Episode
Learning from deadliest disaster in Minnesota history
- Podcast
- Climate Cast
- Published
- Jul 10, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 257
- Processing state
not_requested
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Summary
What would you guess is the deadliest disaster in Minnesota history? A wildfire? Blizzard? Tornado? It was none of those. In 1936, a long-term heat wave killed at least 900 across Minnesota . Heat is America’s top weather killer, even in the age of air conditioning and community pools. For the return of the long-running Climate Cast, we wanted to revisit the terrible cost of the 1936 heat wave that hit 90 years ago this month. On July 14, 1936, experts estimated a person was dying every three minutes in Minneapolis alone as a direct result of the heat. In this episode, MPR News chief meteorologist Ben Cathey speaks with with Geoff Williams, the author of a new book, “ The Summer of Death .” Williams calculates that at least 12,000 people died across America. He thinks Minnesota’s official death toll is likely severely under-calculated. Click play on the audio player above to listen to this episode or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast.