Cold wave

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A cold wave (known in some regions as a cold snap or cold spell) is a weather phenomenon that is distinguished by a cooling of the air. Specifically, as used by the U.S. National Weather Service, a cold wave is a rapid fall in temperature within a 24-hour period requiring substantially increased protection to agriculture, industry, commerce, and social activities. The precise criteria for a cold wave are the rate at which the temperature falls, and the minimum to which it falls. This minimum temperature is dependent on the geographical region and time of year.

In the United States, a cold spell is defined as the national average high temperature dropping below 20 °F (−7 °C). A cold wave of sufficient magnitude and duration may be classified as a cold air outbreak (CAO).

Effects

A cold wave can cause death and injury to livestock and wildlife. Exposure to cold mandates greater caloric intake for all animals, including humans, and if a cold wave is accompanied by heavy and persistent snow, grazing animals may be unable to reach needed food and die of hypothermia or starvation. They often necessitate the purchase of foodstuffs to feed livestock at considerable cost to farmers.

Cold spells are associated with increased mortality rates in populations around the world. Both cold waves and heat waves cause deaths, though different groups of people may be susceptible to different weather events. More deaths occur during a cold wave than in a hot wave, though the mortality rate is higher in undeveloped regions of the world. Globally, more people die during hot weather than cold weather. Extreme winter cold often causes poorly insulated water pipelines and mains to freeze. Even some poorly protected indoor plumbing ruptures as water expands within them, causing much damage to property and costly insurance claims. Demand for electrical power and fuels rises dramatically during such times, even though the generation of electrical power may fail due to the freezing of water necessary for the generation of hydroelectricity. Some metals may become brittle at low temperatures. Motor vehicles may fail when antifreeze fails or motor oil gels, producing a failure of the transportation system. To be sure, such is more likely in places like Siberia and much of Canada that customarily get very cold weather.

Fires become even more of a hazard during extreme cold. Water mains may break and water supplies may become unreliable, making firefighting more difficult. The air during a cold wave is typically denser and thus contains more oxygen, so when air that a fire draws in becomes unusually cold it is likely to cause a more intense fire. However, snow may stop spreading of fires, especially wildfires.

Winter cold waves that are not considered cold in some areas, but cause temperatures significantly below average for an area, are also destructive. Areas with subtropical climates may recognize unusual cold, perhaps barely freezing, temperatures, as a cold wave. In such places, plant and animal life is less tolerant of such cold as may appear rarely. The same winter temperatures that one associates with the norm for Colorado, Ohio, or Bavaria are catastrophic to winter crops in places like Florida, California, or parts of South America that grow fruit and vegetables in winter.

Cold waves that bring unexpected freezes and frosts during the growing season in mid-latitude zones can kill plants during the early and most vulnerable stages of growth, resulting in crop failure as plants are killed before they can be harvested economically. Such cold waves have caused famines. At times as deadly to plants as drought, cold waves can leave land in danger of later brush and forest fires that consume dead biomass. One extreme was the so-called Year Without a Summer of 1816, one of several years during the 1810s in which numerous crops failed during freakish summer cold snaps after volcanic eruptions that reduced incoming sunlight.

Recent research suggests a possible link between cold waves and extratropical cyclogenesis.

Countermeasures

In some places, such as Siberia, extreme cold requires that fuel-powered machinery to be used even part-time must be run continuously. Internal plumbing can be wrapped, and persons can often run water continuously through pipes. Energy conservation, difficult as it is in a cold wave, may require such measures as collecting people (especially the poor and elderly) in communal shelters. Even the homeless may be arrested and taken to shelters, only to be released when the hazard abates. Hospitals can prepare for the admission of victims of frostbite and hypothermia; schools and other public buildings can be converted into shelters.

People can stock up on food, water, and other necessities before a cold wave. Some may even choose to migrate to places of milder climates, at least during the winter. Suitable stocks of forage can be secured before cold waves for livestock, and livestock in vulnerable areas might be shipped from affected areas or even slaughtered. Smudge pots can bring smoke that prevents hard freezes on a farm or grove. Vulnerable crops may be sprayed with water that will paradoxically protect the plants by freezing and absorbing the cold from surrounding air.

Most people can dress appropriately and can even layer their clothing should they need to go outside or should their heating fail. They can also stock candles, matches, flashlights, and portable fuel for cooking and wood for fireplaces or wood stoves, as necessary. However, caution should be taken as the use of charcoal fires for cooking or heating within an enclosed dwelling is extremely dangerous due to carbon monoxide poisoning. Adults must remain aware of the exposure that children and the elderly have to cold.

Historical cold waves

21st-century cold waves (2001–present)

2021

• February 2021: February 2021 Middle East cold wave
• February 2021: February 2021 European cold wave
• February 2021: February 2021 Greek cold wave
• February 2021: February 2021 North American cold wave
• January 2021: Severe cold wave hit many regions in Eurasia, especially in the Iberian Peninsula, Central Asia, East Asia and Southeast Asia with some of the lowest temperatures in many years. In Spain, Clot del Tuc de la Llanca in Aragon in the Spanish Pyrenees recorded −34.1 °C in January 6. It was not only the new national lowest temperature record in Spain, 2 °C lower than the previous record in 1956, but also the lowest temperature in the whole Iberian Peninsula ever recorded. On the 9th of January another new record was attained with -35.6 °C in Vega de Liordes, in the Cantabrian mountains of Spain. The cold wave was concurrent with a historic snowstorm which covered Madrid under 50 to 60 cm of snow, the first time since 1971.

Novosibirsk reached a low of -41 °C. Beijing recorded a low of -19.6 °C which was the coldest since 1966. Seoul also recorded -18.6 °C in January 8 which was the tie record with 2001 and the coldest since 1986. Over 200 cm of snow fell in western Japan along the Japan Sea coast.

2020

• October 2020: The Rocky Mountains and Great Plains of the United States experienced record-cold temperatures. Subzero Fahrenheit temperatures (< -18 °C) were recorded in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and Nebraska. Bozeman, Montana reached −20 °F (−29 °C) and Denver, Colorado reached 4 °F (−16 °C).^[11]
• May 2020: Following a mild winter for much of the Eastern United States, a cold wave brought record breaking low May temperatures and some snow; temperature departures of 10-15 °F (5-8 °C) were recorded across much of the Eastern seaboard. New York City saw its latest recorded snowfall on May 9, tied with 1977.^[12] Nearby cities saw similar phenomena; towns in northern New England and New York recorded up to nine inches of snow.^[13]
• February 2020: 2nd time snow falls in Baghdad since the 1910s.^[14]
• January 2020: Pakistan

2019

• November 2019: November 2019 North American cold wave
• February 2019: Brought temperatures 10~15 degrees lower than the February average lows, and temperatures of −40 °C (−40 °F) degrees to many parts of Siberia again. Novosibirsk, the largest city in Asian Russia, lowered to −40.1 °C (−40.2 °F) on 2 February, just a fraction of a degree shy to its previous record in 1977.^[15] Krasnoyarsk also lowered to −41.3 °C (−42.3 °F) on 4 February, missing just 0.3 °C to its record in 2001.^[16] Irkutsk Oblast had also recorded very low temperatures, with Irkutsk hitting −37.7 °C (−35.9 °F) on 6 February, beating its previous record of 6 February,^[17] Bratsk has seen temperatures below −41.5 °C (−42.7 °F) on February 5, which is sometimes colder than cities like Yakutsk. 7 and 8 February was even more brutal, with Omsk as low as −39.0 °C (−38.2 °F),^[18] and a merciless record low −41.9 °C (−43.4 °F) in Novokuznetsk, just 0.3 °C short of the record low in 1969.^[19] Lowest temperature in the cold wave of −53.6 °C (−64.5 °F) was recorded in Vanavara^[20] The cold wave also lightly affected the Russian Far East and some parts North America. California experienced an unusually wet and cold February, where Los Angeles experienced its coldest February since 1962.^[21]
• In late January, an extreme cold wave hit Canada and the midwest of the United States, bringing temperatures below −30.0 °C (−22.0 °F), with all-time record lows set in several cities.^[22]

2018

• Around Early December 2018, some slight cold waves attacked Central Russia and Kazakhstan, bringing temperatures several of degrees down from the average norm. Big cities like Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk, Omsk, Irkutsk, and Barnaul regions had experienced severe temperatures of minus tens of degrees.^{[23][24][25][26][27][28]} The cold wave dissipated on December 13~15, making it slightly warmer, but returned some time in Christmas, attacking Central Russia and Kazakhstan strongly again, before finally dissipating around New Year's Eve. Yerbogachen suffered the cruelest temperatures of −52.5 °C (−62.5 °F) on Christmas.^[29] This cold wave made December 2018 quite chilly for Siberia.
• Late February and early–mid March 2018, Europe. Easterly winds created bitter conditions twice during early spring 2018. Snow fell during both events. Storm Emma, which affected southern areas of Great Britain, brought up to 50 centimetres (20 in) of snow.^[30] Overall, 93 people across Europe died; 27 deaths occurred in Poland and 17 in the UK.

