UFOs are kind of a hot topic right now. The US government has recently been releasing videos and documentation on what they acknowledge they can’t explain. The releases have begun to gain mainstream media attention, including a recent 60 Minutes report. The Pentagon is currently preparing a report to release to Congress sometime in June on these events, the contents of which could either be mundane or extraordinary. Is it a new technology from a foreign adversary? Optical illusions or natural events? Or something altogether far weirder? In the spirit of these recent news events, I thought it’d be interesting to go over some of the UFO sightings in and around Columbus over the years. This new series, Strange Columbus Things, will also highlight other types of weird local phenomenon throughout history. I hope to give a new post in this series 1-2 times per month.
The UFO events come from declassified files of the infamous Project Blue Book, which ran from the late 1940s to 1969. For the most part, the Blue Book files will just be scanned photos of the actual reports, with only occasional commentary.
This event was never explained due to a lack of information.
To view other information on global incidents, go here. UFO Database
What are the worst heat waves in history? The climate in Ohio is gradually getting warmer and wetter, and persistent record heat is becoming ever more common, but do recent heatwaves compare to those of the past? Let’s find out.
To find out what the worst heatwaves were, I looked at average temperatures for different consecutive time periods- 2 days, 3 days, 7 days, 10 days, 14 days and 30 days. Unsurprisingly, some historically hot summers popped up, particularly from the 1930s.
Top 10 2-Day Periods with the Warmest Average High Temperature 1. 7/21-7/22/1934: 104.5 2. 7/20-7/21/1934, 7/8-7/9/1936, 7/11-7/12/1936, 7/13-7/14/1936: 103.5 3. 7/24-7/25/1934, 7/25-7/26/1934, 7/9-7/10/1936: 103.0 4. 7/3-7/4/1911, 8/5-8/6/1918, 7/10-7/11/1936: 102.5 5. 7/9-7/10/1881, 7/12-7/13/1936: 102.0 6. 7/3-7/4/1897, 7/21-7/22/1901, 6/27-6/28/1944: 101.5 7. 7/6-7/7/2012: 101.0 8. 7/8-7/9/1881, 7/4-7/5/1911, 6/28-6/29/1934, 7/14-7/15/1936: 100.5 9. 7/7-7/8/1881, 8/6-8/7/1918, 7/20-7/21/1930, 7/26-7/27/1941, 7/7-7/8/1988, 7/8-7/9/1988, 7/15-7/16/1988: 100.0 10. 7/10-7/11/1881, 7/17-7/18/1887, 7/2-7/3/1911, 8/4-8/5/1918, 7/19-7/20/1930, 7/26-7/27/1936, 9/1-9/2/1953, 9/2-9/3/1953, 7/13-7/14/1954, 8/3-8/4/1955, 7/5-7/6/2012: 99.5
