page_title: List of heat waves
section_title: 20th century
hierarchical_section_title: List of heat waves / 20th century
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Carte des variations de températures de juillet par rapport à 2001 lors de la canicule de 2003 en Europe. English: 2003 heat wave temperature variations relative to July 2001 temperatures in Europe. "Compared to July 2001, temperatures in July 2003 were sizzling. This image shows the differences in day time land surface temperatures collected in the two years by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite." (quoted from [1]) "TERRA MODIS derived land surface temperature data. The difference in land surface temperature is calculated by subtracting the average of all cloud free data during 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2004 from the ones in measured in 2003, covering the date range of July 20 - August 20." (quoted from [2])
context_page_description: This is a partial list of temperature phenomena that have been labeled as heat waves, listed in order of occurrence.
context_section_description: 1901 – 1901 eastern United States heat wave killed 9,500 in the Eastern United States.
  1906 – during the 1906 United Kingdom heat wave which began in August and lasted into September broke numerous records. On the 2nd temperatures reached 36 °C (97 °F) which still holds the September record however some places beat their local record during September 1911 and September 2016.
  1911 – 1911 Eastern North America heat wave killed between 380 and 2,000 people.
  1911 – 1911 United Kingdom heat wave was one of the most severe periods of heat to hit the country with temperatures around 36 °C (97 °F). The heat began in early July and didn't let up until mid September where even in September temperatures were still up to 33 °C (91 °F). It took 79 years for temperature higher to be recorded in the United Kingdom during 1990 United Kingdom heat wave.
  1913 – in July, the hottest heat wave ever struck California. During this heat wave, Death Valley recorded a record high temperature of 57 °C (134 °F) at Furnace Creek, which still remains the highest ambient air temperature recorded on Earth.
  1921 – Hottest July on record across Eastern Canada and parts of the Northeastern US, part of a very warm year in those places.
  1923–1924 – during a period of 160 such days from 31 October 1923 to 7 April 1924, the Western Australian town of Marble Bar reached 38 °C (100 °F).
  1930s – Almost every year from 1930 to 1938 featured historic heat waves and droughts somewhere in North America, part of the Dust Bowl years.
  1936 – 1936 North American heat wave during the Dust Bowl, followed one of the coldest winters on record—the 1936 North American cold wave. Massive heat waves across North America were persistent in the 1930s, many mid-Atlantic/Ohio valley states recorded their highest temperatures during July 1934. The longest continuous string of 38 °C (100 °F) or higher temperatures was reached for 101 days in Yuma, Arizona during 1937 and the highest temperatures ever reached in Canada were recorded in two locations in Saskatchewan in July 1937.
  1950s – Prolonged severe drought and heat wave occurred in the early 1950s throughout the central and southern United States. Every year from 1952 to 1955 featured major heat waves across North America. In some areas it was drier than during the Dust Bowl and the heat wave in most areas was within the top five on record. The heat was particularly severe in 1954 with 22 days of temperatures exceeding 38 °C (100 °F) covering significant parts of eleven states. On 14 July, the thermometer reached 47 °C (117 °F) at East St. Louis, Illinois, which remains the record highest temperature for that state.
  1955 – 1955 United Kingdom heat wave was a period of hot weather that was accompanied by drought. In some places it was the worst drought on record, more severe than 1976 and 1995.
  1960 – on 2 January, Oodnadatta, South Australia hit 50.7 °C (123.3 °F) degrees, the highest temperature ever recorded in the Southern Hemisphere and Oceania.
  1972 – heat waves of 1972 in New York and Northeastern United States were significant. Almost 900 people died; the heat conditions lasted almost 16 days, aggravated by very high humidity levels.
  1976 – 1976 United Kingdom heat wave was one of the hottest in living memory and was marked by constant blue skies from May until September when dramatic thunderstorms signaled the heat wave's end.
  1980 – estimated 1,000 people died in the 1980 United States heat wave and drought, which impacted the central and eastern United States. Temperatures were highest in the southern plains. From June through September, temperatures remained above 32 °C (90 °F) all but two days in Kansas City, Missouri. The Dallas/Fort Worth area experienced 42 consecutive days with high temperatures above 38 °C (100 °F), with temperatures reaching 47 °C (117 °F) at Wichita Falls, Texas on 28 June. Economic losses were $20 billion (1980 dollars).
  1981 – August 1981 heat wave in the Pacific Northwest.
  1983 – during the Summer of 1983 temperatures over 38 °C (100 °F) were common across Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Michigan
caption: Temperature difference in Europe from the average during the European heat wave of 2003
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