Weather Records on 16 December 1940

633 weather records were set or tied worldwide on 16 December 1940. Highest significance: Waterloo, US.

Key Facts for 16 December 1940

On 16 December 1940, 633 weather records were set or tied at long-record stations worldwide.
120 were record highs and 70 were record lows, counting maximum and minimum temperature.
By timescale, 0 were all-time records, 24 monthly and 609 daily.
Waterloo set a monthly record daily snowfall of 22.9 cm (9.0 in) on 16 December 1940.
Across 160 earlier years (1793 to 2025) the same calendar date averaged 481 records.

Record Map

633 stations

633 station records on 16 December 1940 are marked on the map, coloured by record type. Dot size shows the significance score. Made with Natural Earth.

Weather records on 16 December 1940: highest significance records shown on the map
Station	Country	Type	Value	Significance
Waterloo	United States	Record daily snowfall	22.9 cm (9.0 in)	58 of 100 (Notable)
Albert Lea 3SE	United States	Record daily snowfall	33.0 cm (13.0 in)	57 of 100 (Notable)
Le Claire	United States	Record daily precipitation	30.5 mm (1.2 in)	55 of 100 (Notable)
Mt Ayr	United States	Record daily snowfall	16.5 cm (6.5 in)	51 of 100 (Notable)
Clinton 2	United States	Record daily precipitation	31.8 mm (1.3 in)	50 of 100 (Notable)
Guthrie Ctr	United States	Record daily snowfall	11.4 cm (4.5 in)	50 of 100 (Notable)
Albia 3 NNE	United States	Record daily precipitation	30.5 mm (1.2 in)	49 of 100 (Notable)
Grand Meadow	United States	Record daily snowfall	25.4 cm (10.0 in)	49 of 100 (Notable)
Muscatine 2	United States	Record daily precipitation	28.4 mm (1.1 in)	48 of 100 (Notable)
Long Lake Dam	United States	Record daily precipitation	31.2 mm (1.2 in)	48 of 100 (Notable)
Park Falls Dnr HQ	United States	Record daily snowfall	29.2 cm (11.5 in)	48 of 100 (Notable)
Phelps	United States	Record daily precipitation	31.8 mm (1.3 in)	48 of 100 (Notable)
Farmington 3NW	United States	Record daily snowfall	35.6 cm (14.0 in)	47 of 100 (Notable)
Rhinelander	United States	Record daily precipitation	26.9 mm (1.1 in)	46 of 100 (Notable)
Stanley Wwtp	United States	Record daily snowfall	20.3 cm (8.0 in)	45 of 100 (Notable)
Gurjala(Gurujala)	India	Record daily precipitation	41.1 mm (1.6 in)	44 of 100 (Notable)
Hampton	United States	Record daily snowfall	15.2 cm (6.0 in)	44 of 100 (Notable)
Farmington 3NW	United States	Record daily precipitation	26.7 mm (1.1 in)	44 of 100 (Notable)
Merrill	United States	Record daily precipitation	75.4 mm (3.0 in)	43 of 100 (Notable)
Park Falls Dnr HQ	United States	Record daily precipitation	29.2 mm (1.1 in)	43 of 100 (Notable)
Coldwater	Canada	Record daily precipitation	36.3 mm (1.4 in)	41 of 100 (Notable)
Romney 1 SW	United States	Record daily precipitation	43.2 mm (1.7 in)	41 of 100 (Notable)
Albion	United States	Record daily snowfall	15.2 cm (6.0 in)	40 of 100 (Notable)
Prairie du Chien	United States	Record daily precipitation	28.4 mm (1.1 in)	40 of 100 (Notable)
Donaldsonville 4 SW	United States	Record daily precipitation	96.5 mm (3.8 in)	39 of 100 (Notable)
Cairo	United States	Record daily precipitation	31.8 mm (1.3 in)	39 of 100 (Notable)
Innsbruck	Austria	Record low minimum temperature	-23.2 C (-9.8 F)	38 of 100 (Notable)
Winterset 4N	United States	Record daily snowfall	15.2 cm (6.0 in)	38 of 100 (Notable)
Phillipsburg	United States	Record daily precipitation	41.9 mm (1.6 in)	38 of 100 (Notable)
Harlan	United States	Record daily snowfall	15.2 cm (6.0 in)	36 of 100 (Notable)
Hillsboro	United States	Record daily precipitation	35.6 mm (1.4 in)	36 of 100 (Notable)
La Crosse River	United States	Record daily precipitation	28.7 mm (1.1 in)	36 of 100 (Notable)
Corning	United States	Record daily snowfall	10.2 cm (4.0 in)	35 of 100 (Notable)
Larned	United States	Record snow depth	15.2 cm (6.0 in)	35 of 100 (Notable)
Minneapolis	United States	Record snow depth	20.3 cm (8.0 in)	35 of 100 (Notable)
Topeka	United States	Record daily snowfall	6.4 cm (2.5 in)	35 of 100 (Notable)
Pearl River	United States	Record daily precipitation	67.3 mm (2.6 in)	35 of 100 (Notable)
Atlantic 1 NE	United States	Record daily snowfall	14.0 cm (5.5 in)	34 of 100 (Routine)
Cleveland 2717 Euclid	United States	Record high maximum temperature	17.2 C (63.0 F)	34 of 100 (Routine)
Hvar	Croatia	Record low minimum temperature	-2.0 C (28.4 F)	33 of 100 (Routine)
Cumberland	United States	Record daily snowfall	17.8 cm (7.0 in)	33 of 100 (Routine)
Hays 1 S	United States	Record snow depth	15.2 cm (6.0 in)	33 of 100 (Routine)
Hanover	United States	Record daily precipitation	32.8 mm (1.3 in)	33 of 100 (Routine)
Mather 3 NW	United States	Record daily snowfall	15.2 cm (6.0 in)	33 of 100 (Routine)
Viroqua	United States	Record daily snowfall	12.7 cm (5.0 in)	33 of 100 (Routine)
Audubon	United States	Record daily snowfall	20.3 cm (8.0 in)	32 of 100 (Routine)
Ironwood	United States	Record daily snowfall	33.0 cm (13.0 in)	32 of 100 (Routine)
Innsbruck	Austria	Record low maximum temperature	-13.5 C (7.7 F)	31 of 100 (Routine)
Port Dover	Canada	Record daily precipitation	27.2 mm (1.1 in)	31 of 100 (Routine)
Cedar Rapids #1	United States	Record daily precipitation	25.7 mm (1.0 in)	31 of 100 (Routine)
Cedar Rapids 2	United States	Record daily precipitation	33.0 mm (1.3 in)	31 of 100 (Routine)
St Peter	United States	Record daily precipitation	33.0 mm (1.3 in)	31 of 100 (Routine)
Pottstown	United States	Record daily precipitation	45.7 mm (1.8 in)	31 of 100 (Routine)
Newark Liberty Intl AP	United States	Record daily precipitation	28.2 mm (1.1 in)	31 of 100 (Routine)
Hvar	Croatia	Record low maximum temperature	2.0 C (35.6 F)	30 of 100 (Routine)
Estherville 4E	United States	Record daily snowfall	11.9 cm (4.7 in)	30 of 100 (Routine)
Heinersreuth-Vollhof	Germany	Record snow depth	23.0 cm (9.1 in)	29 of 100 (Routine)
Greenville	United States	Record daily precipitation	74.2 mm (2.9 in)	29 of 100 (Routine)
Ishpeming	United States	Record daily precipitation	33.0 mm (1.3 in)	29 of 100 (Routine)
Steffenville	United States	Record daily precipitation	31.8 mm (1.3 in)	29 of 100 (Routine)

