Heat Wave in 1896: New York City

In August, 1896 record heat over a ten day period struck the Eastern United States. In New York city, the heat killed hundreds of people, and dramatically shifted the careers of two of the most important political figures of the era.
Check out our new shop for fun The History Guy merchandise:
thehistoryguy-shop.fourthwall...
This is original content based on research by The History Guy. Images in the Public Domain are carefully selected and provide illustration. As very few images of the actual event are available in the Public Domain, images of similar objects and events are used for illustration.
You can purchase the bow tie worn in this episode at The Tie Bar:
www.thetiebar.com/?...
All events are portrayed in historical context and for educational purposes. No images or content are primarily intended to shock and disgust. Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Non censuram.
Find The History Guy at:
Patreon: / thehistoryguy
Facebook: / thehistoryguyyt
Please send suggestions for future episodes: [e-mail]
The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered is the place to find short snippets of forgotten history from five to fifteen minutes long. If you like history too, this is the channel for you.
Subscribe for more forgotten history: / @thehistoryguychannel .
Awesome The History Guy merchandise is available at:
thehistoryguy-shop.fourthwall...
Script by THG
#history #thehistoryguy #heatwave

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

Some people have taken issue with the assessment in the introduction from Scientific American regarding deaths due to heat versus cold. This conclusion is controversial, depending upon the method used to determine deaths, leading to disagreement even among US Governmental Agencies. Certainly I meant no agenda by quoting Scientific American. There is an interesting discussion of why the disagreement here: www.wunderground.com/cat6/Which-Kills-More-People-Extreme-Heat-or-Extreme-Cold

[@pavelow235]

You present apolitical and always interesting content, I'm just a casual viewer of several years. It's a shame history is becoming more POLITICAL by the year. Look forward to more history that deserves to be remembered.

[@tomhalla426]

Scientific American is neither. Deaths from cold are some ten times deaths from heat.

[@mauricedavis2160]

🤔🤔🤔

[@PolymerLad]

I had thought it sounded strange to me. The thaw in the spring usually reveals a large number that didn't make it, can't say the same about the cooking in the fall.

[@debbieellett9093]

@TheHistoryGuyChannel, people are too easily offended today. I am so very grateful for all the work you put into these AWESOME history lessons! Thank you and my God bless you.

[@blumobean]

As a child, growing up in the Deep South, I would read about people dying in heat waves in NYC. I could not fathom that people died in 90° heat, it was simply unfathomable to me. I was in the infantry in Vietnam, and it was damned hot there, much like home. I was then stationed at Fort Dix, NJ. It was great climate wise. We lived on the second floor in our apartment. Windows on both sides provided a wonderful soft cool breeze. My father wanted to send a window unit to us because it was getting hot down home. I told him I didn't need it, and besides the windows tilted out, not raised up. Then one day the breeze stopped completely. The humidity was high with a temperature of about 90. I was 22 years old, and could easily see how a person with health problems would die. It was absolutely terrible. Then as suddenly as it started it went away.

[@saigonexile531]

I'm currently in Saigon. This time of year temps get to around 92-96 F.......I love it!!! People keep on keepin' on. I did notice in the old films how people were dressed so no wonder people were miserable.

[@mariekatherine5238]

I had a great aunt who died of ‘heat prostration’ in this heat wave. She lived in Essex St. on the fifth floor. My Mom remembered sleeping on the fire escape when they lived in Franklin St., Greenpoint, Brooklyn. That was in the 1920’s.

[@abusednomoresilence]

🕊

[@jabbertwardy]

Having suffered heat exhaustion a few times in my life, I totally understand the use of "prostrated" to describe the condition of those overcome by the heat. You become so weak you crumble to the ground and lie there dazed. It's awful.

[@bwhog]

Hear! Hear! I've experienced the same. Takes HOURS to recover once you get out of the heat.

[@karenstubbs94]

Last summer i passed out from heatstroke on an asphalt parking lot.i lay long enough to suffer 3rd degree burns on the parts of my body in contact with the asphalt. I still have no memory of the accident or several months after. I spent months in rehab. I now have some cool scars that look lightning.😂

[@haroldhenderson2824]

Agreed, with it is both awful and dangerous. You feel your ears getting hotter fast, your eyesight begins to go "Black and White", then tunnel vision. I assume the heat induces Cardiac Insufficiency (low flow), just as increased flow would be required. When you stop sweating, splash water on yourself, get to an airflow and drink Gatorade (or Pedialyte).

[@Torby4096]

Yup! I have had that!

[@defunctuserchannel]

I've had it thrice. Second time my vision went totally blury and I vomited. I am very susceptible to it now.

[@williamromine5715]

My father, who grew up rural Oklahoma during the depression, said when it was really hot he would climb up an oil derrick(sp), and sleep on walk way at the top. He said that there generally a breeze, and therefore cooler. I asked him if he was afraid of falling off while asleep. He said it never occured to him. He was never afraid of hights, and worked as a steel rigger in a refinery from after the war until his retirement. Unfortunately, I am very uncomfortable at hights.

[@rodneymcdermott5303]

Whenever there’s talk about heat waves, especially in the pre-air conditioning world, I cannot help but think about my grandparents, and great grandparents. Being a welder/metal worker, a farmer doing manual labor. They dealt with the same heat as I do, as a welder and growing up on the family farm. But they had no air conditioning in the car or equipment. None at home. You just adjusted and dealt with it. Cheers to you, every single one of you tough individuals🥃🍻cheers and respect

[@theclearsounds3911]

My grandmother was born in 1890, and spent most of her life in New Jersey married to a Princeton University professor. In the old days, people with white collar jobs like that would dress up in a suit every day and go to work, regardless of the heat, without air conditioning. Whatever their job was, I don't understand how they could live through that. White collar, blue collar, farmer, I just can't imagine living through that kind of suffering. I know I could never adjust to that.

[@curtisbrown5939]

We've turned into a country of wimpy people......at some of them 🤠

[@JohnDoe-lc9yj]

This didn't just happen years ago. It happens all over the world today. We often forget that other people live on this planet who don't have the great fortune to live in a primarily temperate climate, with first world amenities.

