Weather Records on 17 October 1938

710 weather records were set or tied worldwide on 17 October 1938. Highest significance: Big Timber, US.

Key Facts for 17 October 1938

On 17 October 1938, 710 weather records were set or tied at long-record stations worldwide.
498 were record highs and 99 were record lows, counting maximum and minimum temperature.
By timescale, 1 were all-time records, 20 monthly and 689 daily.
Big Timber set a daily record snowfall of 35.6 cm (14.0 in) on 17 October 1938.
Across 162 earlier years (1793 to 2025) the same calendar date averaged 438 records.

Record Map

710 stations

710 station records on 17 October 1938 are marked on the map, coloured by record type. Dot size shows the significance score. Made with Natural Earth.

Weather records on 17 October 1938: highest significance records shown on the map
Station	Country	Type	Value	Significance
Big Timber	United States	Record daily snowfall	35.6 cm (14.0 in)	52 of 100 (Notable)
Malta	United States	Record daily precipitation	30.0 mm (1.2 in)	49 of 100 (Notable)
Lewistown AP	United States	Record daily precipitation	33.8 mm (1.3 in)	45 of 100 (Notable)
Williston Sloulin Fld	United States	Record daily snowfall	13.2 cm (5.2 in)	39 of 100 (Notable)
Rapelje	United States	Record daily snowfall	35.6 cm (14.0 in)	36 of 100 (Notable)
Big Timber	United States	Record daily precipitation	59.7 mm (2.4 in)	33 of 100 (Routine)
Norris Madison Pwr House	United States	Record snow depth	17.8 cm (7.0 in)	33 of 100 (Routine)
Norris Madison Pwr House	United States	Record daily snowfall	17.8 cm (7.0 in)	32 of 100 (Routine)
Red Lodge	United States	Record daily snowfall	33.0 cm (13.0 in)	32 of 100 (Routine)
Trenton 2	United States	Record high maximum temperature	31.1 C (88.0 F)	31 of 100 (Routine)
Marlinton	United States	Record high maximum temperature	30.6 C (87.1 F)	30 of 100 (Routine)
Simcoe	Canada	Record high maximum temperature	28.9 C (84.0 F)	29 of 100 (Routine)
Dillon U of Montana Western	United States	Record daily precipitation	29.0 mm (1.1 in)	29 of 100 (Routine)
Ogden 2	United States	Record daily precipitation	36.3 mm (1.4 in)	29 of 100 (Routine)
Raghunathpur	India	Record daily precipitation	39.9 mm (1.6 in)	28 of 100 (Routine)
Hamilton	Canada	Record high maximum temperature	28.9 C (84.0 F)	27 of 100 (Routine)
Norwalk	United States	Record high maximum temperature	30.6 C (87.1 F)	27 of 100 (Routine)
Rapid City Forrest	Canada	Record daily snowfall	15.2 cm (6.0 in)	26 of 100 (Routine)
Elko Rgnl AP	United States	Record low maximum temperature	3.9 C (39.0 F)	26 of 100 (Routine)
Rapelje	United States	Record snow depth	35.6 cm (14.0 in)	25 of 100 (Routine)
Port Townsend	United States	Record low minimum temperature	1.1 C (34.0 F)	25 of 100 (Routine)
Red Lodge	United States	Record snow depth	35.6 cm (14.0 in)	24 of 100 (Routine)
Helena Wb City	United States	Record snow depth	15.2 cm (6.0 in)	24 of 100 (Routine)
Buckeye	United States	Record low minimum temperature	1.1 C (34.0 F)	23 of 100 (Routine)
Independence	United States	Record low minimum temperature	-1.1 C (30.0 F)	23 of 100 (Routine)
American Falls 6 NE	United States	Record low maximum temperature	2.2 C (36.0 F)	23 of 100 (Routine)
Dillon U of Montana Western	United States	Record daily snowfall	30.5 cm (12.0 in)	23 of 100 (Routine)
Honohina 137	United States	Record daily precipitation	78.2 mm (3.1 in)	23 of 100 (Routine)
Hobart (Ellerslie Road)	Australia	Record high maximum temperature	29.4 C (84.9 F)	22 of 100 (Routine)
Farmington	United States	Record low maximum temperature	4.4 C (39.9 F)	22 of 100 (Routine)
Hawi 168	United States	Record daily precipitation	58.2 mm (2.3 in)	22 of 100 (Routine)
Pelee Island	Canada	Record high maximum temperature	26.7 C (80.1 F)	21 of 100 (Routine)
Toronto	Canada	Record high maximum temperature	26.1 C (79.0 F)	21 of 100 (Routine)
Ojai	United States	Record low minimum temperature	0.6 C (33.1 F)	21 of 100 (Routine)
Canon City	United States	Record high minimum temperature	12.8 C (55.0 F)	21 of 100 (Routine)
Philipsburg	United States	Record snow depth	15.2 cm (6.0 in)	21 of 100 (Routine)
St Georges	Canada	Record daily precipitation	22.1 mm (0.9 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Williston Sloulin Fld	United States	Record daily precipitation	20.8 mm (0.8 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Green Rvr	United States	Record daily precipitation	21.6 mm (0.9 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Murrawombi	Australia	Record daily precipitation	19.1 mm (0.8 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Twin Falls 2 NNE	United States	Record daily precipitation	20.6 mm (0.8 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Billings Wtp	United States	Record daily precipitation	17.0 mm (0.7 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Rapelje	United States	Record daily precipitation	21.1 mm (0.8 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Brantford	Canada	Record high maximum temperature	28.9 C (84.0 F)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Stratford	Canada	Record high maximum temperature	28.3 C (82.9 F)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Troicko-Pecherskoe	Russia	Record low minimum temperature	-16.8 C (1.8 F)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Orleans	United States	Record low minimum temperature	-1.7 C (28.9 F)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Frankfort Downtown	United States	Record high maximum temperature	31.1 C (88.0 F)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Central Michigan UNIV	United States	Record high maximum temperature	31.1 C (88.0 F)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Red Lodge	United States	Record daily precipitation	25.4 mm (1.0 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Savage	United States	Record daily precipitation	15.7 mm (0.6 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Curtis	United States	Record high minimum temperature	11.7 C (53.1 F)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Warren	United States	Record high maximum temperature	28.9 C (84.0 F)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Nurnberg	Germany	Record high maximum temperature	17.8 C (64.0 F)	19 of 100 (Routine)
Waren	Germany	Record high minimum temperature	9.5 C (49.1 F)	19 of 100 (Routine)
Banki Bankigarh	India	Record daily precipitation	34.3 mm (1.4 in)	19 of 100 (Routine)
Timovskoe	Russia	Record low minimum temperature	-8.1 C (17.4 F)	19 of 100 (Routine)
Cumberland	South Africa	Record daily precipitation	22.9 mm (0.9 in)	19 of 100 (Routine)
Greensboro	United States	Record high maximum temperature	33.3 C (91.9 F)	19 of 100 (Routine)
Tuscumbia	United States	Record high maximum temperature	31.7 C (89.1 F)	19 of 100 (Routine)

