Most State Temperature Records Set In 1936
By Paul Homewood
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/extremes/scec/records
NOAA set up the State Climate Extremes Committee in 2006 to formally keep track of record temperatures and other climate extremes for each state.
They list above the all time temperature record for each state. Only one record high maximum temperature was set or tied in either 2011 or 2012, in South Carolina at the Columbia University, (incidentally an urban site likely to be heavily influenced by UHI).
By contrast, 15 states set record highs in 1936, and there were also 4 records set in 1934.
The list for 1936 is:-
Arkansas
Indiana
Kansas
Louisiana
Maryland
Michigan
Nebraska
New Jersey
North Dakota
Oklahoma
Pennsylvania
South Dakota
Texas
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Record temperatures were set over a wide geographic area, and certainly were not limited to the southern plains as is sometimes suggested.
During the whole of the 1930’s, 31 records were set or tied. Yet in contrast, since 2000 there have been just two.
It is clear that in the 1930’s, large parts of the US experienced temperatures far higher than anything seen in recent years.
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NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT 
Washington State records show 2 places, both in the central desert part of the State, with highs of 118. The one called Wahluke (Wa-luk) shows data from Dec. 1904 to Aug. 1944 with the record on July 24, 1928.
The interesting thing about this is that this is a non-place. There is nothing there now and, in the modern historical sense, there never has been much there. Native Americans apparently gave it the name, meaning ‘watering place’ – I’m still trying to figure out why there was a weather report coming from there for 40 years. The name is now common because it is used for the local school district and a wine growing region and these things swamp search results.
It registered 7 consecutive days of 110F + in that month.
Here’s the original monthly form for 1928.
Click to access IPS-7AFC5CB1-8E88-444D-92D4-8A81D987F419.pdf
Thanks Paul,
I’m just a little curious about this station because there is nothing there now. This area is just north of the Hanford Nuclear site and became a sensitive (keep out) place in the 1940s. A look via Google Earth shows “white cliffs” north of the Columbia River and now all lands north of there have restricted use for fear of slumping and pushing the river channel into the nuclear site. That is undesirable as “hot” waste is stored there in under ground tanks. There is an irrigation canal that flows west-to-east across the area but is not used on any lands that slope toward this white cliffs area.
I just sent an e-mail to a friend that might know about this history.
I remember looking at the temperature data for the 1930’s long before the global warming scam started and being totally shocked by the extreme and widespread heat.
Note also that the weather station at Bates House, University of South Carolina, in Columbia, has only been there since 30 May 1973.
Click to access columbiahistory.pdf
Agreed, and also not one single continental record since 1978. Warming planet Pfft.
http://wmo.asu.edu/