2017–2018

• Cold wave starting late December 2017 (December 24 respectively), North America. A persistent wave of temperature extremes, including a cold wave, took place in Canada and the northeastern and central areas of the United States from Northern Canada to Mississippi, with temperatures in much of Canada of around −29 °C (−20 °F) and as low as −39 °C (−38 °F) in New York state, and as high as 21 °C (70 °F) and 31 °C (88 °F) in Sandberg and Los Angeles, respectively, in California.^[31]
• Cold wave of November 9–12, 2017. Record lows were broken from Minneapolis to DC as Arctic air swept through the areas.^{[citation needed]}

2017

• January 2017 European cold wave – A cold wave hit Central and East Europe on January 5. The lowest temperature was −45.4 °C (−49.7 °F) degrees.^[32] The cold caused at least 60 deaths. There was also massive snowfall.
• April 2017 - During the same year, low temperatures were recorded in Sarajevo from an unusual snowfall that hit the city disrupting the traffic since the 2012 cold wave.^[33]

2016

• January 2016 East Asia cold wave – Caused over 100 known deaths across East Asia, South Asia and Southeast Asia.

2014–2015

• February 2015 North American cold wave – During the second half of February 2015, temperature records were broken in both sides of the spectrum. Extreme warm records were broken in the western half of the United States and extreme cold records were broken in the eastern half. In addition to the extreme cold wave at its most brutal in the Great Lakes, Mid-Atlantic, and New England, snowfall was reported as far south as Tupelo, Mississippi; Huntsville, Alabama; and Shreveport, Louisiana. The cold wave became widespread and all the remaining mild conditions from the west were pushed into northern Mexico. The cold wave even extended well into early March, with a part of every U.S. state except Florida reporting a snow cover by March 1, 2015.
• November 2014 North American cold wave – Between November 8 and November 23, a polar vortex similar to earlier in 2014 has a temporary comeback, delivering the 2014–15 winter season's first three significant winter storms in the United States. Snowfall records were confirmed all over the Midwest and the Northeast, especially around the Great Lakes. Buffalo, New York, was among the hardest hit in the unseasonably wintry November. In addition to not being Thanksgiving yet, autumn colors were in the mix along with the deep winter snow.

2013–2014

• Early 2014 North American cold wave – On January 2–11, cold arctic air initially associated with a nor'easter invaded the central and eastern United States and Canada, east of the Rockies. Temperatures were even colder than the North Pole and the South Pole in many regions in the Upper Midwest and Canada. Temperatures reached as cold as −37 °F (−38 °C), and did not even get out of the negative double-digit temps in many places, including Chicago. The cold wave extended for a few more months, bringing a continuous pattern of record-low temperatures to most of the Central and upper eastern United States, before the pattern finally ended in early April.
• December 2013 North American cold wave – On December 1, the weakening of the polar vortex resulted in the jet stream shifting southward, which allowed abnormally cold temperatures to intrude the Central United States. On December 6, a daily record snowfall of 0.1 inches (2.5 mm) was set in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, breaking the old record of trace amounts of snow, set in 1950.^[34][35] The cold wave continued into December 10, before the temperatures returned to a more stable range.

2013

• United Kingdom March–April 2013 – The UK Spring 2013 cold wave was a prolonged spell of cold weather which brought with it very heavy snowfalls, the worst in March for 30 years and since 1947 in some places. There was also some very cold temperatures with England (CET) having its coldest March since 1883 with a mean monthly temperature of 2.7 °C (36.9 °F). This meant that March was colder than all three winter months December 2012, January and February 2013. The cold weather in March came after what was a relatively cold winter however nothing like 2010–11, 2009–10 or 2008–09.

• Spring 2013 North American cold wave – Although the core winter of 2012–13 was fairly mild, both March and April were unusually cold across the Midwest, resulting in sharp temperature contrasts from March 2012 to March 2013 all over the United States and Canada. This late cold wave was unexpected because February and March 2013 were both forecasted to be even milder and more springlike than February and March 2012, but instead turned out with a near-average February and an unusually cold March. This same cold wave extended well into the month of April, as four notable winter storms impacted much of the northern United States, especially across Minnesota and the Dakotas. Minnesota experienced a rare May snowstorm as a result of this cold wave.
• In July 2013, South America experienced the most intense cold wave in 13 years. Some coastal areas of Argentina and Uruguay had multiple days of nearly freezing temperatures, and snow fell throughout Southern Brazil, even being registered in Curitiba for the first time in 38 years.
• 2013 Middle East cold snap - Cyprus, Egypt, Israel, West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

2012

• Early 2012 European cold wave – As of February 11, 2012 at least 590 people died during a cold snap with temperatures falling below −35 °C (−31 °F) in some regions.^[36] Ukraine was the worst hit, with over 100 deaths related to the cold.^[37]

2010–2011

• 2011 New Zealand snowstorms- Caused by Antarctic storms moving upward, the whole country was affected briefly in July 2011, only for it to return even stronger in August for a prolonged period of time. Te Waipounamu/ The South Island was the hardest hit, although the generally more mild Te Ika-a-Maui/ The North Island was also affected to a large extent. Widespread and heavy snow fell in Wellington for the first time in twenty years, and in Auckland the first time since the 1930s. Despite blizzards, closures and multiple records broken, morale was up, and most Kiwis, especially children, weren't that bothered about the whole snow situation^[38][39]
• Winter of 2010–11 in Great Britain and Ireland – This winter was referred to as The Big Freeze by national media in both United Kingdom and Ireland and it was the coldest winter in Britain for 31 years with an average temperature of 1.51 °C (34.72 °F). The UK had its coldest December ever, since records began in 1910, with a mean temperature of −1 °C (30.2 °F). It easily broke the previous record of 0.1 °C (32.18 °F), set in December 1981.

2009–2010

• A cold wave affected much of the Deep South in the United States and Florida in January and February 2010.
• Winter of 2009–10 in Great Britain and Ireland – The winter of 2009–10 in the United Kingdom (also called The Big Freeze by British media) was a meteorological event that started on 16 December 2009, as part of the severe winter weather in Europe. January 2010 was provisionally the coldest January since 1987 across the country.^[40] A persistent pattern of cold northerly and easterly winds brought cold, moist air to the United Kingdom with many snow showers, fronts and polar lows bringing snowy weather with it.

The first snowfall began on 17 December 2009, before a respite over the Christmas period.^[41] The most severe snowy weather began on 5 January in North West England and west Scotland with temperatures hitting a low of −17.6 °C (0.3 °F) in Greater Manchester, England.^[42] The snow spread to Southern England on 6 January and by 7 January the United Kingdom was blanketed in snow,^[41] which was captured by NASA's Terra satellite.^[43] The thaw came a week later, as temperatures started to increase.^[41] The winter weather brought widespread transport disruption, school closures, power failures, the postponement of sporting events and 25 deaths. A low of −22.3 °C (−8.1 °F) was recorded in Altnaharra, Scotland on 8 January 2010. Overall it was the coldest winter since 1978–79, with a mean temperature of 1.5 °C (34.7 °F).

• 2009–10 European cold wave – At least ninety were confirmed dead after record low temperatures and heavy snowfall across Europe causes travel disruption to much of the continent including the British Isles, France, the Low Countries, Germany, Austria, Italy, Poland, the Baltic States, the Balkans, Ukraine and Russia. It was the coldest winter and longest cold spell for thirty years in the United Kingdom, whilst temperatures in the Italian Alpine peaks reached low to an extreme of −47 °C (−52.6 °F).

