{"id":37149,"date":"2025-07-04T04:34:17","date_gmt":"2025-07-04T04:34:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/37149\/"},"modified":"2025-07-04T04:34:17","modified_gmt":"2025-07-04T04:34:17","slug":"revisiting-our-hottest-days-including-the-1995-heat-wave","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/37149\/","title":{"rendered":"Revisiting our hottest days \u2014 including the 1995 heat wave"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first 100-degree day recorded in Chicago was on July 16, 1887. When the Tribune reported on \u201chow fashionable people solve the hot weather problem<\/a>,\u201d\u00a0suggestions included reading a book indoors, going on a canoe excursion or leaving town for a cooler locale.<\/p>\n

Chicago logged its highest official temperature of 105 degrees on July 24, 1934, but unofficial results have been even more extreme. Documented highs of 109 degrees during the\u00a0Dust Bowl<\/a> in 1934 and 106 during an oppressive heat wave in 1995 were set at other sites in the city.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, 100-degree days are a rarity here. There have only been 66 of them, according to data kept by the National Weather Service.<\/p>\n

Chicago experienced its first\u00a0100-degree day<\/a> in more than a decade on Aug. 24, 2023, and none in 2024.<\/p>\n

Hottest day in Chicago history: 105 degrees (July 24, 1934)
\n\"TheThe Biograph Theater on Lincoln Avenue where John Dillinger was slain by FBI bullets in 1934. (Chicago Tribune historical photo)<\/p>\n

What the Tribune reported<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThere were fifteen deaths in Chicago which were ascribed definitely to heat prostration. In addition to these there were more than thirty deaths from heart disease and other ailments in which the heat was regarded as a contributing factor. \u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 12th prostration victim was Karol R. Bielawski, 43 years old, 1629 North Mobile avenue, who dropped dead over the wheel of his truck while driving in Ogden avenue near Warren boulevard. \u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough temperatures throughout the middle west and the east were extremely high Monday and yesterday, pilots on the transcontinental air lines reported comfortable weather only a few thousand feet above the ground. One pilot, flying a TWA Douglas air liner to Pittsburgh from Chicago, found the temperature 32 degrees at 15,000 feet and was forced to turn on heat in the cabin for the comfort of shivering passengers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just two days earlier,\u00a0John Dillinger<\/a> \u2014 dubbed America\u2019s first Public Enemy No. 1 by U.S. Attorney General Homer S. Cummings \u2014 was gunned down by federal agents outside the air-conditioned Biograph Theatre.<\/p>\n

104 degrees (June 20, 1953)
\n\"PremierePremiere opening of the outdoor swimming pool at the Edgewater Beach Hotel on June 27, 1953. (Chicago Tribune historical photo)<\/p>\n

What the Tribune reported<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cOf the estimated 350,000 persons who sought relief at beaches and pools, five drowned, scores suffered heat prostration, and thousands took home second-degree sunburns. Another 150,000 tried to duck the heat by seeking shade trees in forest preserves and parks.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore than 300 motorists were temporarily stranded, the Chicago Motor club reported, when vapor locks developed in carburetors. They had to wait until engines cooled off. Some Chicago transit authority buses were slowed because of overheating, but service was maintained.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe heat softened blacktop roads in many parts of the Chicago area. Pavement buckled in two places in Lake county \u2014 route 173, near Channel Lake, and route 134, near Big Hollow. \u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was also the hottest spring day in Chicago weather history, because summer does not begin until noon today, and the warmest day of this year, exceeding Friday\u2019s 101.8 degrees.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were only two cities in the country which registered higher temperatures than Chicago. These were Abilene, Tex., and Oklahoma City, Okla., with 105 degrees each. Fort Worth, Tex., and Yuma, Ariz., equaled Chicago\u2019s mark of 104. \u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cIn some neighborhoods, adults joined children in opening fire hydrants to get momentary relief. \u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cPolice also were busy on south side beaches, taking care of the 75,000 persons there and ticketing 150 illegally parked cars that blocked entrances and exits.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnusually small crowds attended Lincoln Park and Brookfield zoos. Directors Robert Bean of Brookfield said the animals appeared to be comfortable despite the heat. \u2018They are more judicious than humans, and never seek second degree burns on beaches,\u2019 he said.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other 104-degree days<\/b><\/p>\n

June 20, 1988:<\/b><\/a>\u00a0\u201cOn the first day of summer Monday, Chicago-area residents experienced two weather milestones. The thermometer at O\u2019Hare International Airport read 104 degrees at 4:26 p.m., the second-hottest temperature ever recorded in Chicago. And it rained for the first time in nearly a month.\u201d<\/p>\n

July 13, 1995:<\/b><\/a>\u00a0\u201cFrom the Department of Scant Consolation: Only about one two-billionths of the sun\u2019s heat and light reaches the Earth. The rest of our star\u2019s blazing energy is lost in space or absorbed by the other planets in the solar system. That\u2019s true day in and day out. But on a day like Thursday, it seemed as though the sun was focusing all of its searing heat on the Chicago area.\u201d<\/p>\n

103 degrees (July 5-6, 2012)
\n\"LavonneLavonne Mills, front in blue top, and other members of St. Sabina Catholic Church give out free water on the corner of Racine Avenue and 79th Street on July 6, 2012. (Abel Uribe\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

What the Tribune reported<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cSome were elderly. Others lived alone. All had underlying health problems.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile many Chicagoans were able to escape the third day of triple-digit temperatures Friday \u2014 retreating to air-conditioned homes or cooling centers \u2014 authorities said that over the last few days, at least six people have succumbed to the stifling heat.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018There will always be some people who are very hard to reach,\u2019 Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford said. \u2018It could be a person who is down on their luck, it could be a person who has good resources but no one to monitor them, it could be a person who doesn\u2019t want to leave their home.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Other 103-degree days<\/b><\/p>\n

July 21, 1901:<\/b><\/a> \u201cYesterday was the hottest day Chicago ever has known. The thermometer made a pole-vault for the record, reached it at 2 o\u2019clock, slipped back to get a fresh start, and made a flying leap that cleared the record by a full degree. Then, to cap the climax, the mercury registered the hottest evening the Weather bureau has ever had to record in Chicago.\u201d<\/p>\n

July 1, 1956:<\/b><\/a>\u00a0\u201cIt was the 13th day this year that the temperature has exceeded 90. The number of days with 90 or higher temperatures is ahead of last year when the all-time record of 46 such days in one year was set. The 13th 90 degree or higher day did not come until July 19 last year.\u201d<\/p>\n

June 25, 1988:<\/b><\/a>\u00a0\u201cChicago\u2019s official high temperature was a record (for June 25) 103 degrees at O\u2019Hare International Airport at 3 p.m., and it was 2 degrees higher at Lake Michigan. By midnight, however, the temperature had dropped to a cool 66 and was expected to fall even more before dawn.\u201d<\/p>\n

Want more vintage Chicago?<\/p>\n

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Subscribe to the free\u00a0Vintage Chicago Tribune<\/a>\u00a0newsletter, join our\u00a0Chicagoland history Facebook group,<\/a>\u00a0stay current with\u00a0Today in Chicago History<\/a>\u00a0and follow us on\u00a0Instagram<\/a>\u00a0for more from Chicago\u2019s past.<\/p>\n

Have an idea for Vintage Chicago Tribune? Share it with Kori Rumore at\u00a0krumore@chicagotribune.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Originally Published: July 3, 2025 at 4:26 PM CDT<\/p>\n