Weather Records on 17 May 1940

338 weather records were set or tied worldwide on 17 May 1940. Highest significance: Vineland, US.

Key Facts for 17 May 1940

On 17 May 1940, 338 weather records were set or tied at long-record stations worldwide.
71 were record highs and 112 were record lows, counting maximum and minimum temperature.
By timescale, 0 were all-time records, 2 monthly and 336 daily.
Vineland set a daily record precipitation of 114.3 mm (4.5 in) on 17 May 1940.
Across 167 earlier years (1802 to 2026) the same calendar date averaged 435 records.

Record Map

338 stations

338 station records on 17 May 1940 are marked on the map, coloured by record type. Dot size shows the significance score. Made with Natural Earth.

Weather records on 17 May 1940: highest significance records shown on the map
Station	Country	Type	Value	Significance
Vineland	United States	Record daily precipitation	114.3 mm (4.5 in)	59 of 100 (Notable)
Moorestown 4 E	United States	Record daily precipitation	54.4 mm (2.1 in)	48 of 100 (Notable)
Columbia Wb City	United States	Record daily precipitation	50.3 mm (2.0 in)	40 of 100 (Notable)
Sitka Magnetic Obsy	United States	Record daily precipitation	48.8 mm (1.9 in)	38 of 100 (Notable)
Dauphin	Canada	Record daily snowfall	16.5 cm (6.5 in)	37 of 100 (Notable)
Kanjirapally	India	Record daily precipitation	153.7 mm (6.1 in)	37 of 100 (Notable)
Chatrapur	India	Record daily precipitation	59.2 mm (2.3 in)	36 of 100 (Notable)
Cananeia G4-001	Brazil	Record daily precipitation	62.4 mm (2.5 in)	35 of 100 (Notable)
Freehold-Marlboro	United States	Record daily precipitation	33.8 mm (1.3 in)	35 of 100 (Notable)
Enfield	United States	Record daily precipitation	58.4 mm (2.3 in)	35 of 100 (Notable)
Milan	Italy	Record daily precipitation	48.8 mm (1.9 in)	34 of 100 (Routine)
El Dorado	United States	Record daily precipitation	70.4 mm (2.8 in)	33 of 100 (Routine)
Red Cloud	United States	Record daily precipitation	30.0 mm (1.2 in)	33 of 100 (Routine)
Cambridge Water Trmt P	United States	Record daily precipitation	41.9 mm (1.6 in)	31 of 100 (Routine)
Bedford Hills	United States	Record daily precipitation	46.2 mm (1.8 in)	29 of 100 (Routine)
Muvattupuzha	India	Record daily precipitation	71.6 mm (2.8 in)	28 of 100 (Routine)
Hambantota	Sri Lanka	Record low minimum temperature	22.2 C (72.0 F)	27 of 100 (Routine)
Coleman 3 WNW	United States	Record daily precipitation	38.4 mm (1.5 in)	27 of 100 (Routine)
Little Falls	United States	Record daily precipitation	53.3 mm (2.1 in)	27 of 100 (Routine)
Helwan (Cairo)	Egypt	Record high minimum temperature	28.0 C (82.4 F)	26 of 100 (Routine)
Aibonito 1 S	Puerto Rico [United States]	Record daily precipitation	50.8 mm (2.0 in)	26 of 100 (Routine)
Lihue 1020	United States	Record high maximum temperature	29.4 C (84.9 F)	26 of 100 (Routine)
Durango	United States	Record high minimum temperature	7.8 C (46.0 F)	24 of 100 (Routine)
Irkutsk	Russia	Record high maximum temperature	27.4 C (81.3 F)	23 of 100 (Routine)
Edenhope (Post Office)	Australia	Record daily precipitation	25.7 mm (1.0 in)	22 of 100 (Routine)
Halls Gap	Australia	Record daily precipitation	37.8 mm (1.5 in)	22 of 100 (Routine)
Wartook Reservoir	Australia	Record daily precipitation	30.7 mm (1.2 in)	22 of 100 (Routine)
Dhubri	India	Record daily precipitation	101.9 mm (4.0 in)	22 of 100 (Routine)