[@curtisbrown5939]

@@JohnDoe-lc9yj why should I feel guilty? I hope that's not what you're implying. Most third world countries have mostly put themselves in their situation, that's not to say that I don't have compassion because I do,I pray for all people to have a better life. Should I go hungry and turn off my air conditioner and quit my job on a drilling rig because there are people that are less fortunate? That's what it seems like the world is coming to. I'm interested in your thoughts on this subject, and what's your solution to climate that has always changed. Peace ✌️🕊️ and goodwill towards man 🕊️

[@JohnDoe-lc9yj]

@@curtisbrown5939 "guilt"? Where did I say "guilt"? Since I never mentioned the word "guilt" and you made that assumption, it let's me know that reading comprehension is not your strong suit. My response was to someone remarking how this relevant to her based on a generational perspective. Actually I agree with her on that but I think it's important to also look at it's also relevant today. OK, so why should I make that distinction? Because so many like yourself and the person I responded to, don't see the whole world. OR, are not capable of seeing the whole world in their conception of pain and hunger. They usually only see themselves and their close relatives or acquaintances. I am devout atheist and I have a niece who was a Christian missionary, whom I adore. She is a liberal Christian. At 18 she found an orphanage in Uganda for special needs children. When she finally left she spent 34 months immigrating/adopting a special needs child back to the US. Having been in the military, I have seen the horrible situations and poverty that other people have lived and it's nothing something an American who has never experienced could possibly fathom. So please don't cry victim because you get called on your ignorance. "Should I go hungry and turn off my air conditioner and quit my job on a drilling rig because there are people that are less fortunate?" "None are so blind as those who will not see."

[@heronimousbrapson863]

When you consider the lack of air conditioning at the time and the clothes they wore (particularly women), it is no wonder people suffered as much as they did.

[@debbieellett9093]

My thoughts exactly!

[@toddwebb7521]

Well less clothes is only good if it's hot but below body temperature, once it's straight up above body temperature you are better off covering up, why the Arabs wear head to toe robes

[@sophieruby5893]

​@@toddwebb7521 Fine for the men wearing white since white doesn't absorb heat like other colors do, but those poor women wearing black have to be miserable since black absorbs a lot of heat.

[@Elora445]

@@sophieruby5893 Depending on if they wear any other garments under the black ones. Then black might just work as well. At least that's how I've heard it explained. Maybe the heat stay in the black part?

[@sophieruby5893]

@@Elora445 Another layer of clothing in 100 degree weather? And you DO NOT want to wear dark clothing in hot weather. It's best to wear fewer clothes in the heat. There's a reason that people living near the equator wear little clothing.

[@garygrant9612]

Many years ago my dad put a fan in our bedroom. It circulated the warm air as I slept in the lower bunk with my brother in the upper bunk. Both of us in our underwear with a thin sheet covering us. The temperature during the day, for a few weeks was in the high 90's and some days a 100+. This was in upstate NY.

[@debbieellett9093]

I grew up in the upstate of NY too. We used to lay on the floor,next to windows or the doors,hoping for a breeze. Now I am in the South and can't even imagine how ppl lived without air conditioning.

[@lisanadinebaker5179]

@garygrant9612 - the farm house that I grew up in had no air conditioning or central ducting of any kind for that matter. But this was NE Louisiana where triple digit temperatures and 80%+ humidity is an every year thing. What it DID have was huge double hung windows, an elevated foundation, an attic fan, and shade trees all around it. I never remember heat being a problem at night; during the middle of the day, absolutely. Then again, not being bothered by hot nights might be due to the farm work. You find a bed at the end of the day, and it is lights out in more ways than one.

[@ekramer2478]

I live on LI in NY. When a teenager we did not have central heat. The house stayed in the upper forties maybe a few feet away from the moveable radiators where we had them. This lasted about ten years. Mother became an hoarder over time. Step father was a cheap bastard. Winters were cold. We had an air conditioner last in 1980 when my real Dad suddenly died. That was that last time here (I moved out for seven years during Uni and after but was in a very severe car wreck and ultimately had no choice but to come home). Today it hit 95. I was out getting the AC on my (New! It was LEAKING and making my floor moldy! LI is actually every bit as damp in some spots as MIAMI!) car fixed. I think I will get another plug in this room so that I can put in an AC. I am blasted hot. I lived two years in Miami with no AC in University. (Refused to pay to have the unit put in and taken out of the same room every semester. COME ON!) Graduated early 1990. Survived. My friends are pressing me to for godsakes get an AC now. I think they are right.

[@allen480]

I live about 20miles SW of Little Rock (Bryant). As of 3:41 pm outside temp is 99F with only 40% humidity how ever the heat index is 104F. Will hit low 100s middle of the week. It’s so uncomfortable even our water moccasins are bitching about it. lol🐍🤬 If my AC or utility power craps out I’m toast. Love the South! Everyone stay safe and check on your family and neighbors!

[@jchristian8214]

Same. Grew up in Kentucky with no AC and Dad put a fan in the window upstairs where me and my two brothers slept. The hot air it circulated reminds me now of how an air fryer works. We didn’t die and now I definitely don’t take AC for granted!

[@joanhoffman3702]

I grew up in Queens, NYC. I remember summers being hot and humid. Now I live in southern Arizona. With temperatures of 110F and humidity at 50%, the heat index is 140F. AC is a must for cars and buildings. Anyone living/visiting here must remember to hydrate. Heat exhaustion or worse is not fun.

[@texanfournow]

You might expect a weather disaster such the 1896 NY heat wave. You probably wouldn't expect it to happen a 100 years later in a modern American city. But it did. In the 1990s I worked for five years in Chicago. In 1995, there was a sustained heat wave that killed more than 500 Chicago residents, mostly senior citizens who hunkered down in their apartments--without air conditioning. Temperatures, especially factoring in the "heat index" (truly awful humidity), went to the triple digits. To this day, nobody talks about it, but it was a tragedy that did not have to happen.

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

Yes, the same issue applies. As heat waves unfold more slowly, the deaths are less obvious to the public.

[@darwinawardcommittee]

I was there too. I still think of it every time I see one of those LaGrou catering refrigerated semi trailers. LaGrou got the contract for storing dead bodies outside the morgue. They claim they destroyed the trucks but I can’t help but think about it when I see their trucks at street festivals.

