Life In South Dakota During The Devastating 1936 Dust Bowl

Even though air conditioning was invented years before in 1902 (by a guy named Carrier), few if any South Dakotans owned the luxury in the 1930s.

In the summer of 1936, the Dust Bowl roared through the Midwest, bringing scorching heat and misery to those living on the open plains and townships. For those who didn't learn about it in school, the Dust Bowl was a "period during the 1930s, particularly 1936, when severe dust storms, drought, and agricultural hardships" plagued the Plains States.

South Dakota was among the worst-affected states.

The heat and dust were unbearable. In Sioux Falls, the temperature reached 110 degrees (F) in July of that year. Yankton hit 116 degrees (F), Marion reached 118 degrees (F), and Pierre hit 120 degrees (F).

According to historical accounts, crops like wheat, corn, and oats failed across much of the state. Due to a lack of rain, dust storms would darken the skies, and people and animals would choke. Schools closed because children were exposed to extreme health hazards. "Dust pneumonia" was actually a thing.

Many South Dakota families lost their farms and homesteads and moved west looking for work. One such account is detailed in the famous novel, The Grapes of Wrath.

South Dakota wouldn't recover until the 1940s.

It was South Dakota's hottest summer on record with an average high of 98.9°F and an average low of 70.2°F., according to AI historical records.

Seventy years later, on July 15, 2006, almost exactly to the day, Pierre tied its own record for the hottest temperature ever recorded in South Dakota, 120 degrees (F).