Counts by Type and Timescale

710 records

Records set or tied on 17 October 1938 by type: Highest daily maximum 413, Lowest daily maximum 33, Highest daily minimum 85, Lowest daily minimum 66, Heaviest daily rainfall 92, Heaviest daily snowfall 16, Deepest snow cover 5.

Records on 17 October 1938 by type
Record type	Records
Highest daily maximum	413
Lowest daily maximum	33
Highest daily minimum	85
Lowest daily minimum	66
Heaviest daily rainfall	92
Heaviest daily snowfall	16
Deepest snow cover	5

Records on 17 October 1938 by timescale: all-time 1, monthly 20, daily 689.

How Much Records Were Beaten By

538 broken records

Margins by which the 538 broken records beat the old ones, in degrees Celsius for temperature and millimetres for precipitation and snow; the largest margin was 356.0. Ties are not counted.

Top 20 by Significance

17 October 1938

Top 20 records on 17 October 1938 by significance
Date	Station	Record	Value	Beat old record by	Old record stood	Significance
17 October 1938	Big Timber, US	daily snowfall	35.6 cm (14.0 in)	35.6 cm (14.0 in)	42 years	52 of 100 (Notable)
17 October 1938	Malta, US	daily rain	30.0 mm (1.2 in)	24.2 mm (1.0 in)	20 years	49 of 100 (Notable)
17 October 1938	Lewistown AP, US	daily rain	33.8 mm (1.3 in)	21.9 mm (0.9 in)	5 years	45 of 100 (Notable)
17 October 1938	Williston Sloulin Fld, US	daily snowfall	13.2 cm (5.2 in)	11.4 cm (4.5 in)	28 years	39 of 100 (Notable)
17 October 1938	Rapelje, US	all-time snowfall	35.6 cm (14.0 in)	5.1 cm (2.0 in)	25 years	36 of 100 (Notable)
17 October 1938	Big Timber, US	monthly rain	59.7 mm (2.4 in)	13.2 mm (0.5 in)	14 years	33 of 100 (Routine)
17 October 1938	Norris Madison Pwr House, US	daily snow depth	17.8 cm (7.0 in)	17.8 cm (7.0 in)	31 years	33 of 100 (Routine)
17 October 1938	Norris Madison Pwr House, US	daily snowfall	17.8 cm (7.0 in)	17.8 cm (7.0 in)	31 years	32 of 100 (Routine)
17 October 1938	Red Lodge, US	daily snowfall	33.0 cm (13.0 in)	17.8 cm (7.0 in)	20 years	32 of 100 (Routine)
17 October 1938	Trenton 2, US	daily high max	31.1 C (88.0 F)	3.3 C (5.9 F)	58 years	31 of 100 (Routine)
17 October 1938	Marlinton, US	monthly high max	30.6 C (87.1 F)	2.3 C (4.1 F)	41 years	30 of 100 (Routine)
17 October 1938	Simcoe, CA	daily high max	28.9 C (84.0 F)	2.2 C (4.0 F)	64 years	29 of 100 (Routine)
17 October 1938	Dillon U of Montana Western, US	daily rain	29.0 mm (1.1 in)	9.2 mm (0.36 in)	29 years	29 of 100 (Routine)
17 October 1938	Ogden 2, US	daily rain	36.3 mm (1.4 in)	20.6 mm (0.8 in)	0 years	29 of 100 (Routine)
17 October 1938	Raghunathpur, IN	daily rain	39.9 mm (1.6 in)	33.3 mm (1.3 in)	32 years	28 of 100 (Routine)
17 October 1938	Hamilton, CA	daily high max	28.9 C (84.0 F)	1.7 C (3.1 F)	58 years	27 of 100 (Routine)
17 October 1938	Norwalk, US	monthly high max	30.6 C (87.1 F)	0.6 C (1.1 F)	40 years	27 of 100 (Routine)
17 October 1938	Rapid City Forrest, CA	daily snowfall	15.2 cm (6.0 in)	8.8 cm (3.5 in)	20 years	26 of 100 (Routine)
17 October 1938	Elko Rgnl AP, US	daily low max	3.9 C (39.0 F)	6.1 C (11.0 F)	39 years	26 of 100 (Routine)
17 October 1938	Rapelje, US	monthly snow depth	35.6 cm (14.0 in)	5.1 cm (2.0 in)	25 years	25 of 100 (Routine)