[@texanfournow]

@@darwinawardcommittee So sad. I vaguely remember that after the heat wave, Daley instituted a kind of mandatory "welfare check" for vulnerable residents. But he is long gone; don't know if they now have something in place to at least mitigate the danger.

[@jeffaulik3980]

I was going to mention this, but couldn't remember many of the details. Sad.

[@barbararowe2036]

😢

[@GaliSinatra]

Thank you for this video! My great-grandmother was pregnant in the summer of 1896 in NYC. It must have been complete hell for her.

[@kellinomnom]

I have nothing to contribute to the conversation. Just here to say I love this channel. Why KZbin waited so long to recommend this to me I'll never know.

[@Milestonemonger]

I come from the Middle East. We've learned to adapt in high temperatures. I remember we never had AC. Nobody I know did. The homes are built from chiseled thick stone or thick concrete. The walls would obsorb the cool temperatures at night, and would keep the house cool during the day. It's perfect.

[@paulwolf8444]

Instead of adapting to the environment, people like to blame the environment.

[@mnjlittle7547]

Couldn’t you say the opposite is true too. The stone would absorb the heat from the sun during the day and keep the house hot at night?

[@MsHeartIsArt]

🧠

[@Milestonemonger]

@mnjlittle7547 I'm not a geologist, but for some reason, that doesn't happen.

[@bluegoose1342]

​@@mnjlittle7547 Many often think that would be the case, but the opposite is true. You see the same with the early adobe architecture of the American Southwest. Thick adobe walls, windows along each side shaded by deep porches & courtyards. In the American South and in other areas with warm climates, you'll find breezeways, dog trots, transoms & jalousie windows for cross ventilation. Before there was AC, people had to rely on architecture that made the most sense in a given environment. Just like peaked roofs in snowy areas allow for snow shed.

[@RetiredSailor60]

Good morning from blistering hot Ft Worth TX History Guy and everyone watching....

[@obi-wanshinobi2353]

God Bless from Canada 🇨🇦 you have a beautiful state.

[@nisaba5752]

❤😔 hang in there

[@RetiredSailor60]

@@obi-wanshinobi2353 I've visited Vancouver, Toronto, and Halifax. You have a beautiful country.

[@goodun2974]

​@@obi-wanshinobi2353, I've been to Texas, and I've visited Canada many times and lived in Alberta for a year. I'll take Canada over TX any day!

[@TheKyPerson]

I grew up in the south with no air conditioning. We had shade trees, kiddie pools, and popsicles to keep cool during the day, but I still remember how uncomfortable it was at night with the high humidity. My grandmother said she used to cook outside when it was so hot.

[@MrBibi86]

*I hate summer. you can always get warmer in the winter but you can be completely naked in summer and still boiling. it's winter here in Australia at the moment and I'm loving it, we actually had a mini heatwave here for 3 days over the past week where it was 20 degrees Celsius during the day*

[@mindyourbusinessxoxo]

Thank you! Summer is the worst. I hate that season with a passion. I much prefer winter. I'm from SoCal and each summer was a nightmare. My AC would frequently break down so we'd have to brace for triple digit heat each year...every year being longer than the last.i live in Germany and it's a complete dream. I hate the sun, the heat, everything about it. It's torture

[@jonathonmcglew4992]

Houses were built for heat around 1900. High ceilings, windows over doorways, gaps under interior doors, etc.

[@amadeusamwater]

In Eastern Iowa we have had 90+ heat and 70+ humidity all week, but this a normal summer for us. It hasn't even hit 100 yet this year. But we have some understanding of what those folks were suffering. If we go outside, you think someone opened the lit oven in front of you.

[@petercole8798]

Boston mass here hot humid 92..😅

[@-jeff-]

Thanks for showing us what could happen if we have a heatwave like the present one combined with a power failure that takes away air conditioning. A modern convenience that no doubt saves hundreds if not thousands of lives.

[@timpatrick2109]

Perhaps one of the most life saving inventions in the US is AC. People live 10 years longer.

[@danielseelye6005]

But it also allowed people to live in places they shouldn't, like the American Southwest. At least to the population density it does now.

[@PanzerAce760]

And we wouldn't have AC without fossil fuels.

[@Miniver765]

​@@PanzerAce760You nailed it. Cly-mutt loons are trying to take away both.

[@sarahburggraf907]

We would hv enough sense to take our clothes off nowadays. Ppl prolly suffered bk then in the name of modesty. So dumb🙄

[@johnwood551]

My Grandfather back in the early years of the 20th Century in Nebraska ,used two put large wash tubs at certain windows and put blocks of ice in them and then put fans in the windows . I grew up in the 50’s and 60’s with no air conditioning and no A/C in any cars I knew of then. But at least we lived in the mountains of East Tenn. So many people today have never known a place that doesn’t have ac. All cars ,stores, public buildings, theaters , etc have ac.

[@tearosy]

Yet modern school buses are still not air conditioned😞

[@heidiw8406]

@@tearosy Most of them do in Florida.

[@heidiw8406]

I grew up in Florida without air conditioning. Those daily afternoon thunderstorms were a blessing.

[@sw8741]

I grew up in So Cal and we didn't have A/C in our house or our cars. A/C was a luxury in cars in the 1970's and most houses built didn't have A/C. Where I grew up it was normal to have a few weeks of 100+ temps in the summer. I slept with a box fan sitting in a window to blow air in over night. If you notice people in the 1890's wore full suits when out and about, no t shirts, no shorts and lived/worked in those clothes. People today are just plain spoiled.

[@johnp139]

*to

[@MsHeartIsArt]

It’s not just water one needs to ingest when it’s hot, it’s also minerals/electrolytes (potassium, magnesium, calcium, sodium, chloride, phosphate, bicarbonate). If you drink water without these minerals you will eventually unbalance them in your body which will still lead to heat stroke or death. I have done this by accident a couple of times, before I knew the importance of electrolytes in the body.

