The deadly heat wave of July 1936 in the middle of arguably the hottest decade on record for the US
By Paul Dorian | July 14, 2021 Photograph of a dust storm captured in the Texas Panhandle during March 1936. When the drought and dust storms showed no signs of letting up, many people abandoned their land. The Dust Bowl exodus was the largest migration in American history. By 1940, 2.5 million people had moved out of the Plains states of which 200,000 moved to California. Courtesy PBS Overview One of the most widespread and destructive heat waves ever recorded in the US took place in the summer of 1936 which fell right in the middle of arguably the …