• February 2009 Great Britain and Ireland snowfall – The February 2009 Great Britain and Ireland snowfall was a prolonged period of snowfall that began on 1 February 2009. Some areas experienced their largest snowfall levels in 18 years.^[44] Snow fell over much of Western Europe.^[45] The United Kingdom's Met Office and Ireland's Met Éireann issued severe weather warnings in anticipation of the snowfall. More than 30 centimetres (12 in) of snow fell on parts of the North Downs and over 20 centimetres (8 in) in parts of the London area.^[46] Such snow accumulation is uncommon in London.^[47] On the morning of 6 February the majority of Great Britain and Ireland had snow cover, with the area surrounding the Bristol Channel (South Wales (Cardiff area) and South West England (Bristol area)) being most affected – 55 centimetres (22 in) had settled overnight around Okehampton, Devon, South West England with similar depths in South Wales. In Ireland the highest totals were recorded around East Kildare and Wicklow County's were up to 11 inches (28 cm) fell around Naas, County Kildare and even more along the Wicklow Mountains. The last time such widespread snowfall affected Britain was in February 1991.^[48] On the 2nd a total of 32 centimetres (13 in) had fallen in Leatherhead, Surrey just south of the M25. Also 30 centimetres (12 in) had fallen over the South Downs and 26 centimetres (10 in) in higher areas of Brighton.
• Early 2009 European Cold Wave – Early January gave most of Europe, especially in central and south very cold temperatures. Some places like Germany, France, Italy, Romania and Spain had record cold temperatures well below 0 °C (32 °F). Most of the places were covered in snow and ice which caused school closings and airport delays. Large cities like Paris, Madrid, Berlin and even Marseille saw very cold temperatures with much snow and ice in Northern Italy, most of Germany, in northern Portugal and even along the coasts of the Mediterranean. In early February another cold front brought heavy snowfall to much of Western Europe with the heaviest snow falling in France, Northern Italy, the Low Countries and the United Kingdom, where parts of Southern England had seen the worst snowfall in over eighteen years causing widespread travel disruption particularly around London.

2008

• 2008 Alaska cold wave – In early February, Alaska experienced the coldest temperatures for eight years, with Fairbanks nearing −50 °F (−45.6 °C) and Chicken, Alaska bottoming out at −72 °F (−57.8 °C), a mere eight °F (4.4 °C) away from the record of −80 °F (−62.2 °C). The first half of January also brought unusual cold weather and heavy snow to widespread regions of China and the Middle East, snowfall was present in Baghdad for the first time since the 1910s.^[14]
• 2008 Greece cold wave February 16 - most significant cold wave that lasted three days after 2002 - On February 14 a massive high pressure system between Greenland and Scandinavia extended from Arctic Ocean to west Mediterranean accompanied by a massive low pressure system in Siberia resulting in a cold air mass in eastern Europe reaching Greece on February 16.The cold air that moved over Aegean sea caused lake effect snow dropping more than 40 cm of snow in Athens in Chaidari district west of downtown.Cold wave caused major disruption to the city and a lot of flights were cancelled due to bad weather conditions.^[49]

2007

• 2007 Northern Hemisphere cold wave – All of Canada and most of the United States underwent a freeze after a two-week warming that took place in late March and early April. Crops froze, wind picked up, and snow drizzled much of the United States. Some parts of Europe also experienced unusual cold winter-like temperatures, during that time.
• July 2007 Argentine winter storm – An interaction with an area of low pressure systems across Argentina during July 6, 7 and 8 of 2007, and the entry of a massive polar cold snap resulted in severe snowfalls and blizzards, and recorded temperatures below −32 °C (−26 °F). The cold snap advanced from the south towards the central zone of the country, continuing its displacement towards the north during Saturday, July 7. On Monday, July 9, the simultaneous presence of very cold air, gave place to the occurrence of snowfalls. This phenomenon left at least 23 people dead.^[50][51]

2005–2006

• 2005–06 European cold wave – Eastern Europe and Russia saw a very cold winter. Some of them saw their coldest on record or since the 1970s. Snow was in abundance in unusual places, such as in southern Spain and Northern Africa. All the winter months that season saw temperatures well below average across the continent.

2004–2005

• 2004–2005 Southern Europe cold wave – All areas of Southern Europe saw an unusually hard winter. This area saw an ice storm which have a 1 in 1000 chance of happening.^{[citation needed]} This cold front caused snow in Algeria, which is extremely unusual. The south of Spain and Morocco also recorded freezing temperatures, and record freezing temperatures were observed in the north of Portugal and Spain.
• 2004 February cold wave in Greece on February 12th - coldest air mass to hit Greece in 21st century till today - a very cold air mass from north pole was pulled in eastern Europe because of a high pressure system in west Scandinavia extended to south Europe resulting in a low pressure system in the Balkans.The cold snap finally moved south hitting Greece and caused ' record low temperatures, frozen rain phenomenon, thundersnow in Athens, snowfall that blanketed Crete island, snow that fell even in the most southern place of Greece in Gavdos island.During midnight of February 13 temperature in Athens dropped so fast that resulted in a frozen rain that ice- capped all trees, followed by a rare thundersnow phenomenon dropping 25 cm of snow in central Athens and more than 50 cm in eastern suburbs. In the morning of February 13 was recorded the lowest temperature of 21st century in the center of Athens till today of -5 °C(23°F) degrees(some meteorological stations east of downtown on higher altitude recorded -7 °C(19,4°F) ) resulting in water supply disruption and residents had to activate boilers and water heaters in order to make the water running again .^[52]
• 2004 January cold outbreak, Northeast United States – New England was close to a record month when frequent Arctic fronts caused unusually cold weather. Boston had its coldest January since 1893 (19.7 °F, −6.8 °C), when it averaged 20.7 °F (−6.3 °C), and its lowest mean maximum at 27.2 °F (−2.7 °C). Virginia Beach had an unusually long period of below freezing weather. Some areas of northern New York saw 150 inches (3.81 m) of snow in a month. Many parts of the western and midwestern area of the country seen the effect as well.

2002

• 2002 Cold wave in Greece January 4 - the first significant snowfall of 21st century in Athens,Greece occurred on January 4, lasted three days and caused major disruption to the city.The dense snowfall during midnight of January 5 left at least 15 cm of snow on the ground only in downtown, north suburbs had more than 50 cm !^[53]

20th-century cold waves (1901–2000)

2000

• July 2000 was one of the coldest months on record in South America. 4 streams of cold air pushed through the continent in a matter of 2 weeks, causing extremely low temperatures in many countries. Asunción registered -1 °C (31 °F), Buenos Aires (Ezeiza Airport) peaked at around -3 °C (27 °F), and in Brazil many cities recorded the lowest temperatures in many years. Curitiba had incredible 7 days of freezing temperatures, peaking at -4 °C (26 °F), and some areas of the southern states of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina reached almost -10 °C (14 °F). It also snowed heavily in these states. The cold front even reached the Amazon, with some cities in the southern part of the forest nearing temperatures of 10 °C (50 °F).

1997

• 1997 Northern Plains cold air outbreak – Mid-January across the Northern U.S. was one of the windiest on record. With a low of around −40 °F (−40.0 °C) in some places, wind caused bitterly cold wind chills sometimes nearing −80 °F (−62.2 °C). Northern parts of North Dakota saw up to 90 inches (2.29 m) of snow. This was one of the most severe cold-air outbreaks of the 1990s.

1996

• 1996 Great Midwest cold outbreak – Late January and early February was Northern Minnesota’s coldest short-term period on record. The record low of −60 °F (−51.1 °C) was recorded in Tower, Minnesota. Cities like Minneapolis experienced temperatures near −35 °F (−37.2 °C).

1995

• 1995 White Earthquake in southern Chile – In August 1995 southern Chile was struck by a cold wave consisting of two successive cold fronts. Fodder scarcity caused a severe livestock starvation. Cows and sheep were also buried in snow. In parts of Tierra del Fuego up to 80% of the sheep died.
• December 1995 Great Britain cold wave – On the 30th of December the United Kingdom recorded a record low of −27.2 °C (−17.0 °F) in Altnaharra in Scotland equalling the record set on February 11, 1895, and January 10, 1982.

1994

• 1994 Northern US/Southern Canada cold outbreak – January 1994 was the coldest month ever recorded or since January 1977 or February 1934 over many parts of the northeast and north-central United States, plus adjacent southeastern Canada. Many overnight record lows were set. Cold outbreaks continued into February but the severity eased somewhat. Detroit, Michigan saw the city's coldest temperature since 1985.

1990–1991

• December 1990 western United States – Extreme cold dropped down from Canada in the second half of December, causing record low temperatures up and down the West Coast, including one of California's most damaging freezes since 1949.
• Winter of 1990–91 in Western Europe – This winter was noted for its effects especially on the United Kingdom and for two significantly heavy snowfalls which occurred in December 1990 and February 1991, such snowfalls would not be seen again until February 2009. The winter was the coldest since January 1987.

1989

• December 1989 United States cold wave – In late 1989, the central and eastern United States saw one of the coldest Decembers on record. A white Christmas occurred.
• February 1989 featured a significant, week-long cold wave across the Western United States. Major cities affected by the cold stretched from Seattle, WA to as far south as Los Angeles, CA. Las Vegas set a record low for February with 16 °F (−8.9 °C) degrees on February 7, 1989.