[@gregbenwell6173]

A lot of people forgot about the heat wave that hit New York City in 1977, but I remember seeing it on the news!! I lived in Ithaca New York at the time, roughly 4 hours west of New York City, and I was just 12 years old when it happened!! I am 58 years old now, but I recall, that we (my family) had gotten a letter in the mail, that said we needed to "reduce our usage of electric" because of the black out in New York City!! And my parents laughed at the letter, because it told us to "stop using our air conditioners" which we didn't own a single one!!

[@AmericanActionReport]

During the 1970s, I read a magazine article about the 1896 heat wave. The article mentioned a heat-related death "that's worth remembering." One New Yorker committed murder because someone asked him, "Is it hot enough for you?"

[@southronjr1570]

Growing up in Middle Ga with no AC, when my parents would talk about the heat, I didn't even seem to notice, my brother an I would still go outside and play in 95+ temps with 90% humidity and it didn't phase us it seems. We did however have an excuse to go jump in the pond more often, when dad knew about it, he would watch over us with a 22 rifle to watch for snakes, only saw one cotton mouth that I recall. I didn't even know the AC was in some people's homes until my parents divorce in 88' and the house we moved into had a window unit. I do completely understand it these days, I was working on a roof too last week in the evening when the temp had "dropped" down to 90 with 88% humidity and after about an hour I felt a chill and looked down and saw I had stopped sweating. I quickly came down and say in AC drinking several powerades to recover

[@sarahburggraf907]

My sister lives in Ga. I live in Ohio. We always swap stroies. She's always blown away by how cold it gets here n the winter.

[@jonathonmcglew4992]

Liquid IV is the best. I'm a painter and I drink 1 every couple hours in heat.

[@melissatregloan1949]

Drip drop is my favorite! So glad that these are available now,. I keep them on subscription delivery lol.

[@stuartriefe1740]

My grandmother was born in 1893, and lived with her family in NYC. Later she came to Connecticut when she married. The heat must not have hurt her too much in that old Brownstone, she live to be 101 years old, passing in 1994!

[@johnp139]

Only that wasn’t in NYC. And MILLIONS of others ALSO SURVIVED!!! Just like people survived the atomic bombs in Japan!!!

[@phlodel]

Let us honor the memory of Willis Carrier, the inventor of the air conditioner.

[@GUNNER67akaKelt]

I've said before, and I'll say again. Air conditioning is one of the best things ever intvented and the man who invented it was and is a hero.

[@threeofive9401]

I have a list of small, electronic inventions. Air-conditoners is on it along with microwaves, tvs, and various music-playing devices.

[@roberttassone7676]

Carrier

[@John-nd4fu]

Damn right

[@baylorsailor]

I thank Willis Carrier & Robert Sherman every summer for the invention of the in-home AC unit 😁

[@GUNNER67akaKelt]

@@baylorsailor Amen!

[@lasersbee]

2:53... seems the high humidity was caused by all the Clothes drying outside...

[@goodun2974]

Actually, all that white laundry may have acted as a sort of solar deflector and reduced the amount of sun hitting the ground.

[@theboyisnotright6312]

😂😂😂😂

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

LOL

[@marksherrill9337]

I have worked outside all my life and heatwaves are nothing new. They claim the years 1934-1936 still hold the record.

[@1994CPK]

lotta global warming back in the 30s

[@edsmith4148]

Fake news! official temp recording only started in 1979! otherwise the whole narrative falls apart?

[@givemeabreakdoc]

@@1994CPKall that carbon. Lol.

[@pazza4555]

Who said heatwaves are new? No one, that's who. You guys just refuse to understand the difference between climate and weather

[@1994CPK]

@pazza4555 climate is a man made delusion

[@constipatedinsincity4424]

I live here in Las Vegas and it's been 27 straight days of 110°+. 2 years ago we had a record streak of 240 straight days without any .🌧 The previous record was 140 days back in the 50's during the nuclear bomb 💣 test.

[@raclark2730]

Remember climate cycles in terms of thousands of years, nothing is new under the sun. 🌞

[@constipatedinsincity4424]

@@raclark2730 The climatologists are saying that this July has been the warmest in history!

[@WillmobilePlus]

@@constipatedinsincity4424 Well seeing that their records go back barely 130 years, I'm going to doubt.

[@nedludd7622]

@@raclark2730 That is a good excuse to do nothing.

[@constipatedinsincity4424]

@@WillmobilePlus There's other older written knowledge and by comparing ice melt and animal and earth 🌎 records Hottest July worldwide

[@johngregg5735]

I worked in New York City. I'd take the subway to get to and from my job. Subway platforms are under ground. In the summer, the only breath of wind came when a train was approaching the platform, pushing air in the tunnel into the station as the train approached the platform. Subway cars were 'air conditioned' They had eclectic-powered coolers on top of each car. The heat from the coolers was, of course, vented into the stations. Ever since those days, I've always pictured Hell as standing on the platform of a subway station in New York City in July and August, only cooler. Speaking of the NYC subways: One day I was riding north on the IRT express. We we flying. The car was rocking and riders were grabbing hold of anything solid to try and keep from crashing to the floor. As we slowed for the station, the conductor got on the PA and said "Sorry for the bumpy ride. I just wanted to get back on schedule" Which was the first (and last) time I ever heard that they had a schedule.

[@joanhoffman3702]

Former NYC Metro rider here. Schedule? What schedule? I lived in Queens and took bus and subway to get to work for 12 years. I only knew the time of the ones I had to take. Other than that, I had no idea when any transport would arrive. It was basically a crapshoot. I sure don’t miss that!

[@RRaquello]

@@joanhoffman3702 My father was a switch tower operator in the NYC subways for over 20 years. One day I happened to look through some papers he had brought home from work and one of them was the "schedule". I said to him, "I didn't know there was a schedule, Pop. I just thought you ran a train whenever you felt like it". He said, "Of course there's a schedule or they'd be crashing into each other." As a veteran subway rider they always just seemed to come at random to me. You'd wait 20 minutes for a train, or else you'd get one and then another one would come two minutes later, just like with the busses.

[@janc8199]

I remember the NYC subways when it was summer..it was like death. When I got off the train I looked like I got out of the sauna..What a wonderful way to start a work day, only to go through the same thing going home. The best was taking the LIRR without air in the car..I don’t know how I did it for so long.

