Issue Date: July 10, 2005

WEATHER GONE WILD!

Weather Channel senior meteorologist Stu Ostro explains how extreme weather can transform life.

Five decades, five events for the history books.

Watching historic film footage or reading old news clips, we're fascinated by wild storms and punishing temperatures -- as well as the cities and people that endured them. Whether it's a suffocating heat wave in New York in 1966 or the single deadliest day of weather in U.S. history (Sept. 8, 1900, in Galveston, Texas), one compelling theme connects them all: The extraordinary undoes the ordinary. How did the collective community respond?

With that in mind, I combed through National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration records and found the definitive moments when weather made an unforgettable impression on a U.S. town. To discover what happened in five decades in five cities reveals more than dramatic weather; it presents a portrait of America. Here are five weather events for the ages:

What: The Hottest, Most Miserable Summer in New York
When: The summer of '66
The Big Apple was never hotter and drier than it was in the summer of 1966. Only 4.31 inches of rain fell, a record still in the books. The temperatures hit 90 degrees or higher on 35 days. There were four days on which the mercury reached 100 degrees or higher -- a feat not repeated since -- with a peak of 103 degrees on July 3. Still, screaming teenagers packed Shea Stadium on Aug. 23 to see the Beatles. Parks commissioner Thomas Hoving was the toast of the town: He lifted a ban on flying kites in Central Park and closed off roads inside the park from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sundays, to promote bike riding.

These were moments of respite, but the predominant mood in New York was uneasy. Racial tension triggered violent clashes in the East New York section of Brooklyn in July. Five airlines, responsible for 60% of U.S. passenger traffic, were grounded for 43 days as the machinists went on strike. How punishing was the sun? The asphalt was so hot that walking on the street became difficult, even dangerous. A drawbridge over the Harlem River failed to close twice in two days because the heat caused its metal to expand after allowing ships to pass underneath. And a future screenwriter/director who was then working as a reporter in the city, Nora Ephron, interviewed a resident who summed it up: "Staying in the city builds strength of character."Summer in the city: In sizzling 1966, New York was 100 degrees or hotter on four days.

What: The Cruelest Winter in Minneapolis
When: The winter of '36
Do you think that the TV Land icon from the Twin Cities, Mary Richards, would have been turning the world on with her smile if she had lived there in 1936? Not likely. The temp dropped to zero or below every day from Jan. 18 through Feb. 22, a record that stands to this day. Overall, 1936 featured the coldest February on record for the Twin Cities, with an average temperature of exactly zero.

Minnesota already was hurting from the Depression. From 1930 to 1935, more than half the iron ore extracted from the earth came from the state; in 1936, seven out of 10 Minnesota iron miners were out of work. The cold spell made for more misfortune, as New Deal projects came to a halt. Still, the state's residents kept their spirits up. Newspaper cartoons depicted a shivering mannequin, and Santa Claus being asked if it was cold enough for him. And there was work to be found in the big chill: An estimated 300 additional workers were hired on top of the 1,200 already employed to deliver coal.February 1936 was brutal even by Minneapolis standards. The average temperature? Zero.Newspaper cartoons depicted mannequins shivering and Minnesotans boasting to Santa Claus about the deep freeze.

What: Chicago's Biggest Burst of Winter Wind
When: Feb. 12, 1894
Despite its moniker of "Windy City," Chicago isn't the windiest. Dozens of cities, including Boston, New York and Dallas, have higher average annual wind speeds. But on this day, Chicago earned its reputation. A strong low-pressure system from the Southwest fueled an 87 mph burst off Lake Michigan. It was the highlight of a brutal day, as a blizzard dumped 10 inches.

Chicago had recently come back from the Great Fire of 1871 by hosting a world's fair, a huge success that introduced the Ferris wheel, Cracker Jack, Pabst beer, Juicy Fruit gum and diet soda.

But this day, the wind was the talk of the town. This account came from a petite South Side woman: "The minute I got out of the door, the wind caught my dress and I went sailing down the street like a schooner ... with all sails set." A chimney crashed through a brewer's roof, landing on a bed. Retailers reported $250,000 in losses on "Blew Monday'' as shoppers stayed home.Chicagoans know wind (as seen in this 1955 photo), but the 87 mph gust of 1894 is still the one to beat.

What: The Hottest Day in Death Valley, Calif.
When: July 10, 1913
No place in North America is hotter and drier than Death Valley. The average high temperature in July is 115 degrees, and only 2 inches of wet stuff falls in a year. On this day, it reached what was then the hottest temperature recorded in the world: 134 degrees.

Not many people sweated it out. Hard times had hit the valley. Gold and silver mining had built the region, but by 1913 a downturn had forced miners out of the valley. Carmakers, however, flocked there to test their machines' reliability by driving them in the heat. It put their products to the test and landed valuable newspaper ink. This day, Peter Busch, a local business leader, went out with a manufacturer's rep to test a new car. It broke down somewhere west of Stovepipe Wells, and Busch died, becoming the only "hottest day" fatality.

Otherwise, the day's significance went unnoticed. After all, locals were used to the heat: Exposed skin there felt "as if it had been sandpapered and toasted over a slow fire," in one writer's words.

What: The Deadliest Day of Weather Ever -- the Great Hurricane of Galveston, Texas
When: Sept. 8, 1900

There was never a more lethal U.S. weather disaster. A Texas-sized Category 4 hurricane from the eastern Atlantic roared ashore in Galveston. Climatologist Isaac Cline had warned that a storm was due but that it likely wouldn't do much damage. He was wrong. At least 8,000 died, and more than 3,600 buildings were destroyed.

Before the storm, Galveston was, per capita, America's second-richest city -- dubbed "the New York of the gulf" by a "New York Herald" writer. With a thriving seaport and cotton trade, the city (population 38,000) was the site of the state's first country club, opera house, orphanage, post office and medical college. Also: Texas' oldest still-running daily newspaper, now called the Galveston County "Daily News," was established there in 1842.