1987

• January 1987 Southeast England snowfall – This was a notably cold winter month for the United Kingdom and snowy too, especially so for the southeast with a very heavy lake-effect type snow event that affected the areas of East Anglia, south-east England and London between 11 and 14 January. It was the heaviest snowfall since 1981/82.
• March 1987 Greece cold wave - very rare cold air mass trapping phenomenon - The cold wave of March '87 lasted at least ten days in Athens and more in northern Greece according to weather reports and caused by a cold air mass that was trapped in the region of Greece after a high pressure system had been extended pushing trapped cold air from Russia.^[54]

1985–1986

• Winter of 1985/86 in the United Kingdom – The cold weather started in November 1985 with the month being considerably below average, being the coldest since at least 1925. December 1985 was a milder month and January was close to average. February was the coldest month since February 1947 in United Kingdom and it became the 5th coldest February in the CET records dating back to 1659.

1985

• January 1985 US cold air outbreak – On January 21, 1985, it was so cold that President Ronald Reagan's inauguration took place in the Capitol Rotunda. In addition to the cold in Washington, D.C., Miami Beach recorded its only frost since records began, lasting for a full three hours. Several other Southern cities set all-time record cold.
• January 1985 – January 1985 was the coldest January since 1979 in the United Kingdom with significantly below-average temperatures.
• 1985 Great Western cold air outbreak – February 1985 saw the contiguous U.S.'s second-coldest temperature of −69 °F (−56.1 °C) in Peter Sinks, Utah. About a month of severe cold affected a large part of the nation. 1985 became the fourth-coldest calendar year on record in the Pacific Northwest.^{[citation needed]}

1983

• December 1983 Great Plains cold wave – The contiguous US had its coldest ever Christmas in 1983, except for the southwestern US. Severely cold winds blew in from Canada and about 70% of the month was colder than average. Many locations east of the Rockies broke December cold records on Christmas Eve. In addition to −23 °F (−30.6 °C) cold, the Sioux Falls area had 60 mph (97 km/h) winds bringing wind chills down to −70 °F (−56.7 °C). High temperatures did not even reach −10 °F (−23.3 °C) in northern Illinois during the days before Christmas.^[55] Temperatures dropped below 0 °F (−17.8 °C) on December 15 and remained there for over nine days at Sioux Falls.^[56] Minneapolis recorded an average temperature for the month of 3.7 °F (−15.7 °C), the coldest on record.^[57] In Chicago, a temperature of −23 °F (−30.6 °C) and 30 mph winds resulted in a wind chill of −82 °F (−63.3 °C) (−57 °F (−49.4 °C) under the new formula) on Christmas Eve.

1981–1982

• January 1982 cold air outbreak – January 1982 was very cold. The 1981 AFC Championship Game, held in Cincinnati, was nicknamed the "Freezer Bowl" due to the −9 °F (−22.8 °C) temperature at kickoff and −59 °F (−50.6 °C) wind chill. The Sunday of the following week (January 17, 1982) is also known as Cold Sunday. Chicago's Midway and O'Hare airports record their all-time low temperatures of −26 °F (−32 °C). Milwaukee, Wisconsin recorded temperatures of −26 °F (−32 °C) on January 17, the lowest in 111 years there. Recorded temperature of −5 °F (−21 °C) in Atlanta and Jackson, Mississippi.^[58]
• Winter of 1981/82 in the United Kingdom – This was a significantly colder than average winter. December started off very mild with temperatures up to 15 °C (59 °F), but it quickly became very cold and snowy. The night of the 12th–13th is particularly noted for its cold temperatures with many records broken. January 1982 was also a cold and snowy month with records being broken on the 10th in both England and Scotland. England recorded a record low of −26.1 °C (−15.0 °F) and down to −27.2 °C (−17.0 °F) in Braemar.

1979

• Cold wave of 1979 – widespread cold across the country. One of the largest Chicago snowstorms in history at the time, with 21 inches of snowfall in the two-day period, the 1979 Chicago Blizzard occurred during the cold wave in January.

1978

• Cold wave of early 1978 – Produced one of the coldest winters on record in all states east of the Rockies, except Maine.

1977

• Cold wave of January 1977. Greatest eastern US cold wave of the 20th century. The core of the cold air extended from New Hampshire to Florida and west to Iowa and Missouri. Ohio was at the very center of the cold air mass where every weather station there recorded its coldest month on record. Cincinnati recorded its lowest known temperature of −25 °F (−32 °C) dating back to 1820. The South Carolina state record temperature of −20 °F (−29 °C) was recorded during this cold wave near Long Creek. The wind chill in Minneapolis was −78 °F (−61 °C) on January 28, possibility the lowest ever recorded there up until that point. Snow fell in Miami and Homestead Florida, the farthest south snow was ever recorded in America. President Jimmy Carter walked in his inauguration parade in temperatures below freezing on January 20. Buffalo, New York was hit with its worst blizzard ever during the last week of January where near hurricane-force winds created whiteout conditions for three days. Temperatures in Buffalo were around 0 °F (−18 °C), wind chills recorded of −60 °F (−51 °C), and the blizzard paralyzed the city with snow drifts of up to 30 feet (9.1 m).^[59]

1977–1979 winters

• Late 1970s (1977, 1978, 1979) – In the last three years of the 1970s, almost all of the conterminous United States had at least one winter with a memorable cold wave, and the winter of 1978–79 was the coldest on record in the lower 48^{[citation needed]}, with everywhere, except normally frigid upstate Maine, experiencing well below average temperatures.

1975

• July 1975 was a historic month in South America. One of the most intense cold waves of the century climbed through the continent, even crossing the Equator in the Amazon Forest. On July 16, snow fell heavily in Argentina, and on the following day in Paraguay and Southern Brazil. In Curitiba it snowed for around 3 hours, accumulating on the ground, even in the city center. The phenomenon was registered in 5 states, a very rare occurrence. In July 18, the temperature dropped even more. In the state of Paraná, the coffee crops were killed by an episode of black frost (it occurs when the plants' tissues freeze and die), and some cities recorded -10 °C (14 °F), among the lowest temperatures ever recorded in the country. The cold wave reached as far as 10°N before dissipating.<https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/bams/57/12/1520-0477_1976_057_1435_ashcfp_2_0_co_2.xml>

1968–1969

• Winter of 1968–69 in Central Asia – Central Asia and western Siberia saw by far their coldest winter on record in 1968–69,^[60][61] and in Central Asia also their wettest, producing record low temperature, severe blizzards and avalanches, numerous plant deaths and record spring flooding. The cold occasionally swept into East Asia, resulting in record snowstorms and cold in China and Japan.
• 1969 Northwest North American cold wave – December 1968 and January 1969 saw record cold and snow in the Pacific Northwest and Southern BC. Vancouver, BC recorded its coldest temperature on record of −23.3 °C (−9.9 °F) on January 23, 1969, and −18.3 °C (−0.9 °F) at the airport on December 29, 1968. Seattle recorded its snowiest winter on record with 67.5 inches (171 cm) for the season at Sea-Tac Airport.

1966

• 1966 Western Canadian cold wave – January 1966 was the coldest January on record in the Yukon and the coldest since 1950 or 1936 in the Prairie Provinces, and the severe cold continued into March, when Winnipeg recorded its most severe winter snowstorm on record.

1962–1963

• January 1963 cold wave in Mid-Western United States, as well as a brief-but-severe cold spell in the western United States.
• Winter of 1962–63 in the United Kingdom – The winter of 1962–63 was the coldest for 223 years in England, and the freeze was accompanied by strong easterly winds and the freezing of rivers and streams.

1956

• 1956 European cold wave – February 1956 was the coldest month of the twentieth century over large areas of Western Europe,^[60] with mean temperatures below 0 °C (32 °F) as far south as Marseilles being utterly unprecedented in records dating back into the eighteenth century.

1954-1955

• Winter of 1954–1955 in East Asia – One of the coldest winters on record across China. Numerous major rivers and lakes froze over across southern China, including the Huai River, Han River, and Dongting Lake.

1955

• Between Late July and Early August 1955 the most intense cold wave ever recorded in Brazil was registered. It snowed heavily for over 24 hours in some cities of the south of the country, accumulating over 2 feet (60 cm) in the mountainous regions of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina states. The cold air reached the Amazon and even crossed the Equator, which is extremely rare. Temperatures plummeted to -10 °C (14 °F) in Bom Jesus, Rio Grande do Sul, and -2 °C (29 °F) in São Paulo (negative temperatures were never again recorded in the city).