[@RRaquello]

@@janc8199 When I was a kid, the subways used to have fans (in the ceiling) but no air conditioning. When they got air conditioning, sometimes it would work, sometimes it wouldn't, or you'd have a 10 car train where some of the cars would have air conditioning and some wouldn't. The best would be when you'd get on a train in the dead of winter and the air conditioner would be running full blast when it hadn't been running all summer.

[@danwylie-sears1134]

According to Wikipedia, the first commercial ice-making machine was invented in 1854. Ice was used before that, of course, but supplies were limited to what could be collected in the winter. By 1896, Teddy Roosevelt's ice distribution presumably would have been feasible to do on a large enough scale to prevent most of the deaths.

[@nitrogasm]

If you want to know what hot is work on a corn forage harvester in the Tulare Basin in California that is broke down in the field while it's 110+ in the shade in August with the moisture from the ground and surrounding corn plants that make 100% humidity. That's been my livelihood for 30 years.

[@BuzzinVideography]

Up here in Idaho we feel you. 110 and grinding green wood in the forest. I'm sure corn gives you that sticky itches when you get in it, plus the scorching hot metal

[@nitrogasm]

Then there mites. I don't now how many mites are in a 1/2 mile square 160 acre field but sometimes there so thick you have to wear long sleeves, gloves and a handkerchief around your face just to work

[@jeffsmith2022]

Perhaps you like it if you have been doing it for 30 years...

[@GUNNER67akaKelt]

Gee, I'd have thought you'd have gotten it fixed in thirty years. 😉😋

[@nitrogasm]

@@GUNNER67akaKelt yah I thought I'd get it fixed too but if it's got wheels, it's gonna break unless you park it in hermetically sealed chamber and just look at it like most collectors do.

[@cranklabexplosion-labcentr8245]

Do the 120* day in Phoenix 1992 next!! It’s day idfk over 100 here today

[@SuenosDeLaNoche]

What a bright morning to greet Friday. Thank you History Guy for satiating my curiosity. Well done!. Be well.

[@caseystringfellow9594]

How about some volume stabilization? The outtro darn near blew my ear drums out

[@mikeseier4449]

Possibly the cause of the excessive heat casualties was the heavy Victorian garb that was the norm at that time?

[@sino8r499]

Bingo!

[@jeffsmith2022]

Maybe it acted as insulation...@@sino8r499

[@urlton]

Thanks for another fine episode. I had been meaning to suggest the heat wave of 1901 - I didn't know about 1896.

[@SimonTekConley]

I had a heat injury in 2002. I remember I sweated so much I lost about 40 lbs. In 2005, I was in Savannah, GA, I remember one day I was driving in an un air-conditioned truck, and one point I was freezing, and I knew that was wrong, I immediately stopped somewhere to get water. It was a scary feeling

[@lovelessissimo]

You lost 40 pounds in one day?

[@CAMacKenzie]

@@lovelessissimo 40 lb would be a little more than 18 liters.

[@Stucknthe80z]

Not buying you lost 40 pounds….

[@Mountain-Man-3000]

Bull. Shit. If you lost 40lb of water weight in a day you'd be dead.

[@pinehawk9600]

😂

[@SoarMallard]

Always great content! Thank you!

[@deadlysquirrel5560]

American deep south raised. I remember as a small child walking to one of the municipal pools (this was during a heat wave) the tar in the alley was melting and would pool up in small blobs as I walked across it. I was barefoot, lol, and couldn't wait to get to the pool to quite literally "cool my heels" but it was way too hot to run.

[@dddevildogg]

The roads up North have had bubbling tar also- this would ruin you and your bike with tar strings if you rode thru them Tar remover (K1 Kerosene) sold very well years ago

[@MatthewClancy1]

Love your work, this was great, just FYI New Yorkers pronounce Houston Street "How-Sten", it's helps us identify tourists.

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

Shoot- I know that. Easy to miss while reading the script. Sorry!

[@joanhoffman3702]

Very true. Also, native New Yorkers like myself know that Soho means “south of Houston”, not related to Soho, London.

[@Trezor007]

Well done and timely.

[@DWBurns]

As a meteorologist i find all weather reports and folklore intriguing. I am almost positive life without AC would be impossible for me. I live in Central Ohio, we are having one of our coolest summers on record…except also one of the more humid…oddly enough, one with less than normal rain. The rain we get comes in a single day then just humid without rain for 10 days or so. Long range look into winter, generally cooler with shorter days is my forecast. If anyone is interested I found my ax for chopping wood and busting ice in the creek and water troff, the wood is for me the water is for the horses. I put that ax up in March, haven’t thought about it for a few months. I put a nice edge on that head, I think the kids will be swinging it a fair bit this winter.

[@timothykissinger4883]

NOAA says a milder winter because of the El Nino.

[@DWBurns]

@@timothykissinger4883 Not sure I believe the computers. A tripe dip La Niña is impossible to forecast. It’s a craps shoot.

[@dannyjones3840]

I don't like the excess heat as much as anyone else. But when I hear someone complaining, I wanna tell them about how I had to wear my MOPP suit in Kuwait, in the 110° heart with about 90° humidity. Pulled my rubber boots off my combat boots after a few hours, and the sweat that permiated my leather boots, came pouring out of the rubber ones.

[@pavelow235]

Hello fellow Veteran, yes, the 120 degrees in Kuwait is what immediately came to mind, I remember drinking those Liter water bottle in one gulp. I might have been drinking 1.5 gallons a day. GWB's war is a long time ago either way, and memories are getting less clear as I age.

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

Thank you for your service.

[@fredjones7705]

You were a soldier....trained and toughened and fit. These are civilians and they are no where near as able to cope.

[@navret1707]

@@fredjones7705 - it’s obvious you have never been in MOPP gear.

[@fredjones7705]

@@navret1707 MOS 65W but I've never been to the Mid East.

[@michaelrief4424]

I remember reading a book about this heat wave and it said that so many horses died on the streets that NYC couldn’t keep up with removing them and some horses laid for days putrefying in the heat. So not only the heat but you would have to smell a dead horse outside in the street.

