The year was 1936 when an unprecedented heat wave hit the country – a heat wave that still stands as the worst on record. More than 5,000 people died across the United States, along with crops and animals. Several record temperatures were set in Wisconsin that are still in place – including the hottest at Wisconsin Dells, which reached 114 degrees.
The initial cause of the heat wave was attributed to an increase in temperatures during the spring along the east and west coasts of the United States. Rarely are both warm at the same time. That also caused a reduction of spring moisture, creating a drought in the country. Without vegetation and soil moisture, the Great Plains acted as a furnace and took on desert qualities. That increased the heat. In late June a strong ridge of high pressure sent extremely hot temperatures across the Midwest and into Wisconsin.
The heat built until July 7 when temperatures started passing 100 degrees. Green Bay recorded 103 that day and Madison was hit with 102 degrees. The heat continued through July 14, with the worst day being July 13. That was the day Wisconsin Dells set its record temperature; Madison suffered under 107 degrees. Of the seven days of the heat wave, Madison’s temperatures were hotter than 100 degrees for six of those days. At night the thermometers across the entire state averaged 80 degrees, not allowing people and animals any relief from the heat.
Lack of rain through the summer caused reduced humidity, which became a saving grace. But the dry ground made the air hotter. The temperature of the water in the Flambeau River increased enough to kill some of the muskies, walleyed pike and suckers. The state’s blueberry and strawberry crops failed. Cabbage and cherries were sparse. Cream for butter was in short supply because of the lack of feed in pastures. In Green County, 47 cows and two bulls on three farms died from Sudangrass poisoning attributed to the drought and heat.
People coped as best they could. Trips to local beaches and rivers were popular. Because of the threat of communicable diseases such as typhoid, the waters were continually tested for disease; the beaches were sprayed with chemicals to prevent outbreaks. In Madison the Capitol Theater had an early form of refrigeration to cool the building so it stayed open after the late show and allowed residents to sleep in their seats. It was cool enough in the theater that they suggested guests bring blankets.
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The Wisconsin General Hospital in Madison suspended surgeries, beer sales were booming and one couple decided to seek relief by skinny-dipping. The police promptly arrested the two, deeming it best to nip the idea in the bud before others thought of it. On the University of Wisconsin campus, 18 men were put to work watering trees 24 hours a day. Pavements buckled. In La Crosse a gardener showed off his onions that had cooked in the ground. Policemen were permitted to unbutton their coats and maintenance workers at the Madison airport worked from 2 a.m. to 10 a.m. to avoid the hottest times of the day.
It was reported that 469 people died in Wisconsin from sunstroke and drownings of those trying to stay cool. The number was probably much more as heat became a secondary cause of death and therefore not reported in the official records. There were more than 200 fires reported, which also caused some loss of life.
The heat wave ended Aug. 17 when a cold front brought a violent electrical storm with high winds followed by cooler air. By October pasture and hay fields had recovered. There was a fall record milk of 16.31 pounds per day per cow. The flax-seed harvest was 75 percent of normal and there was a record sugar-beet crop. But the potato harvest was down by 4 million on the state’s 253,000 acres of potato.
The Janesville, Wisconsin, paper reported that early-planted small grains did well. Late-planted small grains ranged between light to failure while grains in milk during the heat wave suffered the worst. Grasshoppers were a problem, with some farmers using poison for control. Farmers claimed they could pick up dead grasshoppers by the handful. Chinch bugs proliferated. Tobacco was mostly unaffected by the dry weather; final yields were more than normal. One farmer reported an excess of tobacco worms that he poisoned with a solution of arsenic of lead.
Farmers from Illinois, where the drought was worse than in Wisconsin, traveled to Grant and Lafayette counties in Wisconsin for seed corn at $7 per bushel. Drought conditions were spotty in those two counties. Elmer Biddick, the largest corn-seed-hybrid producer in Wisconsin who farmed in Grant County, quickly sold out his 4,000 bushels of seed corn.
Ironically the previous winter was also one of extreme weather, with Manitowoc, Wisconsin, recording five straight days of below-zero temperatures. Stevens Point, Wisconsin, had 29 days colder than zero.
This is an original article written for Agri-View, a Lee Enterprises agricultural publication based in Madison, Wisconsin. Visit AgriView.com for more information.
LeeAnne Bulman writes about agriculture from her farm overlooking the beautiful Danuser Valley on Wisconsin’s west coast. Email genwim2@gmail.com to reach her.