Basudevpur (Eram)	India	Record daily precipitation	69.6 mm (2.7 in)	22 of 100 (Routine)
Cuttack	India	Record daily precipitation	35.6 mm (1.4 in)	22 of 100 (Routine)
Salina	United States	Record daily precipitation	29.5 mm (1.2 in)	22 of 100 (Routine)
Chatham	United States	Record daily precipitation	53.1 mm (2.1 in)	22 of 100 (Routine)
Weldon	United States	Record daily precipitation	29.5 mm (1.2 in)	22 of 100 (Routine)
Portage la Prairie	Canada	Record daily precipitation	25.4 mm (1.0 in)	21 of 100 (Routine)
Pointe Au Pere	Canada	Record low maximum temperature	4.4 C (39.9 F)	21 of 100 (Routine)
Cairo Ezbekiya	Egypt	Record high minimum temperature	25.0 C (77.0 F)	21 of 100 (Routine)
Aleksandrovsk-Sahalinskij	Russia	Record high minimum temperature	5.9 C (42.6 F)	21 of 100 (Routine)
Karesuando	Sweden	Record high maximum temperature	20.5 C (68.9 F)	21 of 100 (Routine)
Franklin	United States	Record daily precipitation	34.0 mm (1.3 in)	21 of 100 (Routine)
Oberlin	United States	Record low maximum temperature	11.7 C (53.1 F)	21 of 100 (Routine)
Upper Sandusky	United States	Record low maximum temperature	11.1 C (52.0 F)	21 of 100 (Routine)
Philadelphia Shawmont	United States	Record daily precipitation	40.4 mm (1.6 in)	21 of 100 (Routine)
Saint Johnsbury	United States	Record daily precipitation	33.5 mm (1.3 in)	21 of 100 (Routine)
Charam	Australia	Record daily precipitation	21.1 mm (0.8 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Kirensk	Russia	Record daily precipitation	9.5 mm (0.37 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Savanne	Canada	Record daily snowfall	2.5 cm (1.0 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Barabinsk	Russia	Record daily precipitation	7.8 mm (0.31 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Melton	Australia	Record daily precipitation	11.7 mm (0.5 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Strathdownie (Mulga)	Australia	Record daily precipitation	17.5 mm (0.7 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Las Animas	United States	Record daily precipitation	22.9 mm (0.9 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Richmond City Locks	United States	Record daily precipitation	23.4 mm (0.9 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Kybybolite Research Centre	Australia	Record daily precipitation	18.3 mm (0.7 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Penshurst (Post Office)	Australia	Record daily precipitation	18.0 mm (0.7 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Charlotteburg Rsvr	United States	Record daily precipitation	22.6 mm (0.9 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Bloomfield 3 SE	United States	Record daily precipitation	6.1 mm (0.24 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Jindabyne West (Hiawatha)	Australia	Record daily precipitation	9.9 mm (0.39 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Paris	Canada	Record low maximum temperature	10.0 C (50.0 F)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Akhuapada	India	Record daily precipitation	33.0 mm (1.3 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Limon 10 SSW	United States	Record daily precipitation	18.0 mm (0.7 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Storrs	United States	Record high minimum temperature	13.3 C (55.9 F)	20 of 100 (Routine)