Significance is a score from 0 to 100 combining margin, the age of the old record and the length of the station's record. How it is computed.

The Same Date in Other Years

1793 to 1938

Records set or tied on this calendar date in each year from 1793 to 1938. 1938 had 710 records.

Counts for years before the ledger starts come from the same station rules.

Records on 10-17 in each year
Year	Records
1793	1
1796	2
1808	2
1810	1
1811	1
1817	1
1820	1
1830	1
1836	1
1844	1
1845	1
1868	1
1869	2
1870	1
1872	1
1874	1
1875	1
1876	3
1877	1
1878	1
1879	7
1881	1
1882	1
1883	1
1884	2
1885	2
1886	1
1889	1
1890	3
1891	2
1892	6
1893	5
1894	2
1895	1
1897	3
1898	6
1899	3
1900	3
1901	3
1902	4
1903	9
1904	17
1905	12
1906	3
1907	16
1908	46
1909	18
1910	13
1911	24
1912	12
1913	26
1914	72
1915	7
1916	81
1917	29
1918	20
1919	34
1920	82
1921	64
1922	60
1923	149
1924	81
1925	324
1926	153
1927	163
1928	530
1929	119
1930	441
1931	431
1932	345
1933	190
1934	262
1935	337
1936	338
1937	865
1938	710
1939	424
1940	580
1941	194
1942	349
1943	1,173
1944	415
1945	289
1946	437
1947	744
1948	724
1949	442
1950	809
1951	274
1952	474
1953	463
1954	579
1955	562
1956	353
1957	245
1958	415
1959	403
1960	432
1961	525
1962	350
1963	513
1964	492
1965	920
1966	551
1967	576
1968	929
1969	714
1970	815
1971	1,053
1972	866
1973	542
1974	1,055
1975	605
1976	1,381
1977	1,060
1978	583
1979	468
1980	1,366
1981	555
1982	575
1983	526
1984	1,551
1985	585
1986	354
1987	828
1988	827
1989	1,163
1990	1,109
1991	1,352
1992	1,384
1993	1,001
1994	1,306
1995	1,076
1996	987
1997	1,114
1998	1,455
1999	815
2000	461
2001	878
2002	992
2003	764
2004	935
2005	643
2006	1,506
2007	690
2008	467
2009	1,606
2010	625
2011	734
2012	550
2013	516
2014	530
2015	843
2016	1,559
2017	743
2018	1,163
2019	504
2020	889
2021	294
2022	964
2023	544
2024	994
2025	363

Download the Data

Data for records on 1938-10-17: CSV or JSON. Field meanings are on the data page.

Sources: Source: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Global Historical Climatology Network Daily (GHCN-Daily). Records are computed by World Extreme Weather Monitor and are not official NOAA products. (US Government open data (NOAA NCEI)) Made with Natural Earth. Public domain map data. Borders are Natural Earth's de facto depiction. Data as of 2026-10-17 (17 October 2026). Records are computed by this site and are not official.

Data as of 2026-10-15. Last revised 15 October 2026 (2026-10-15).

Margin	Records
0 to 50	525
50 to 100	6
100 to 150	3
150 to 200	3
200 to 250	0
250 to 300	0
300 to 350	0
350 to 400	1