Weather PastCast: Summer's End 1932

Weather data for Raleigh, NC, August 1932.

Weather data for Raleigh, NC, August 1932. A heatwave began at the end of the month, and the 103 degree Fahrenheit temperatures are all time records for those dates.

It was fun posting the Weather PastCast a couple weeks ago, and we wanted to do another.  Last week was another really hot one in Raleigh, with record breaking highs on Tuesday (September 5, 98 degrees Fahrenheit) and Thursday (September 7, 102 degrees).  I was curious about other record highs for this time of year, and I noticed a cluster of 100+ temperatures at the end of August and beginning of September in 1932. So I had to check it out.

The old Weather Bureau log books held by Special Collection show a heat wave of 90+ degree temperatures that spanned August 27 through September 6, 1932. The hottest days were August 30-31 when it was 103 degrees for highs and 77 for lows on both dates.  These numbers remain records for those days. Also records were the high and low temperatures on September 1 -- 101 and 76, respectively.

Raleigh NC weather log for August 31 1932.
Raleigh weather data for August 31, 1932, which had a record high of 103 degrees.  Under "Notes," the Weather Bureau recorded a solar eclipse, which was partial in North Carolina.

August 31, 1932, was also notable for another reason: a solar eclipse. In Raleigh and most of the United States, it was a partial eclipse; the only U.S. locations that saw a total eclipse were parts of New England. Nevertheless, the Raleigh Weather Bureau employee noted that the "eclipse, partial, of the sun caused [a] break in [the] sunshine record from 3:16p. to 4:25p." It did little to dissipate the heat, however, and it was still in the upper 90s at 5:00 pm. (The Harvard University website has a historical Popular Astronomy article about the 1932 eclipse; as does Nature and Science.)  

The heatwave broke quietly on September 6, without any rain or storms. The wind just shifted from the southwest at dawn to the northeast by late evening, and it was cloudy or partly cloudy all day. The temperature reached 92 at 1:00 pm on the 6th, then started falling, hitting 66 by dawn on the 7th, and getting up only to 75 later that day. The 7th was breezy too, with winds from the north or northeast at 15-20 mph. I'm sure Raleighites sighed in relief -- the 90 degree weather of that year was over!

Raleigh weather data for September 1932.  The 101 temperature on September 1 set a record.

If you have any questions or are interested in viewing Special Collections materials, please contact us at library_specialcollections@ncsu.edu or submit a request online.  To see the 1932 items shown above, please request Volume 43 of the United States Weather Bureau, Raleigh Office, Records (call number MC 00288).  The Special Collections Research Center is open by appointment only. Appointments are available Monday–Friday, 9am–6pm and Saturday, 1pm–5pm. Requests for a Saturday appointment must be received no later than Tuesday of the same week.