[@detroitredneckdetroitredne6674]

Thank you for sharing your knowledge and expertise and hello from Detroit Michigan thank you for taking us on your adventure through time and space

[@frankgulla2335]

What a great review of weather history from THG. Thank you.

[@heidihall8489]

My great grandfather died during the 1896 NYC heatwave on August 5th. He delivered ice.

[@bwhog]

That this has never happened again in the United States (not to this extreme level anyway) can be attributed to the invention of air conditioning around the same time. Air conditioners make inhospitable places habitable and prevent likely deaths from heat every year. So let's all give a big hand of applause to Carrier! (The first company to make a successful commercial unit in the early 1920s.)

[@MrBibi86]

I couldn't imagine life without it. sadly it didn't really become affordable to have in your home until around the 1980s

[@bwhog]

@@MrBibi86 Around the Phoenix area, Motorola had air conditioned offices in the '50s because comfortable workers were more productive. That got many people interested in having it at home and from there on, it started to become more and more common. There was a big push in the '70s for people to replace their old swamp coolers with refrigeration. "Don't forget the heat pump!" was an advertising slogan heard in that era. By then it was basically a standard item with a newly built house. Hard to endure 115F summers without SOMETHING!

[@johnp139]

@@MrBibi86 Maybe 1970’s

[@janetnwonderland]

It's always bewildering to me that people die and stroke in these conditions. My husband has worked construction as long as I can remember, in upwards of 100 degree weather. In Texas, we dealt with high humidity. Not so much here in Arizona. But he has worked every summer for years in triple digits. Some summers, we've even seen 120 plus. We spent much of our young adult life without airconditioning in our home. It does get hot at 100 plus, high humidity, without AC, but we always got through without much difficulty. Perhaps the problem in these large cities has something to do with the way the heat radiates from the buildings. I can't help but wonder if perhaps the heat coming off of the buildings is coming in waves. I kind of notice it with my own stucko style home here in Arizona. It really soaks up the heat and sometimes it seems there are moments near the outside walls that will suddenly release more heat in a short burst, all at once. Perhaps I am imagining it, but it seems to hit harder at times than at others. And of course, I think we all know that the more people gathered in a room, the warmer a room gets. Crowded tenants could be a problem. But then again, single individuals, living alone, also suffer from stroke and death. I suppose there is something to be said for being accustomed to high temperatures. But my husband has told me that the older he gets, the less tolerant he is of the heat. I would attribute it to aging, but young people can be just as effected. Also, my great grandmother kept her fireplace going in her home in the middle of summer. As kids, we hated going to visit her because the heat was outrageous. So I do know that some elderly prefer excessive heat simply because some tend to get colder as they get older. This phenomenon of people dying when there is a heat wave has always bewildered me a bit. And I do wonder why some people have no problem with it, while others are taken out by it so quickly.

[@marianlinden9736]

Here in massachusetts, it doesn't often get above 90 altho we've had our 100+ days. Snd ots a very sticky heat.. My 71 yr old husband goes running at temps of 85 degrees. He's in really good cardiovascular condition, runs on a soft trail near the ocean. Stays well hydrated and is not affected by the temperature. Me? I find a walk st 77 or 80 degrees tiring. I am gradually working a little more outside to get more adapted to heat. Taking weight off would help too. One thing I've noticed about myself is I don't drink enough. As people get older they can have less perception of being thirsty. Maybe not at my age, but usually by 80 years+. Poor health conditions like poor cardiovascular fitness, copd, asthma as well as obesity can make someone prone to heatstroke or heat exhaustion. Plus age.

[@themoviemaniac8416]

I grew up with that same kind of summer heat & humidity near the Wabash River, Southern ILL. We had no AC. We slept in bed next to the wall, leaning our backs against the cooler plaster wall. Of course, the difference was it was a farm and daytime relief was readily available in the forests under 100 ft tall trees and in shady swimming holes. I couldn't imagine living in a city under those conditions.

[@HugeWolf1]

You failed to mention the high use of water in NYC during the heat wave was pumped from the Delaware river. The diminished flow of water down the river almost caused Philadelphia's fresh water intake to be over taken by the salt water coming up the Delaware bay.

[@mattgeorge90]

Thank you for sharing. Stay cool!

[@buckodonnghaile4309]

They called an Extreme Heat Warning in my part of Canada with daytime highs of 30 (86 farenheit) and 20 (68 farenheit) at night, claiming the overnight lows would offer no relief from the heat. Since when has 20 degrees celsius (68 farenheit) been considered unbearable to sleep in? Scare the serfs into being afraid of the 6 decent weeks of weather we get a year!

[@drew6194]

The weather info from Environment Canada has the highest and lowest, wettest, etc. on record for Toronto, dating back to 1938, up until yesterday. You can choose any day and see that these record weather events are all over the place. Go figure in a temperate northern climate. Ironically, there are almost none of these extreme weather records in the past 20 years, especially the past ten. However, there are many in the 1940s and 50s.

[@kiwi_2_official]

humidity

[@PeopleAlreadyDidThis]

My in-laws built a house in Houston in 1962. They didn’t install air conditioning. They lived in it for over 50 years in ultra humid southeast Texas heat. The family only installed central air a few years ago when my mother-in-law became wheelchair-bound. I’m telling you, that house was a steam bath all summer. I once asked them why they didn’t install AC. “We didn’t have it growing up. We don’t need it.” As I worked outside this summer in stifling Texas heat and humidity-record days over 100, lots of days over 105, a new local high of 112-I became more aware that conditioning the body is everything. I not only survived it (with plenty of complaining, of course), but I have more stamina and feel better than I have in years...and I’m over 60. Just like we didn’t adapt well to zero-degree weather a couple of years ago, folks unaccustomed to heat aren’t adapted either. It’s the sudden change that gets us.

[@bavondale]

Thank you for sharing this very timely vid

[@kbjerke]

Hotter'n you know what today here in Ontario, breaking records! Looking for a refreshing break tomorrow. Thanks for the video!

[@jeanthony4003]

Thank you, History Guy.

[@unwoke1652]

I lived where the tarmac often melted, and temp went as high as 129°F in the shade, 168.8°F in the sun.

[@debbybridge7064]

I'm trying to gear up for the heat of another central Texas summer which extends into October here. I hate it. We've had a lot of rain this spring, and the dams around here are full, which is a great thing. Thank God for AC and ice!!! Two of my very favorite things!