Top 10 3-Day Periods with the Warmest Average High Temperature 1. 7/20-7/22/1934, 7/9-7/11/1936, 7/12-7/14/1936: 103.3 2. 7/24-7/26/1934, 7/8-7/10/1936, 7/10-7/12/1936, 7/11-7/13/1936: 102.7 3. 7/8-7/10/1881: 101.3 4. 7/2-7/4/1911, 8/5-8/7/1918, 7/21-7/23/1934, 7/7-7/9/1936: 101.0 5. 7/3-7/5/1911, 7/13-7/15/1936: 100.7 6. 7/7-7/9/1881, 7/10-7/12/1881, 8/4-8/6/1918: 100.3 7. 7/9-7/11/1881, 7/23-7/25/1934, 7/7-7/9/1988, 7/5-7/7/2012: 100.0 8. 7/3-7/5/1897, 7/19-7/21/1934, 7/22-7/24/1934, 7/4-7/6/2012: 99.7 9. 7/6-7/8/1881, 7/19-7/21/1930, 9/1-9/3/1953: 99.3 10. 7/26-7/28/1941, 6/26-6/28/1944, 8/30-9/1/1953, 8/31-9/2/1953, 8/2-8/4/1955, 7/6-7/8/1988: 99.0
Top 10 7-Day Periods with the Warmest Average High Temperature 1. 7/8-7/14/1936: 103.1 2. 7/9-7/15/1936: 102.1 3. 7/20-7/26/1934, 7/7-7/13/1936: 101.7 4. 7/10-7/16/1936: 100.7 5. 7/19-7/25/1934, 7/11-7/17/1936: 100.3 6. 7/6-7/12/1881, 7/6-7/12/1936: 100.0 7. 7/21-7/27/1934: 99.4 8. 7/7-7/13/1881: 99.1 9. 7/5-7/11/1881: 99.0 10. 7/4-7/10/1881, 8/28-9/3/1953: 98.6
Top 10 10-Day Periods with the Warmest Average High Temperature 1. 7/8-7/17/1936: 101.0 2. 7/7-7/16/1936: 100.8 3. 7/6-7/15/1936: 100.2 4. 7/9-7/18/196: 99.8 5. 7/5-7/14/1936: 99.2 6. 7/4-7/13/1881: 98.0 7. 7/10-7/19/1936: 97.9 8. 7/3-7/12/1881: 97.8 9. 7/5-7/14/1881, 7/17-7/26/1934, 7/18-7/27/1934, 7/19-7/28/1934: 97.7 10. 7/6-7/15/1881: 97.4
Top 10 14-Day Periods with the Warmest Average High Temperature 1. 7/5-7/18/1936, 7/6-7/19/1936: 97.9 2. 7/4-7/17/1936: 97.6 3. 7/7-7/20/1936: 97.5 4. 7/3-7/16/1936: 97.1 5. 7/8-7/21/1936: 96.5 6. 7/2-7/15/1936: 96.0 7. 7/2-7/15/1881, 7/4-7/17/1881, 7/9-7/22/1936: 95.6 8. 7/13-7/26/1934: 95.5 9. 7/14-7/27/1934, 7/15-7/28/1934, 7/1-7/14/1936: 95.4 10. 7/16-7/29/1901, 7/17-7/30/1901: 95.1
Top 10 30-Day Periods with the Warmest Average High Temperature 1. 6/29-7/28/1936: 92.7 2. 6/28-7/27/1936: 92.6 3. 6/27-7/26/1934: 92.5 4. 6/26-7/25/1934, 6/30-7/29/1936: 92.3 5. 6/28-7/27/1934: 92.2 6. 7/6-8/4/1936, 7/13-8/11/1955: 92.1 7. 7/10-8/8/1955, 6/28-7/27/2012: 92.0 8. 6/25-7/24/1934, 6/27-7/26/1936, 7/1-7/30/1936, 7/2-7/31/1936, 7/5-8/3/1936, 7/7-8/5/1936, 7/14-8/12/1955, 6/27-7/26/2012: 91.9 9. 6/29-7/28/1934, 6/26-7/25/1936, 7/3-8/1/1936, 7/4-8/2/1936, 7/8-8/6/1955, 7/9-8/7/1955, 6/18-7/17/2012, 6/20-7/19/2012: 91.8 1. 6/25-7/24/1936, 7/23-8/21/1955: 91.7
The heat waves in 1934 and 1936 dominated for high temperatures, and for the most part, nothing before or since has really come close. 1881, 1901, 1918, 1955 and 2012, among others, all make appearances.
Now that we’ve see the worst periods for high temperature, let’s look at the worst for the mean temperature, which is the average between the high and low. Because this measurement includes the low temperatures, it could be considered the definitive look at what the absolute hottest heat waves in history really were.
