RECORD HEAT: Hottest Summers in Michigan History

It's an understatement to say it's absurdly hot outside in Michigan lately. The worst part is that it isn't even technically summer just yet at the time of writing.

This week alone is going to see temperature highs in the 90s consistently, and there's a potential for the heat to stick around.

But are we looking at one of the hottest summers ever in Michigan?

It's not likely, though that doesn't discredit that Michigan is unusually hot for mid-June.

The summer of 1936 was a historically awful one for the entire country, and Michigan was no exception. More than 500 people died that year in Michigan alone (5,000+ nationally) because of the heat which reached temperatures above 110°. You can learn more about that summer at the link below.

Many records were set in 1936 that still stand today, including the hottest temperature ever recorded in Michigan in Milo, Michigan, on July 13, 1936, at 112°.

Hopefully we don't see temperatures get anywhere near that number. While we have the benefit of air conditioning and other technologies that Americans lacked in 1936, it still proves dangerous for Michiganders who simply don't have the experience of dealing with such heat.

Even as a transplant from the South myself, the current heat wave is pretty rough. Back in Sweet Home Alabama, it's seemingly well over 90 degrees for most of the day from late May to early September. Yeah, no thanks. I don't miss it.

But 1936 wasn't the only notable heatwave to strike Michigan.

In 1995, temperatures were 90 or higher for 24 days but a five-day stretch in mid-July was particularly unbearable as the average high was 97 in Southwest Michigan.

1988 and 2012 each had 37 days of 90 or higher temps in the state, nearly two extra weeks of unusual heat in the Mitten State. The 1988 summer, like 1936, saw very little rain making the summer even worse. That summer, Flint saw less than an inch of rain and Detroit saw five days of 100+ degree temps.

The summers of 2005, 2012 and 2016 hold the top three spots for the warmest temperatures on average in the Detroit area with '05 and '12 averaging 74.8 degrees and '16 averaging 74.9.

While we're off to a sweltering start in 2024, hopefully, our summer isn't quite as rough as these years.