[@goodun2974]

Doctors reported conducting prostration examinations in record numbers and pointed at the results with gloved fingers.....😳😖

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

Lol

[@ricksaint2000]

Thank you History Guy

[@yoinkhaha]

The most interesting thing about this little heat wave to me is that the language of the reports shows even then New Yorkers seemed to assume the rest of the world didn’t really exist.

[@montecorbit8280]

There was a heatwave sometime between 1987 and 1992 or so in the Midwest US. Could you do that one next?? People were dropping so fast that they used refrigerated semi truck trailers to keep the bodies preserved so that they could autopsy them. Along about that same time with a heatwave it stretched all across Europe, hat would be interesting as well....

[@roberttassone7676]

Maybe it was June of 1988? I was married on June 11th and it set a record at 105F and continued for days. Still a record high to this day.

[@amandagreen4332]

I was living in MN in the 90s. There was a stretch of unrelenting heat and my air conditioner died. I spent a few days in a nice, cool hotel.

[@RRaquello]

@@roberttassone7676 It probably was 1988. I was in NYC and I think they had something like 20+ straight days over 90 degree temps, which was a record. But that was in July/August. I had a job which kept me outside, driving a delivery van (no air conditioner, but it had a fan). I was younger then so it didn't really bother me. Don't know how I'd take it now. Just drink a lot of water and cover your head, wear dark glasses to keep out the sun and keep as cool as you can. That was my procedure when working outside in the hot.

[@finster1968]

@@RRaquello- I also remember an east coast heat wave in the summer of 1988. I grew up in Jersey, but was living in upstate NY at the time. Even up there near Lake George, it was scorching hot for weeks. Then, sometime around late August, a series of wicked and violent thunderstorms came through. They seemed to last for hours, longer than any storms I ever remembered (other than hurricanes). That broke the weather pattern and it suddenly turned brisk and cooler for the remainder of the summer.

[@SoBayK80]

A So. Cal summer in '90 or '91 was hottest of my recollection, i think of that time when climate alarmists are alarming. I believe that was an El Niño year, as 2023 is.

[@alangknowles]

Extreme cold kills nine times more than heat.

[@Cathy-xi8cb]

Check your facts. They are not accurate. In any country.

[@kiwi_2_official]

source

[@johnp139]

That could be a subject for another video.

[@johnp139]

Extreme heat kills a BILLION more people than cold. You see, I can also make unsubstantiated claims.

[@BasicDrumming]

I appreciate you, thank you for making content.

[@gingerdurbin2726]

I’m so grateful for AC, refrigeration, and ice water. We are truly blessed.

[@johnp139]

Just fortunate.

[@61rampy65]

From a guy who loves heat and lives in Phoenix, we have been seeing (at least on my patio) daily temps of 120-123 for 2 weeks now. Luckily, the humidity is low enough (20% or less) to make it bearable to be outside for a little while. However, without A/C and our pool, it would be absolutely intolerable here. Those poor people in NY didn't even have running water to help cool off. I truly pity them. I'm also finding that I don't tolerate the heat as well as I used to.

[@goodun2974]

At 6:46 , I don't see any ice being used to refrigerate the day's catch on display at the Fulton fish market. I hope people were having fish for breakfast because if they waited until dinner time to cook it.....🤢🤮

[@Oogieone]

We don’t have ac even now in many homes in western Washington state. When it got into the 100s a couple years back, people died. It’s pretty miserable this week and it’s just in the 90s. The worst part is trying to sleep when it’s so hot.

[@LittleCountryCabin]

Another great video! Thank you for sharing😊

[@paramounttechnicalconsulti5219]

It's pronounced "How-stun" street; Hewston would be promounced like the city in Texas

[@roberttassone7676]

Well you all do talk funny there😮

[@johnp139]

No one gives a fuck if you New Yorkers mispronounce the name!!!!

[@kwillis623]

New video very cool

[@conservativemike3768]

Just another stiflingly humid Summer in NYC.. I visited once, and that was enough.

[@stankythecat6735]

I have a luxury apartment in NYC. The relevancy of this is we are high up and access to the breeze. When the buildings ac goes down … it’s shocking how hot it gets. I can’t imagine NYC with out ac

[@BatCaveOz]

Weird flex, but OK.

[@zadams5596]

You are getting stack effect. Heat rises in a tall building just as it does in a chimney. Not only does HVAC in tall buildings have to heat or cool the space, it has to mitigate the temperature and pressure imbalances caused by hot air rising and cold air sinking.

[@goodun2974]

Pigs ran free in the streets of NYC ( and in other large cities of the era) and horses would die and simetimes be left there to rot for days. It must have stunk very badly.

[@th232r6]

Cities still stink, but for differing reasons.

[@goodun2974]

@@th232r6 , I've lived in cities, and I've lived in rural areas. I generally prefer the people in the cities, but prefer the rural in the rural areas. I live in a woodsy area of New England now and I prefer the raccoon's, possums, deer, bobcats,, fisher's, hawks and owls to my human neighbors, who are more likely to bite me unexpectedly. Personally as far as cities go I could never live in New York, But i'd be more than happy to live in Paris or Barcelona. Those places know how to do city living right! 👍

[@donkeyboy585]

Opening fire hydrants is how some people beat the heat to this very day

[@waltjie]

Thank you for another fantastic video 😎👌🏼

[@helenel4126]

My grandmother was born in the Lower East Side in 1895, the oldest of three girls (only her sole brother was older). Life in the tenements was horrible in the best of circumstances. My grandmother told me that in this and other summers, the family slept on an awning in a desperate effort to endure the heat. Jacques, her brother, contracted polio. He survived, but was at a hospital for so long a time that when he returned, he spoke with the upperclass NY accent of the Roosevelts. His sisters (and I presume, his parents, although they died long before I was born) spoke English with strong Yiddish inflection.

[@Flussig1]

L' chaim !

