From NWS
1936: A summer of record breaking heat continued as the temperature rose all the way to 117 F at Atlantic and Logan marking the second-highest official temperature on record in Iowa. Many stations across about the southern half of Iowa tied or broke their all-time records with reported high temperatures including 113 F at Corydon and Guthrie Center, 112 F at Knoxville and Shenandoah, 111 F at Creston, Little Sioux, and Winterset, and 110 F at Des Moines which is still tied for the all-time record at that location. The weather was made even more unbearable by very warm overnight low temperatures which prevented relief even during the early morning hours. Reported low temperatures included 84 F at Atlantic and Logan (making the daily average temperature at each of those stations 100.5 F), 84 F at Creston, 82 F at Corydon, 85 F at Lamoni, and 87 F at Shenandoah. July 1936 remains to this day the hottest month in Iowa history with a statewide average temperature of 83.2 F for the month. In fact, that month was so excessively hot over such a large area of the country that even today 11 states have all-time statewide high temperature records that were set or tied in July of 1936. The prolonged extreme heat was devastating to humans, animals, crops and vegetation. The Weather Bureau in Des Moines at the time described the effects as follows: “The hot weather caused a great deal of suffering and scores of persons died as a result, while the heat was also a contributing factor in the deaths of hundreds, particularly among the aged. Farm animals suffered greatly. Water supplies were depleted, and all vegetation was baked to such a degree of extreme dryness that a critical fire danger developed.”

25 July 1956 → In a dense fog bank off Nantucket Island, the Italian passenger ship Andrea Doria collided with the Swedish liner Stockholm at full speed. Eleven hours later the Andrea Doria sank. However, 1660 were rescued and only 51 were lost. 25 July 1988 → A storm system brought heavy rains to Tasmania, Australia. Coastal areas were flooded by high tides and storm surge. 25 July 2003 → Lightning struck a home during an overnight thunderstorm southwest of Oslo, Norway. The charge moved into the bedroom and through an iron bed, with a Norwegian couple still sleeping in it. The couple was unharmed, but the lightning strike caused the room to flash “like 10 welder’s torches” and burned out all of the electrical sockets. 25 July 2006 → Through today, a two week long heat wave in California killed 140 people. 25 July 2007 → Canada’s highest humidex (roughly analogous to the U.S.’s heat index) reading of 127F at Carman, Manitoba.

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