1950

• 1950 Northwest North American cold wave – January 1950 saw unprecedented cold and snowfall in the Pacific Northwest, with normally mild Seattle and Portland, Oregon both falling below 0 °F (−17.8 °C) and receiving extremely heavy snow that disrupted transport and schooling as it could not be removed easily. Western Canada saw by far its coldest month on record, leading to severe damage to fruit crops in the Okanagan Valley, the freezing of Okanagan Lake for the only time since 1862, and Calgary's only month where temperatures remained below 32 °F (0 °C) throughout. Vancouver, British Columbia had an average temperature of −6.3 °C (20.7 °F),^[62] compared to the average 4.1 °C (39.4 °F).^[63]

1949

• January 1949 Western United States cold wave – The winter of 1948–49 was the coldest since 1891 over the Western United States and saw record snowfall, ice storms as far south as Texas, and constant disruptions to surface transport, along with large losses in livestock and crops. Coldest winter was recorded in many places in California, Nevada, Idaho and Washington state. The cold was also accompanied by severe blizzards which isolated Wyoming ranches and paralyzed the Great Basin region. The U.S. Army ran "Operation Hay Lift" in the region to bring food and hay by plane to isolated ranches in the region. Las Vegas Nevada got a record 16.7 in (420 mm) of snowfall during the month of January. Snow fell in both San Diego and Los Angeles on three days in January 1949. All-time record low of 0 °F in San Antonio, Texas.^[64]

1947

• Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom
• February 1947 saw the coldest temperature on record in Canada, at -62.8 °C at Snag, Yukon.

1941–1942

• Winter of 1941–42 in Eastern Europe – The winter of 1941–42 was the coldest of the twentieth century in most of Eastern Europe (e.g. Moscow) and was the last of a succession of abnormally cold winters there that affected the course of World War II.^[65]

1940

• January 1940 Southern United States cold wave – Late January saw record-breaking cold and snow across the Southern United States. It was the coldest month there since February 1899.

1937

• 1937 Western United States cold wave – January 1937 was the coldest month on record in the West and saw snowfall as far south as the hot desert city of Yuma, Arizona for one of only two occasions on record. California and Nevada saw their lowest temperatures on record: −45 °F (−42.8 °C) at Boca on January 20 and −50 °F (−45.6 °C) at San Jacinto on January 8.^[66]

1936

• 1936 North American cold wave – The cold wave of 1936 was the only cold wave of the 1930s to severely impact the United States east of the hundredth meridian. One of the coldest winters in the Great Plains on record. Low temperatures dropped below −50 °F (−46 °C) in Malta, Montana on four separate days and most of Montana averaged 20 degrees below normal for the entire month of February Parshall, North Dakota hit −60 °F (−51 °C) on February 15, still a record. Langdon, North Dakota remained below 0 °F (−18 °C) for 41 straight days from January 11 to February 20, the longest stretch in recorded history for the U.S. outside of Alaska. The cold wave was followed by one of the hottest summers on record, the 1936 North American heat wave.^[67]

1934

• February 1934 Cold Wave in New England and Eastern Canada – Longest period of cold weather ever experienced to this point. Average temperatures in upper New England and Eastern Canada were around zero degrees Fahrenheit for most of the month. Lake Ontario was reportedly completely frozen over. Temperatures reached above freezing only on one day in Burlington, VT in February.^[68]

1933

• 1933 Western United States cold wave – The winter of 1932–33 was the second- or third-coldest on record^[69] in most of the West (the coldest on record in Arizona^[70]) and saw record cold temperatures in Seneca, Oregon (-54 °F/-48 °C), Moran, Wyoming (-66 °F/-54 °C) and Seminole, Texas (-23 °F/-31 °F) between February 7 and 10,^[66] when sixty deaths were blamed on extreme cold and ice storms.

1932

• Major cold outbreaks affected California in January, February and December. Up to two inches of snow fell across the Los Angeles Basin on January 15, and two inches of snow was officially recorded at the Downtown Los Angeles Weather Bureau Office.^[71] Snow also fell in San Francisco on three days in December 1932.

1930

• A cold wave gripped the western United States in January 1930. Two inches of snow fell in Palm Springs, CA on January 11, one of only two times in the city's history that snow was ever observed.^[72]

1917-1918

• Winter of 1917–1918 – The winter was very frigid across the East and created a heating fuel crisis equaled only in January 1977. Severe cold wave in December 1917 and January 1918 in northeast. December 30 set a number of record lows at the time in New York City (−13 °F, −25 °C) and Boston (−15 °F, −26 °C).^[73] Under ideal conditions for radiational cooling, including fresh snow cover and mostly clear skies, the morning of December 30, 1917 was exceptionally cold also in parts of Virginia and West Virginia, with all-time record cold temperatures (that stand until nowadays) recorded in many cities, including −37 °F (−38 °C) at Lewisburg (West Virginia state record), −34 °F (−37 °C) at White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, −25 °F (−32 °C) at Bluefield, West Virginia, and −27 °F (−33 °C) at Blacksburg and Burkes Garden, Virginia. January 1918 also brought persistent well below average temperatures for many parts of the East and Midwest, with another shot of very cold air in early February (New York City Central Park's high of only 4 °F (−16 °C) on February 5 is a monthly record, while Michigan's Houghton Lake reached a low of −48 °F (−44 °C) on February 1). The Ohio River froze solidly along its entire length.
• This cold wave occurred not only in America but also East Asia. In Seoul, the weather is warm in early December 1917, But the temperature wasn't increased higher (32 °F, 0 °C) next to starting cold wave in December 15 ~ January 9. In addition, the temperature was recorded lower (14 °F, −10 °C) in December 15 ~ 31. The cold wave especially stronger in December 26 ~ 27 and the lowest temperature in December 26 was recorded (0.32 °F, −17.60 °C), highest temperature (9.86 °F, −12.30 °C).(That day Incheon was recorded highest temperature (9.14 °F, −12.70 °C), this is 3rd lower highest temperature in whole winter.) Also, the lowest temperature in December 27 was recorded (−4.72 °F, −20.40 °C), this temperature is 2nd lower temperature in December Seoul. (The lowest is (−9.58 °F, −23.10 °C) on December 31, 1927. Furthermore, this is the lowest temperature in Seoul.) Cold wave was leading to January 1918, and the cold wave is rather than more stronger. Then the lowest temperature in January 3 was recorded (−7.24 °F, −21.80 °C). The temperature was a little warming next to January 14. But the weather is still cold, and the temperature was recorded lower (14 °F, −10 °C) until January 28. Leading to February, this cold wave was finished. Seoul was recorded the average temperature (21.74 °F, −5.70 °C) in December 1917,(This is lowest average in December. and this average temperature was also recorded December 1944.) and recorded the average temperature (18.5 °F, −7.5 °C) in January 1918, 6th lower in January.^[74]
• The cold wave was more stronger in North Korea, and the lowest temperature in Pyeongyang was recorded (−11.74 °F, −24.30 °C)^[75] in December 1917. Also, the average temperature was recorded (12.56 °F, −10.80 °C).)^[76]

1916-1917

• Winter of 1916–1917 – the "extended winter" (October to March) of 1916–17 was the coldest on record in the West and Midwest.

1912

• January 1912 cold wave – The severe 1912 United States cold wave caused the longest recorded period of weather below 0 °F or −17.8 °C.

1904 was the coolest year on record.^[77]

19th century cold waves (1801–1900)

1899

• February 1899 Cold Wave – Still ranked as number one cold wave outbreak in U.S. history to date.^[58]

1895

• Winter of 1894–95 in the United Kingdom.
• February 1895 United States Cold Wave (Great Freeze) – Damaged citrus crops in Florida. A snowstorm produced unprecedented snowfall amounts along the Gulf Coast, including 22 inches (56 cm) in Houston, TX. Snow fell as far south as Tampico, Mexico, the lowest latitude in North America that snow has been recorded at sea level.

1893

• 1893 East Asia Cold Wave – Produced snow in Hong Kong and South China, and freezing temperatures into tropical latitudes.
• 1893 Eastern United States Cold Wave.

1888

• 1888 US cold wave – A severe cold wave that passed through the Pacific Northwest. It led to a blizzard for the northern Plains and upper Mississippi valley where many children were trapped in schoolhouses where they froze to death.

1886–1887

• Winter of 1886–87 in the United States Great Plains and Upper Midwest.

1882–1883

• Winter 1882–1883 in United States.

1874–1875

• Winter 1874–1875 in Mid-Western United States.