[@v.e.7236]

The reason I live where I do is to stay away from the unbearable heat the rest of the State and Country endure, as I am insulated by a regular marine layer that keeps temps from getting out of hand. I don't know how folk survive in the Central Valley and Eastern counties of California. I had to endure triple-digit temps when I lived in Ramona, CA and it was brutal! You couldn't do anything between 9am and 4-5pm or suffer possible heat stroke. I hope to never experience that misery again in this lifetime.

[@Paiadakine]

Coastal North San Diego county since Nov 2022 till the last few weeks have had a pretty strong marine layer keeping temps below normal. The last few weeks have been no fun with temps in the 80's, humid and little shore breezes.

[@v.e.7236]

@@Paiadakine Monterey Bay since '93 and lovin' it.

[@laara1426]

Keep up the excellent work !!

[@garylawson5381]

Great video!

[@milfordcivic6755]

Last summer in New England, we were in a stage 3 drought, stuck with several weeks of temps above 85F everyday and dewpoints in the 70's. This year, it's nothing but flash flood after flash flood. Our pleasant summer seasons are all over with, it appears. Fry or drown.

[@spottss]

Imagine no air conditioning! It’s unbearable

[@GeeCoach35]

I've heard stories of people of that era sleeping on fire escapes and stoops to escape the heat

[@starventure]

If air conditioning had never been invented, the south would never have gained the population that it has. The old saw about General Electric being a more successful invader of the south than General Sherman is 100% correct.

[@stankythecat6735]

@@starventurenever heard this , but you are TOTALY correct and it’s quite funny

[@spottss]

@@GeeCoach35 they truly suffered. Did they have electric fans? What’s a block of ice going to do? Only for for s little relief

[@johnp139]

Yeah, the good old days!

[@ancientromewithamy]

I kind of like the old-timey way they wrote in newspapers in the past. And how interview subjects would wax poetic sometimes. I remember being in Philly in the heat wave of 1995, staying with my uncle, there was AC but boy, were the streets hot.

[@constipatedinsincity4424]

That's the worst thing with this heat. Alcohol 🍸 🍷 🍸 🍷 🍺🍻🥃🥂🍾 Even if it's cold 🥶 to drink will have terrible effects on you and your health!

[@goodun2974]

Alcohol has a strong dehydrating effect. Not something you really want to be drinking during a heat wave.

[@constipatedinsincity4424]

@@goodun2974 I've been on construction 🚧 sites where some people would drink beer 🍻

[@johnp139]

But why not?

[@goodun2974]

@@constipatedinsincity4424 , I wouldn't want to live or work in any building put together by people who drink on the project. I definitely wouldn't wanna be the insurance company underwriting the contractors, or the project! I've worked for, and with, alcoholics; it ain't fun.

[@alvincash3230]

I was born in the mid 1950's. Back then only movie theaters and stores had air conditioning. Normal summers here in Ohio, which included many days that were 90+F/90% humidity. It was a miserable nightmare. Air conditioning is one of the most wonderful inventions ever! Don't ever let elitist goofballs like John Kerry take it away!

[@johnp139]

You must have been in southern Ohio. In northern Ohio we weee lucky to get an 80 degree day so that we could use the pool.

[@alvincash3230]

@@johnp139 yes, I live south of Dayton.

[@ronaldm.haynes6042]

Think about the residual effect of food not being kept cool enough from the heat, and being consumed while spoiled. Leading to sickness and then death.

[@tylernaturalist6437]

Wow… the address listed on 2:37 is literally where down the street from where I live today in Brooklyn

[@dovardross7336]

Hi THG, being a student of history, at least that is what my undergrad degree tells me, I truly enjoy your telling of little known facts of history. At a time when the history and important contributions of minorities, particularly those of African Americans are being buried, I would like for you to tell some of these important historical facts. Thank you. 😊

[@jennifersalt3194]

I would like to see a History Guy episode on the Triple Nickels. It’s certainly history that deserves to be remembered.

[@joachimgoethe7864]

Personal hygiene back then was minimal at best. Compound that with 100° heat, the smell must have been appalling in crowded spaces.

[@lh3540]

I'm from the CA central valley, it has gotten up to 120F. A neighbor's motorcycle melted down into the asphalt. Your groceries would melt between the store and the car. I can't imagine that without a pool and ac.

[@kittty2005]

I'm definitely going to share this video more than once, there's a whole mess of people out there saying CLIMATE CHANGE PROOF, you don't have to prove it, there was a time when Greenland was green most of the time. When I was a kid I thought the people that named it were stupid, but every one's perspective of history is based on their own experience if they have no knowledge of the past.

[@gs1100ed]

History is full of lies and climate change is a crock

[@John-nd4fu]

They named it that in attempt to get people to settle.

[@raydunakin]

Thanks for the reminder that extreme weather events are nothing new, and are not the "unprecedented" harbingers of doom that the Chicken Littles make them out to be.

[@gearhead1234]

They never let a good “crisis” go to waste to shame and blame us into submission with the “ climate change” agenda these days.

[@genek8630]

I thought that all of the East coast would be underwater by now. If you believe what they predicted in the 1980's.

[@raydunakin]

@@genek8630 Yep, and in the 70s they were predicting another ice age.

[@optitom9033]

Thank God they didn't have an idiot liar like John Kerry back then to bloviate his bullcrap

[@Dulcimertunes]

Yes!

[@Magnogangas]

THANK YOU

[@MattttG3]

It’s not the amount of water you drink in one sitting that keeps you from becoming dehydrated. It’s how often you have some.

[@johnp139]

Only they are interrelated.

[@jeffbangkok]

23 years in Bangkok it's rare I turn the air conditioning off. Good evening

[@johnp139]

Irrelevant

[@kento7899]

It's funny how long before the age of fossil fuels the weather was sometimes hot anyway.

[@josephpostma1787]

I am pretty sure the industrial revolution started before 1896, though I think they used coal much more than oil until the 1960's. Pennsylvania had one of the first US oil wells made in 1859.

[@spark5012]

I think there was smog from burning coal over some cities. There was also wood smoke

[@johnp139]

There’s a difference between hot weather and GLOBAL warming.

[@valeriemurray9903]

I love history, nothing new under the sun, as it says in the book of Ecclesiastes. Sad that so many died, so horribly. I live in Africa, have visited NY, once in July, and couldn't believe how horribly humid it was!!😊