Top 10 2-Day Periods with the Warmest Average Temperature 1. 7/21-7/22/1934: 92.0 2. 7/9-7/10/1881: 91.5 3. 7/9-7/10/1936: 90.5 4. 7/20-7/21/1934: 90.3 5. 7/25-7/26/1934, 7/13-7/14/1936: 90.0 6. 7/10-7/11/1881, 7/3-7/4/1911: 89.8 7. 8/5-8/6/1918, 7/20-7/21/1930: 89.3 8. 7/10-7/11/1936: 89.0 9. 7/4-7/5/1911, 7/24-7/25/1934, 7/12-7/13/1936, 7/30-7/31/1999: 88.8 10. 7/11-7/12/1881, 8/6-8/7/1918, 7/8-7/9/1936, 7/11-7/12/1936: 88.5
Top 10 3-Days Periods with the Warmest Average Temperature 1. 7/20-7/22/1934: 90.5 2. 7/8-7/10/1881: 90.3 3. 7/9-7/11/1881: 90.0 4. 7/10-7/12/1881, 7/9-7/11/1936: 89.8 5. 7/12-7/14/1936: 89.5 6. 7/21-7/23/1934: 89.3 7. 7/7-7/9/1881: 89.0 8. 8/5-8/7/1918, 7/24-7/26/1934, 7/8-7/10/1936, 7/10-7/12/1936: 88.8 9. 7/11-7/13/1936: 88.7 10. 7/3-7/5/1911, 7/13-7/15/1936: 88.5
Top 10 7-Day Periods with the Warmest Average Temperature 1. 7/8-7/14/1936, 7/9-7/15/1936: 89.1 2. 7/6-7/12/1881: 89.0 3. 7/20-7/26/1934: 88.9 4. 7/7-7/13/1881: 88.6 5. 7/5-7/11/1881, 7/10-7/16/1936: 87.9 6. 7/19-7/25/1934: 87.7 7. 7/8-7/14/1881: 87.6 8. 7/21-7/27/1934: 87.5 9. 7/7-7/13/1936: 87.4 10. 7/4-7/10/1881: 86.9
Top 10 10-Day Periods with the Warmest Average Temperature 1. 7/8-7/17/1936: 87.4 2. 7/7-7/16/1936: 87.2 3. 7/5-7/14/1881, 7/6-7/15/1881, 7/9-7/18/1936: 87.1 4. 7/4-7/13/1881: 86.9 5. 7/6-7/15/1936, 7/7-7/16/1881: 86.6 6. 7/3-7/12/1881: 86.2 7. 7/19-7/28/1934: 86.0 8. 7/18-7/27/1934, 7/10-7/19/1936: 85.7 9. 7/20-7/29/1934, 7/5-7/14/1936: 85.6 10. 7/8-7/17/1881, 7/17-7/26/1934: 85.4
Top 10 14-Day Periods with the Warmest Average Temperature 1. 7/3-7/16/1881, 7/4-7/17/1881: 85.1 2. 7/6-7/19/1936: 85.0 3. 7/5-7/18/1936: 84.9 4. 7/7-7/20/1936: 84.6 5. 7/2-7/15/1881, 7/5-7/18/1881, 7/4-7/17/1936: 84.5 6. 7/3-7/16/1936: 84.3 7. 7/6-7/19/1881, 7/8-7/21/1936, 7/18-7/31/1940: 83.9 8. 7/13-7/26/1934, 7/14-7/27/1934, 7/15-7/28/1934: 83.8 9. 7/2-7/15/1936: 83.7 10. 7/1-7/14/1881: 83.6
1934 and 1936 still dominate, but other years show up more often as well. Only 2012 shows up with anything in the last 60 years, though. That year also saw one of the worst wind events in Ohio history, partially fueled by the heat of that summer: North American Derecho of 2012
Finally, let’s look at periods that featured consecutive days with highs of 90 degrees or higher. What are the longest?
# of Consecutive Days with Highs 90 or Above 1. 7/3-7/16/1881: 14 2. 7/18-7/30/1940: 13 3. 6/24-7/5/1934, 7/7-7/18/1936, 6/28-7/9/1949, 7/21-8/1/1999, 6/29-7/10/2020: 12 4. 7/20-7/30/1901, 8/4-8/14/1918, 8/25-9/4/1953, 8/8-8/18/1988, 6/28-7/8/2012: 11 5. 7/27-8/5/1887, 9/7-9/16/1897, 7/29-8/7/1955, 6/13-6/22/1994: 10
A short video and article from 2016 about the 1936 heatwave, still the hottest in history. 1936 Heat Wave