Counts by Type and Timescale

338 records

Records set or tied on 17 May 1940 by type: Highest daily maximum 23, Lowest daily maximum 85, Highest daily minimum 48, Lowest daily minimum 27, Heaviest daily rainfall 152, Heaviest daily snowfall 2, Deepest snow cover 1.

Records on 17 May 1940 by type
Record type	Records
Highest daily maximum	23
Lowest daily maximum	85
Highest daily minimum	48
Lowest daily minimum	27
Heaviest daily rainfall	152
Heaviest daily snowfall	2
Deepest snow cover	1

Records on 17 May 1940 by timescale: all-time 0, monthly 2, daily 336.

How Much Records Were Beaten By

276 broken records

Margins by which the 276 broken records beat the old ones, in degrees Celsius for temperature and millimetres for precipitation and snow; the largest margin was 160.0. Ties are not counted.

Top 20 by Significance

17 May 1940

Top 20 records on 17 May 1940 by significance
Date	Station	Record	Value	Beat old record by	Old record stood	Significance
17 May 1940	Vineland, US	daily rain	114.3 mm (4.5 in)	93.5 mm (3.7 in)	41 years	59 of 100 (Notable)
17 May 1940	Moorestown 4 E, US	daily rain	54.4 mm (2.1 in)	37.4 mm (1.5 in)	27 years	48 of 100 (Notable)
17 May 1940	Columbia Wb City, US	daily rain	50.3 mm (2.0 in)	31.2 mm (1.2 in)	32 years	40 of 100 (Notable)
17 May 1940	Sitka Magnetic Obsy, US	daily rain	48.8 mm (1.9 in)	22.6 mm (0.9 in)	12 years	38 of 100 (Notable)
17 May 1940	Dauphin, CA	daily snowfall	16.5 cm (6.5 in)	16.0 cm (6.3 in)	1 year	37 of 100 (Notable)
17 May 1940	Kanjirapally, IN	daily rain	153.7 mm (6.1 in)	85.1 mm (3.4 in)	14 years	37 of 100 (Notable)
17 May 1940	Chatrapur, IN	daily rain	59.2 mm (2.3 in)	48.8 mm (1.9 in)	2 years	36 of 100 (Notable)
17 May 1940	Cananeia G4-001, BR	daily rain	62.4 mm (2.5 in)	31.9 mm (1.3 in)	23 years	35 of 100 (Notable)
17 May 1940	Freehold-Marlboro, US	daily rain	33.8 mm (1.3 in)	19.8 mm (0.8 in)	41 years	35 of 100 (Notable)
17 May 1940	Enfield, US	daily rain	58.4 mm (2.3 in)	33.5 mm (1.3 in)	17 years	35 of 100 (Notable)
17 May 1940	Milan, IT	daily rain	48.8 mm (1.9 in)	7.4 mm (0.29 in)	68 years	34 of 100 (Routine)
17 May 1940	El Dorado, US	daily rain	70.4 mm (2.8 in)	28.7 mm (1.1 in)	32 years	33 of 100 (Routine)
17 May 1940	Red Cloud, US	daily rain	30.0 mm (1.2 in)	20.1 mm (0.8 in)	39 years	33 of 100 (Routine)
17 May 1940	Cambridge Water Trmt P, US	daily rain	41.9 mm (1.6 in)	22.8 mm (0.9 in)	21 years	31 of 100 (Routine)
17 May 1940	Bedford Hills, US	daily rain	46.2 mm (1.8 in)	17.5 mm (0.7 in)	24 years	29 of 100 (Routine)
17 May 1940	Muvattupuzha, IN	daily rain	71.6 mm (2.8 in)	42.4 mm (1.7 in)	22 years	28 of 100 (Routine)
17 May 1940	Hambantota, LK	daily low min	22.2 C (72.0 F)	0.9 C (1.6 F)	42 years	27 of 100 (Routine)
17 May 1940	Coleman 3 WNW, US	daily rain	38.4 mm (1.5 in)	18.3 mm (0.7 in)	21 years	27 of 100 (Routine)
17 May 1940	Little Falls, US	daily rain	53.3 mm (2.1 in)	18.0 mm (0.7 in)	33 years	27 of 100 (Routine)
17 May 1940	Helwan (Cairo), EG	daily high min	28.0 C (82.4 F)	4.2 C (7.6 F)	34 years	26 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

1802 to 1940

Records set or tied on this calendar date in each year from 1802 to 1940. 1940 had 338 records.

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

Records on 05-17 in each year
Year	Records
1802	2
1803	1
1808	1
1816	1
1834	1
1837	1
1839	1
1847	2
1848	1
1851	1
1853	1
1855	1
1858	1
1859	1
1861	2
1862	2
1863	2
1864	1
1871	2
1872	2
1873	2
1874	4
1877	1
1878	1
1879	2
1880	1
1881	1
1882	2
1883	3
1885	1
1887	1
1888	2
1889	3
1891	8
1892	4
1893	3
1895	8
1896	2
1897	3
1898	6
1899	7
1900	12
1901	2
1902	3
1903	9
1904	12
1905	10
1906	22
1907	10
1908	5
1909	33
1910	16
1911	30
1912	16
1913	24
1914	24
1915	53
1916	49
1917	18
1918	56
1919	35
1920	46
1921	50
1922	30
1923	95
1924	80
1925	326
1926	133
1927	264
1928	127
1929	168
1930	421
1931	201
1932	288
1933	365
1934	373
1935	341
1936	270
1937	183
1938	340
1939	285
1940	338
1941	408
1942	589
1943	855
1944	521
1945	799
1946	586
1947	249
1948	412
1949	544
1950	371
1951	373
1952	777
1953	441
1954	298
1955	570
1956	1,166
1957	469
1958	331
1959	488
1960	402
1961	291
1962	1,325
1963	368
1964	417
1965	462
1966	489
1967	644
1968	564
1969	638
1970	711
1971	723
1972	610
1973	1,016
1974	1,302
1975	365
1976	426
1977	1,078
1978	872
1979	459
1980	768
1981	940
1982	476
1983	1,326
1984	925
1985	561
1986	921
1987	1,054
1988	1,096
1989	1,307
1990	1,135
1991	1,237
1992	1,025
1993	495
1994	858
1995	1,734
1996	1,706
1997	1,619
1998	1,080
1999	795
2000	825
2001	960
2002	964
2003	1,127
2004	769
2005	784
2006	1,522
2007	742
2008	1,309
2009	1,050
2010	880
2011	1,483
2012	711
2013	739
2014	1,062
2015	824
2016	741
2017	1,302
2018	726
2019	686
2020	496
2021	443
2022	479
2023	385
2024	566
2025	928
2026	745

Download the Data

Data for records on 1940-05-17: 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 20	256
20 to 40	15
40 to 60	2
60 to 80	0
80 to 100	2
100 to 120	0
120 to 140	0
140 to 160	1