1859

• January 1859: January 10 – coldest single daytime temperatures ever recorded experienced in New York City and in New England areas. Montreal recorded temperature of −43.6 °F (−42.0 °C) at 7 am, some 15 °F (8.3 °C) degrees lower than modern Montreal record of −29 °F (−34 °C) in 1933. Toronto recorded −27 °F (−33 °C) on the same day. At the University of Vermont in Burlington, −31.5 °F (−35.3 °C) was recorded at 7 am and −26 °F (−32 °C) at 2 pm. In Woodstock, Vermont a temperature of −45 °F (−43 °C) was recorded. Harvard College recorded −4.5 °F (−20.3 °C) at 2 pm and −18 °F (−28 °C) the next morning of January 11, the lowest known temperature reading recorded in Boston. Nantucket Island measured −12 °F (−24 °C), 6 °F (3.3 °C) colder than the modern known record. In New York City, recorded temperatures did not go above 0 °F (−18 °C). In Brooklyn Heights, a recorded reading of −9 °F (−23 °C) at noon and in Eramus Hall in Brooklyn recorded a high of −3.7 °F (−19.8 °C) at 7 am and −8 °F (−22 °C) at 9 pm that night. Union Hall in Jamaica Queens recorded −12 °F (−24 °C) at midnight between January 10 and 11. In White Plains, there were readings of −13 °F (−25 °C) at 7 am, −10 °F (−23 °C) at 2 pm, and −15 °F (−26 °C) at 9 pm.^[78]

1857

• New England Cold wave of 1857. January 1857 was the coldest month ever recorded in New England. Average month temperatures of 16.7 °F (−8.5 °C) in New Haven, 16.8 °F (−8.4 °C) in Boston, and 19.6 °F (−6.9 °C) in New York City remain coldest months on record in those cities. The worst of the cold descended on New England on January 22 with January 23 being one of the coldest days known in the region. In Bath, Maine a temperature reading of −52 °F (−47 °C) and in Franconia, New Hampshire −51 °F (−46 °C) were recorded. In Norwich, Vermont −44 °F (−42 °C) was recorded. Boston suburbs of Malden and West Newton recorded −30 °F (−34 °C) overnight. Boston temperatures for January 23 never rose above 0 °F (−18 °C) all day and Nantucket Island was connected to the mainland by ice. In New York City, Erasmus Hall in Brooklyn reached a high of 0 °F during the day and the Hudson River froze over solidly enough for people to walk across to Hoboken.^[79]

1835

• Eastern cold wave of January and February 1835. First of three historic U.S. cold waves to hit during the 19th century (1835, 1857, 1899). In January, mercury thermometers froze throughout the Northeast. Mercury froze at −40 °F (−40 °C) in Bangor and Bath, Maine and Montpelier and White River, Vermont. In Connecticut, Hartford hit −27 °F (−33 °C) and New Haven −23 °F (−31 °C), and in Massachusetts, Williamstown hit −30 °F (−34 °C) and Pittsfield −32 °F (−36 °C), all low temperature marks that have never been matched since. In February, Savannah, Georgia the temperature hit 0 °F (−18 °C), 8 °F (4.4 °C) colder than would be reached during the 1899 cold wave later in the century and Charleston South Carolina hit 2 °F (−17 °C).^[80]

18th century cold waves (1701–1800)

• Great Frost of 1709.

17th century cold waves (1601–1700)

• Europe winter of 1694–1695. See Maunder Minimum
• Great Frost of 1683–84, the worst frost in England in its history. The cold caused the entire River Thames to freeze up to a depth of 1 foot (0.30 m). The frost enabled the River Thames Frost Fair. See Maunder Minimum

 

The Grapes of Wrath

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grapes_of_Wrath 

The Grapes of Wrath

First edition cover
Author	John Steinbeck
Cover artist	Elmer Hader
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Novel
Publisher	The Viking Press-James Lloyd
Publication date	April 14, 1939
Pages	464
OCLC	289946
Dewey Decimal	813.52

The Grapes of Wrath is an American realist novel written by John Steinbeck and published in 1939. The book won the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize for fiction, and it was cited prominently when Steinbeck was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1962.

Set during the Great Depression, the novel focuses on the Joads, a poor family of tenant farmers driven from their Oklahoma home by drought, economic hardship, agricultural industry changes, and bank foreclosures forcing tenant farmers out of work. Due to their nearly hopeless situation, and in part because they are trapped in the Dust Bowl, the Joads set out for California along with thousands of other "Okies" seeking jobs, land, dignity, and a future.

The Grapes of Wrath is frequently read in American high school and college literature classes due to its historical context and enduring legacy. A celebrated Hollywood film version, starring Henry Fonda and directed by John Ford, was released in 1940.

Plot

The narrative begins just after Tom Joad is paroled from McAlester prison, where he had been incarcerated after being convicted of homicide in self-defense. While hitchhiking to his home near Sallisaw, Oklahoma, Tom meets former preacher Jim Casy, whom he remembers from his childhood, and the two travel together. When they arrive at Tom's childhood farm home, they find it deserted. Disconcerted and confused, Tom and Casy meet their old neighbor, Muley Graves, who tells them the family has gone to stay at Uncle John Joad's home nearby. Graves tells them that the banks have evicted all the farmers. They have moved away, but he refuses to leave the area.

The next morning, Tom and Casy go to Uncle John's. Tom finds his family loading their remaining possessions into a Hudson sedan converted into a truck; with their crops destroyed by the Dust Bowl, the family has defaulted on their bank loans, and their farm has been repossessed. The family sees no option but to seek work in California, which has been described in handbills as fruitful and offering high pay. The Joads put everything they have into making the journey. Although leaving Oklahoma would violate his parole, Tom decides it is worth the risk, and invites Casy to join him and his family.

Traveling west on Route 66, the Joad family finds the road crowded with other migrants. In makeshift camps, they hear many stories from others, some returning from California, and the group worries that California may not actually be as rewarding as suggested. The family dwindles on the way: Grampa dies along the road, and they bury him in a field; Granma dies close to the California state line; and both Noah (the eldest Joad son) and Connie Rivers (the husband of the pregnant Joad daughter, Rose of Sharon) leave the family. Led by Ma, the remaining members realize they must continue on, as nothing is left for them in Oklahoma.

Reaching California, they find the state oversupplied with labor; wages are low, and workers are exploited to the point of starvation. The big corporate farmers are in collusion and smaller farmers suffer from collapsing prices. All police and state law enforcement authorities are on the side of the growers. At the first migrant Hooverville camp they stop at in California, Casy knocks down a deputy sheriff who is about to shoot a fleeing worker who has alerted others that the labour recruiter travelling with the officer will not pay the wages he is promising. Weedpatch Camp, one of the clean, utility-supplied camps operated by the Resettlement Administration, a New Deal agency, offers better conditions but does not have enough resources to care for all the needy families, and it does not provide them with work or food. Nonetheless, as a Federal facility, the camp protects the migrants from harassment by local deputies.

How can you frighten a man whose hunger is not only in his own cramped stomach but in the wretched bellies of his children? You can't scare him – he has known a fear beyond every other.

— Chapter 19

In response to the exploitation, Casy becomes a labor organizer and tries to recruit for a labor union. The Joads find work as strikebreakers in a peach orchard. With everyone picking for most of the day, they still only get paid enough to provide a basic supper for the night and some food for the next day. The next morning the peach plantation announces that the pay rate for the picked fruit has been reduced by half. Casy is involved in a strike that turns violent. When Tom witnesses Casy's fatal beating, he kills the attacker and takes flight. The Joads quietly leave the orchard to work at a cotton farm, where Tom remains at risk of being arrested, and possibly lynched, for the homicide.

Knowing he must leave the area or risk being caught and his family blacklisted from working, Tom bids his mother farewell and vows to work for the oppressed. The rest of the family continues to pick cotton and pool their daily wages so they can buy food. Rose of Sharon's baby is stillborn. Ma Joad remains steadfast and forces the family through the bereavement. With the winter rains, the Joads' dwelling is flooded and the car disabled, and they move to higher ground. In the final chapter of the book, the family takes shelter from the flood in an old barn. Inside they find a young boy and his father, who is dying of starvation. Ma realizes there is only one way to save the man. She looks at Rose of Sharon and a silent understanding passes between them. Rose of Sharon, left alone with the man, goes to him and has him drink of her breast milk.

