July 1936 was the hottest on record in the midwest, while January 1936 was one of the coldest. Twelve degrees above normal in the summer and twelve degrees below normal in the winter. CO2 controls the climate, and must have increased about 3,000 ppm between January and July.
http://docs.lib.noaa.gov/rescue/mwr/064/mwr-064-07-c1.pdf
Is this the sort of global weirding our friend Katharine Hayhoe was talking about?
North Dakota had a 180 degree temperature range in 1936, for -60 to 120. The 1936 were a wild year in terms of weather. Record cold winter in the northern Plains, widespread record floods in March, two tornadoes in two days during April, both killing over 200 and of course the worst summer in history.
And you had the all time worst hurricane in 1935 and the great New England hurricane of 1938. Also a significant hurricane for the mid-Atlantic in 1933 and separate hurricanes hitting both Florida and Texas on the same day in 1933. Plenty of global wierding for everyone.
Hot summers, cold winters all happened before:
http://booty.org.uk/booty.weather/climate/1500_1599.htm
…and for at least a thousand years before that …
“HOT SUMMERS AND COLD WINTERS.
The present summer having been one of the hottest known for many years, perhaps the fol- lowing short account of a few remarkable winters and summers (selected from longer lists) may not be uninteresting to the general reader. In the year 401 A.D….”
~23 June 1866
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/8840044?