Abstract
By most any standard, the monumental heat wave of July and August 1936 represents the most severe protracted weather event in North America s recorded history. To better understand the social and historical impact of this significant weather phenomenon, this critical-historical analysis examines the manner in which select major newspapers framed the heat wave in terms of an integral relationship between news values and news stories. The analysis reveals that despite the event's epic dimensions, reportage generally treated the heat wave as a transient event without long-term significance. In general, stories overemphasized agricultural concerns and ongoing drought conditions, while coverage failed to adequately address germane urban issues related to the heat. Further, stories focused excessively on New Deal solutions to Dust Bowl era social problems at the expense of addressing key emergent private-sector technologies such as air conditioning.
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