Characters

• Tom Joad: the protagonist of the story; the Joad family's second son, named after his father. Later, Tom takes leadership of the family, even though he is young.
• Ma Joad: the Joad family matriarch. Practical and warm-spirited, she tries to hold the family together. Her given name is never learned; it is suggested that her maiden name was Hazlett.
• Pa Joad: the Joad family patriarch, also named Tom, age 50. Hardworking sharecropper and family man. Pa becomes a broken man upon losing his livelihood and means of supporting his family, forcing Ma to assume leadership.
• Uncle John: Pa Joad's older brother (Tom describes him as "a fella about 60", but in narrative he is described as 50). He feels guilty about the death of his young wife years before, and is prone to binges involving alcohol and prostitutes, but is generous with his goods.
• Jim Casy: a former preacher who lost his faith. He is a Christ-like figure, based on Steinbeck's friend Ed Ricketts.
• Al Joad: the third youngest Joad son, a "smart-aleck sixteen-year-older" who cares mainly for cars and girls; he looks up to Tom, but begins to find his own way.
• Rose of Sharon Joad Rivers: the eldest Joad daughter, a childish and dreamy teenage girl, age 18, who develops into a mature woman. Pregnant at the beginning of the novel, she eventually delivers a stillborn baby, perhaps due to malnutrition.
• Connie Rivers: Rose of Sharon's husband. Nineteen years old and naïve, he is overwhelmed by marriage and impending fatherhood. He abandons his wife and the Joad family shortly after they arrive in California.
• Noah Joad: the eldest Joad son, he is the first to leave the family, near Needles, California, planning to live off fishing on the Colorado River. Injured at birth and described as "strange", he may have slight learning difficulties.
• Grampa Joad: Tom's grandfather, who expresses his strong desire to stay in Oklahoma. His full name is given as "William James Joad". Grampa is drugged by his family with "soothin' syrup" to force him to leave with them for California, but he dies during the first evening on the road. Casy attributes his death to a stroke, but says that Grampa is "just' staying' with the lan'. He couldn' leave it."
• Granma Joad: Grampa's religious wife; she loses her will to live after his death. She dies while the family is crossing the Mojave Desert.
• Ruthie Joad: the youngest Joad daughter, age 12. She is shown to be reckless and childish. While quarreling with another child, she reveals that Tom is in hiding.
• Winfield Joad: the youngest Joad son, age 10. He is "kid-wild and calfish".
• Jim Rawley: He manages the camp at Weedpatch and shows the Joads surprising favor.
• Muley Graves: a neighbour of the Joads. He is invited to come along to California with them, but refuses. The family leave two of their dogs with him; a third they take, but it is killed by a car during their travels.
• Ivy and Sairy Wilson: a migrant couple from Arkansas who attend the death of Grampa and share the journey as far as the California state line.
• Mr. Wainwright: a fellow laborer on the cotton farm in California; he is the husband of Mrs. Wainwright.
• Mrs. Wainwright: mother to Aggie and wife to Mr. Wainwright. She helps Ma deliver Rose of Sharon's baby.
• Aggie Wainwright: the sixteen-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Wainwright. Late in the novel, she and Al Joad announce their intent to marry.
• Floyd Knowles: a man at the Hooverville, where the Joads first stay in California, who urges Tom and Casy to join labor organizations. His agitation results in Casy being jailed.

Religious interpretation

Many scholars have noted Steinbeck's use of Christian imagery within The Grapes of Wrath. The largest implications lie with Tom Joad and Jim Casy, who are both interpreted as Christ-like figures at certain intervals within the novel. These two are often interpreted together, with Casy representing Jesus Christ in the early days of his ministry, up until his death, which is interpreted as representing the death of Christ. From there, Tom takes over, rising in Casy's place as the Christ figure risen from the dead.

However, the religious imagery is not limited to these two characters. Scholars have regularly inspected other characters and plot points within the novel, including Ma Joad, Rose of Sharon, her stillborn child, and Uncle John. In an article first published in 2009, Ken Eckert even compared the migrants' movement west as a reversed version of the slaves' escape from Egypt in Exodus. Many of these extreme interpretations are brought on by Steinbeck's own documented beliefs, which Eckert himself refers to as "unorthodox".

To extend on previous remarks in an journal Leonard A. Slade lays out the chapters and how they represent each part of the slaves escaping from Egypt. Slade states “Chapters 1 through 10 correspond to bondage in Egypt (where the bank and land companies fulfill the role of Pharaoh), and the plagues (drought and erosion); chapters 11 through 18 to the Exodus and journey through the wilderness (during which the old people die off); and chapter 19 through 30 to the settlement in the Promised Land-California, whose inhabitants are hostile… formulate ethical codes (in the government camps)”. Another religious interpretation that Slade brings up in his writings is the title itself, stating “The title of the novel, of course refers to the line: He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored in Julia Ward Howe’s famous 'Battle-Hymn of the Republic'. Apparently, then the title suggests, moreover, 'that story exists in Christian context, indicating that we should expect to find some Christian meaning'." These two interpretations by Slade and other scholars shows how many religious aspects can be interpreted from the book. Along with Slade other scholars find interpretations in the characters of Rose of Sharon and her stillborn child, Jim Casy and his Christ-like figure.

Development

This is the beginning—from "I" to "we". If you who own the things people must have could understand this, you might preserve yourself. If you could separate causes from results, if you could know that Paine, Marx, Jefferson, Lenin were results, not causes, you might survive. But that you cannot know. For the quality of owning freezes you forever into "I", and cuts you off forever from the "we".

— Chapter 14

Steinbeck was known to have borrowed from field notes taken during 1938 by Farm Security Administration worker and author Sanora Babb. While she collected personal stories about the lives of the displaced migrants for a novel she was developing, her supervisor, Tom Collins, shared her reports with Steinbeck, who at the time was working for the San Francisco News. Babb's own novel, Whose Names Are Unknown, was eclipsed in 1939 by the success of The Grapes of Wrath and was shelved until it was finally published in 2004, a year before Babb's death.

The Grapes of Wrath developed from The Harvest Gypsies, a series of seven articles that ran in the San Francisco News, from October 5 to 12, 1936. The newspaper commissioned that work on migrant workers from the Midwest in California's agriculture industry. (It was later compiled and published separately.)

In mid-January 1939, three months before the publication of The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck wrote a long letter to Pascal Covici, his editor at Viking Press. He wanted Covici, in particular, to understand this book, to appreciate what he was up to. And so he concluded with a statement that might serve as preface in and of itself: "Throughout I've tried to make the reader participate in the actuality, what he takes from it will be scaled on his own depth and shallowness. There are five layers in this book, a reader will find as many as he can and he won't find more than he has in himself."

Title

While writing the novel at his home, 16250 Greenwood Lane, in what is now Monte Sereno, California, Steinbeck had unusual difficulty devising a title. The Grapes of Wrath, suggested by his wife Carol Steinbeck, was deemed more suitable than anything by the author. The title is a reference to lyrics from "The Battle Hymn of the Republic", by Julia Ward Howe (emphasis added):

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord:
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword:
His truth is marching on.

These lyrics refer, in turn, to the biblical passage Revelation 14:19–20, an apocalyptic appeal to divine justice and deliverance from oppression in the final judgment. This and other biblical passages had inspired a long tradition of imagery of Christ in the winepress, in various media. The passage reads:

And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.

The phrase also appears at the end of Chapter 25 in Steinbeck's book, which describes the purposeful destruction of food to keep the price high:

[A]nd in the eyes of the hungry there is a growing wrath. In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage.

The image invoked by the title serves as a crucial symbol in the development of both the plot and the novel's greater thematic concerns: from the terrible winepress of Dust Bowl oppression will come terrible wrath but also the deliverance of workers through their cooperation. This is suggested but not realized within the novel.

Author's note

When preparing to write the novel, Steinbeck wrote: "I want to put a tag of shame on the greedy bastards who are responsible for this [the Great Depression and its effects]." He famously said, "I've done my damnedest to rip a reader's nerves to rags." His work won a large following among the working class, due to his sympathy for the migrants and workers' movement, and his accessible prose style.

Critical reception

Steinbeck scholar John Timmerman sums up the book's influence: "The Grapes of Wrath may well be the most thoroughly discussed novel – in criticism, reviews, and college classrooms – of 20th century American literature." The Grapes of Wrath is referred to as a Great American Novel.

At the time of publication, Steinbeck's novel "was a phenomenon on the scale of a national event. It was publicly banned and burned by citizens, it was debated on national radio; but above all, it was read". According to The New York Times, it was the best-selling book of 1939 and 430,000 copies had been printed by February 1940. In that same month, it won the National Book Award, favorite fiction book of 1939, voted by members of the American Booksellers Association. Soon, it won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and its Armed Services Edition went through two printings.

