Burn, Baby, Burn!

A week at 100 degrees doesn’t even come close.

A Sunday afternoon in Willard. Been nearly a week since a good rain. There’s barely a whisper of wind. The thermometer climbs to over 98 degrees. It’s hot. Too hot. But nothing can prepare you for what’s about to happen over the next eight days.

In this earthly life, for Willard and much of the rest of Missouri, mid-July 1954 was as close to Hell as you’re likely to get this side of death.

On Monday morning, July 12th, before sun-up, the temperature never drops below 73 degrees. By noon it’s nearly 100. What does the afternoon hold in store?

A thermometer pegged at 108 degrees.

And the heat index? Well, it’s 1954, and that concept won’t be developed until the late-1970s.

During the overnight it barely dips below 75. The temperature by noon on Tuesday is again approaching 100. A repeat of yesterday? Yes. By the afternoon, once again, it’s 108 degrees in the shade.

And it’s about to get worse.

Night comes. You’re hoping for a break from this horrific two-day heatwave. You try to sleep. But the temperature hovers above 80 for most of the night, just briefly dropping to 79 not long before sunrise.

For Willard’s approximately 200 residents, this day will be (and remains) the hottest day on record since temperature tracking began in the mid-to-late 19th century. The blistering afternoon result?

Wednesday, July 14th, 1954 — 113 degrees.

That’s not the heat index. That’s the actual air temperature while sitting in the shade.

Late in the overnight it finally drops down into the mid-70s. But it doesn’t stay there for long. By Thursday afternoon it’s 103 degrees. Heck! You’ll take it! Even 103 degrees is a relief over the unbearable heat of the past three days.

But the overnight air barely moves. The temperature stays near or above 80. And you hardly sleep. Another sign of bad things to come?

Friday, however, for whatever reason, doesn’t live up to its name. The temperature never even exceeds 100, reaching a high of only 98 for much of the afternoon.

It’s over. Surely it must be.

But it isn’t.

Saturday’s high is 107.

By Sunday afternoon the temperature has again climbed to 108 degrees.

Monday is a very pleasant 103.

And then finally it’s over. Things settle back down into the 90s. Or at least they do until that 102 degree outlier on Thursday afternoon. But even one day in Hell is better than a full week.

Now try to imagine this: Like most Americans during the mid-1950s, a majority of Willard’s residents didn’t have air conditioning.

On the bright side, at least they didn’t live in Warsaw, MO.

Note: All Willard temperatures extrapolated from climatological data for the Springfield area. See below.