Definitions

heat wave,    1. an air mass of high temperature covering an extended area and moving relatively slowly.    2. a more or less prolonged period of excessively warm weather.    

drought    n.  1. dry weather, lack of rain.    2. a period of dry weather, especially one extensive in time and injurious to crops.    

In United States history, the big heat waves were in the how summers of the 1830's, which scorched the north central interior, and that of 1850, which dried up the Great Plains. In July of 1901, high temperatures were directly responsible for 9,508 deaths.

There is nothing in American climatological annals to touch the heat waves which came with the Dust Bowl droughts of the 1930's. The years of 1930, 1934, and 1936, brought progressively more severe summer weather. Record highs of over 109 degrees Fahrenheit were recorded in 15 states in the summer of 1936, and over 15,000 people died in the years between 1930 and 1936 from heat related causes. Heat related deaths persist today despite the softening effects of modern consumer technology.

How Heat Waves affect Fort Collins

In the years between 1952 and 1956, Fort Collins saw its worst period of drought. Because there were no significant water supplies in place, it had a severe impact on area agriculture. Since the Fort Collins area was primarily an agricultural community at that time, the drought had a major economic impact on the area as well. Ironically, the construction of Horsetooth Reservoir had just been completed, however it had not yet filled with water because of the drought. It ultimately took several years for the reservoir to fill completely.

Local Heat Wave History

Excerpt from "Visions Along the Poudre Valley"

"Now it was the beginning of 1933, and the Poudre Valley was suffering. Almost no rain had fallen for two years. The soil was no longer protected under a mantle of natural prairie grass. It had been cultivated for wheat and hay and a thousand other crops intended for the human population. Now the land lay bare and exposed. Every ounce of moisture had been sucked out of the soil and it became thick, fine, choking dust. When the wind blew, the dust flew thousands of feet into the air and blotted out the sun. Then it flew many miles and landed in ugly drifts that sifted into the irrigation ditches and piled up ten feet tall along fence rows.

Nothing could grow very well. Small, family gardens were maintained with difficulty so that at least families would have something to eat since there was no money to buy anything. The Great Depression smoldered and festered across the nation, and Fort Collins had been immediately effected because of the sudden drop in food prices. Now, even if they had water and could grow crops, the farmers couldn't sell them for enough money to pay the costs of production. Of course, with the collapse of the agricultural and ranching community, all the other businesses in town suffered too. People were losing their jobs, their savings, and going bankrupt. On every street there were empty houses of families who had just given up and moved on. There were no two ways about it. Fort Collins was in serious trouble."

52k jpeg

Here is a northern Colorado scene during the dustbowl in 1931.

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