The book was noted for Steinbeck's passionate depiction of the plight of the poor, and many of his contemporaries attacked his social and political views. Bryan Cordyack wrote: "Steinbeck was attacked as a propagandist and a socialist from both the left and the right of the political spectrum. The most fervent of these attacks came from the Associated Farmers of California; they were displeased with the book's depiction of California farmers' attitudes and conduct toward the migrants. They denounced the book as a 'pack of lies' and labeled it 'communist propaganda'". Some argued that his novel was filled with inaccuracies. In his book The Art of Fiction (1984), John Gardner criticized Steinbeck for not knowing anything about the California ranchers: "Witness Steinbeck's failure in The Grapes of Wrath. It should have been one of America's great books...[S]teinbeck wrote not a great and firm novel but a disappointing melodrama in which complex good is pitted against unmitigated, unbelievable evil." Others accused Steinbeck of exaggerating camp conditions to make a political point. He had visited the camps well before publication of the novel and argued their inhumane nature destroyed the settlers' spirit.

In 1962, the Nobel Prize committee cited The Grapes of Wrath as a "great work" and as one of the committee's main reasons for granting Steinbeck the Nobel Prize for Literature.

In 2005, Time magazine included the novel in its "100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005". In 2009, The Daily Telegraph of the United Kingdom included the novel in its "100 novels everyone should read". In 1999, French newspaper Le Monde of Paris ranked The Grapes of Wrath as seventh on its list of the 100 best books of the 20th century. In the UK, it was listed at number 29 among the "nation's best loved novels" on the BBC's 2003 survey The Big Read.

Censorship

The Grapes of Wrath has faced a great amount of controversy since publication.

In 1939, the book was banned in Kansas City, Missouri and Kern County, California. It was also burned by the East St. Louis, Illinois Public Library and barred from the Buffalo, New York Public Library.

In 1953, the book was banned in Ireland.

In 1973, the book, alongside Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls, faced further controversy in Turkey because the book included "propaganda unfavorable to the state." On February 21 of that year, eleven Turkish book publishers and eight booksellers "went on trial before an Istanbul martial law tribunal on charges of publishing, possessing, and selling books in violation of an order of the Istanbul martial law command. They faced possible sentences of between one month's and six months’ imprisonment...and the confiscation of their books."

The book's controversial status continued in the 1980s. In 1980, the book was banned in Kanawha, Iowa's high school classes and challenged in Vernon, Verona Sherill, New York school district. The following year, high school English teachers in Richford, Vermont required students to read the book. It was challenged "due to  the book's language and portrayal of a former minister who recounts how he took advantage  of a young woman." In 1982, the book was banned in Morris, Manitoba and removed from two school libraries in Anniston, Alabama; the book was reinstated to the Anniston libraries on a restrictive basis. In 1986, the book was provided as an optional reading assignment at the Cummings High School in Burlington, North Carolina. A parent challenged the assignment because the "book is full of filth. My son is being raised in a Christian home and this book takes the Lord's name in vain and has all kinds of profanity in it." The parent spoke with the press but did not file an official complaint with the school. That same year, the book was challenged at the Moore County school system in Carthage, North Carolina because of the books use of the phrase "God damn."

The book was challenged twice more in the 1990s, first in Greenville, South Carolina schools in 1991, then in Union City, Tennessee high school classes in 1993. The cited reason for the 1991 challenge was the book's language (i.e., using the name of God and Jesus in a "vain and profane manner"), as well as sexual content.

Similarities to Whose Names Are Unknown

Following the publication of Sanora Babb's Whose Names Are Unknown in 2004, some scholars noted strong parallels between that work — the notes for which Steinbeck is widely believed to have examined — and The Grapes of Wrath.

Writing in The Steinbeck Review, Michael J. Meyer noted numerous "obvious similarities" between the two novels "that even a cursory reading will reveal," such as Babb's account of two still-born babies, mirrored in Steinbeck's description of Rose of Sharon's baby. Among other scenes and themes repeated in both books: the villainy of banks, corporations, and company stores that charge exorbitant prices; the rejection of religion and the embrace of music as a means of preserving hope; descriptions of the fecundity of nature and agriculture, and the contrast with the impoverishment of the migrants; and the disparity between those willing to extend assistance to the migrants and others who view "Okies" as subhuman. Meyer, a Steinbeck bibliographer, stops short of labeling these parallels as plagiarism but concludes that "Steinbeck scholars would do well to read Babb — if only to see for themselves the echoes of Grapes that abound in her prose."

Steinbeck scholar David M. Wrobel wrote that "the John Steinbeck/Sanora Babb story sounds like a classic smash-and-grab: celebrated California author steals the material of unknown Oklahoma writer, resulting in his financial success and her failure to get her work published...Steinbeck absorbed field information from many sources, primarily Tom Collins and Eric H. Thomsen, regional director of the federal migrant camp program in California, who accompanied Steinbeck on missions of mercy...if Steinbeck read Babb’s extensive notes as carefully as he did the reports of Collins, he would certainly have found them useful. His interaction with Collins and Thomsen — and their influence on the writing of The Grapes of Wrath — is documented because Steinbeck acknowledged both. Sanora Babb went unmentioned."

Writing in Broad Street (magazine), Carla Dominguez described Babb as "devastated and bitter" that Random House cancelled publication of her own novel after The Grapes of Wrath was released in 1939. It is clear, she wrote, that "Babb’s retellings, interactions, and reflections were secretly read over and appropriated by Steinbeck. Babb met Steinbeck briefly and by chance at a lunch counter, but she never thought that he had been reading her notes because he did not mention it." When Babb's novel was finally published in 2004, she declared that she was a better writer than Steinbeck. “His book,” Babb said, “is not as realistic as mine.”

Adaptations

In film

The book was quickly made into a famed 1940 Hollywood movie of the same name directed by John Ford and starring Henry Fonda as Tom Joad. The first part of the film version follows the book fairly accurately. However, the second half and the ending, in particular, differ significantly from the book. John Springer, author of The Fondas (Citadel, 1973), said of Henry Fonda and his role in The Grapes of Wrath: "The Great American Novel made one of the few enduring Great American Motion Pictures."

The documentary American: The Bill Hicks Story (2009) revealed that The Grapes of Wrath was the favorite novel of comedian Bill Hicks. He based his famous last words on Tom Joad's final speech: "I left in love, in laughter, and in truth, and wherever truth, love and laughter abide, I am there in spirit."

In July 2013, Steven Spielberg announced his plans to direct a remake of The Grapes of Wrath for DreamWorks.

The Japanese animated series Bungou Stray Dogs portrays a character based on Steinbeck whose superpower is named "The Grapes of Wrath".

In music

Woody Guthrie's two-part song—"Tom Joad – Parts 1 & 2" – from the album Dust Bowl Ballads (1940), explores the protagonist's life after being paroled from prison. It was covered in 1988 by Andy Irvine, who recorded both parts as a single song—"Tom Joad"—on Patrick Street's second album, No. 2 Patrick Street.

The 1981 song "Here Comes that Rainbow Again", by Kris Kristofferson, is based on the scene in the roadside diner where a man buys a loaf of bread and two candy sticks for his sons.

The band The Mission UK included a song titled "The Grapes of Wrath" on their album Carved in Sand (1990).

The progressive rock band Camel released an album, titled Dust and Dreams (1991), inspired by the novel.

American rock singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen named his 11th studio album, The Ghost of Tom Joad (1995), after the character. The first track on the album "shares the same title". The song – and to a lesser extent, the others on the album – draws comparisons between the Dust Bowl and modern times.

Rage Against the Machine recorded a version of "The Ghost of Tom Joad" in 1997.

Like Andy Irvine in 1988, Dick Gaughan recorded Woody Guthrie's "Tom Joad" on his album Outlaws & Dreamers (2001).

An opera based on the novel was co-produced by the Minnesota Opera, and Utah Symphony and Opera, with music by Ricky Ian Gordon and libretto by Michael Korie. The opera made its world premiere in February 2007, to favorable local reviews.

Bad Religion have a song entitled "Grains of Wrath" on their album New Maps of Hell (2007). Bad Religion lead vocalist Greg Graffin is a fan of Steinbeck's work.

The song "Dust Bowl Dance", on the Mumford & Sons album Sigh No More (2009), is based on the novel.

The Pink Floyd song "Sorrow", written by front-man David Gilmour and included on the band's album A Momentary Lapse of Reason, is thematically derived from/based on the novel.

The song "No Good Al Joad", on the Hop Along album "Get Disowned" takes its title from the novel's character Al Joad.

The song "Grapes Of Wrath" by Weezer, written by Rivers Cuomo from their album "OK Human" (2021), takes its title directly from the novel.

In theatre

The Steppenwolf Theatre Company produced a stage version of the book, adapted by Frank Galati. Gary Sinise played Tom Joad for its entire run of 188 performances on Broadway in 1990. One of these performances was filmed and shown on PBS the following year.

In 1990, the Illegitimate Players theater company in Chicago produced Of Grapes and Nuts, an original, satirical mash-up of The Grapes of Wrath and Steinbeck's acclaimed novella Of Mice and Men.