Publication Date July 14, 2015 | The Chicago Tribune

The 1995 Chicago heat wave

United States
A 101-year-old woman is assisted after being overcome by heat later in the summer when an electrical fire knocked out the power in her apartment building. Photo: Chicago Tribune
A 101-year-old woman is assisted after being overcome by heat later in the summer when an electrical fire knocked out the power in her apartment building. Photo: Chicago Tribune

The city had sweated through hot spells before--scorching summers in Chicago seem to go with the freezing winters--but by the time this heat wave was over, it had been blamed for an unprecedented number of deaths. The misery of triple-digit temperatures was made worse by especially high humidity, which made it difficult to sweat and cool off, and by nights that seemed almost as hot as the days.