July 19, 1936, was the hottest day on record in Oklahoma with temperatures from one end of the state to other well into the hundreds. Thirty-two people across Oklahoma died that day because of the heat, but as often happens, the heat was followed by thunderstorms. That’s our story on Okahoma Journeys from the Oklahoma History Center.

From the Oklahoma History Center, this is Okahoma Journeys. I’m Michael Dean.

In the summer of 1966, The Loving Spoonful hit number one on the music charts with their song, "Summer in the City." They might have been singing about a hot summer in the city in 1966, but if you go back thirty years to the summer of 1936, you’ll find real serious heat right here in Oklahoma. The summer of 1936 is the record-setting hottest summer in our state’s history. To add insult to injury the summer of 1936 fell in the middle of the drought from 1932 to 1939 from which came the Dust Bowl. Just how hot was it that summer? Here are the daily high temperatures for Oklahoma City: July 13, 1936 - 101, July 14 - 105, July 15 - 108, July 16 - 100, July 17 - 104, July 18 - 108, and then on July 19th - 109 degrees, the hottest day on record in Oklahoma. Sunday, July 19, 1936, the hottest day in our state’s history. Altus recorded a high temperature of 120, In Hobart, it was 117. Shawnee, Duncan, and Chickasha each reported high temperature of 115 degrees. In Kingfisher, it was 114; Tulsa 113; Sayre 112; Clinton 109; Enid, Woodward, McAlester, and Ardmore 108; and, in Bartlesville it was only 106.

People did what they could to escape the heat. Movie theaters advertising chilled air did a booming business. In rural Oklahoma what farm ponds that still had water in them were packed with children and entire families. Even farm animals, including cattle and horses, crowded into creeks, ponds and buffalo wallows, but they soon dried up.

On July 19, 1936, one woman in Oklahoma City died from the heat. Tulsa recorded four deaths that were heat related. Thirty-two people died statewide that day because of the heat, and the heat wave caused almost 4,500 deaths nationwide. Fortunately, relief was on the way. Monday night thunderstorms rolled across the state bringing much needed cooler temperatures. Hugo recorded a drop in the temperature from 113 to 68 degrees in 15 minutes when the storms rolled through there.

You can learn more about this story by visiting the newspaper collection in the research library at the Oklahoma History Center. The Oklahoma History Center is located on NE 23rd Street, just east of the state capitol in Oklahoma City. Okahoma Journeys is a production of the Oklahoma History Center, dedicated to collecting, preserving, and sharing our state’s past. I’m Michael Dean.