Counts by Type and Timescale

633 records

Records set or tied on 16 December 1940 by type: Highest daily maximum 90, Lowest daily maximum 37, Highest daily minimum 30, Lowest daily minimum 33, Heaviest daily rainfall 336, Heaviest daily snowfall 80, Deepest snow cover 27.

Records on 16 December 1940 by type
Record type	Records
Highest daily maximum	90
Lowest daily maximum	37
Highest daily minimum	30
Lowest daily minimum	33
Heaviest daily rainfall	336
Heaviest daily snowfall	80
Deepest snow cover	27

Records on 16 December 1940 by timescale: all-time 0, monthly 24, daily 609.

How Much Records Were Beaten By

557 broken records

Margins by which the 557 broken records beat the old ones, in degrees Celsius for temperature and millimetres for precipitation and snow; the largest margin was 190.0. Ties are not counted.

Top 20 by Significance

16 December 1940

Top 20 records on 16 December 1940 by significance
Date	Station	Record	Value	Beat old record by	Old record stood	Significance
16 December 1940	Waterloo, US	monthly snowfall	22.9 cm (9.0 in)	15.3 cm (6.0 in)	14 years	58 of 100 (Notable)
16 December 1940	Albert Lea 3SE, US	monthly snowfall	33.0 cm (13.0 in)	15.2 cm (6.0 in)	32 years	57 of 100 (Notable)
16 December 1940	Le Claire, US	daily rain	30.5 mm (1.2 in)	23.4 mm (0.9 in)	38 years	55 of 100 (Notable)
16 December 1940	Mt Ayr, US	daily snowfall	16.5 cm (6.5 in)	16.5 cm (6.5 in)	46 years	51 of 100 (Notable)
16 December 1940	Clinton 2, US	daily rain	31.8 mm (1.3 in)	26.5 mm (1.0 in)	25 years	50 of 100 (Notable)
16 December 1940	Guthrie Ctr, US	daily snowfall	11.4 cm (4.5 in)	11.4 cm (4.5 in)	44 years	50 of 100 (Notable)
16 December 1940	Albia 3 NNE, US	daily rain	30.5 mm (1.2 in)	25.9 mm (1.0 in)	19 years	49 of 100 (Notable)
16 December 1940	Grand Meadow, US	daily snowfall	25.4 cm (10.0 in)	17.8 cm (7.0 in)	19 years	49 of 100 (Notable)
16 December 1940	Muscatine 2, US	daily rain	28.4 mm (1.1 in)	22.8 mm (0.9 in)	25 years	48 of 100 (Notable)
16 December 1940	Long Lake Dam, US	daily rain	31.2 mm (1.2 in)	20.5 mm (0.8 in)	19 years	48 of 100 (Notable)
16 December 1940	Park Falls Dnr HQ, US	daily snowfall	29.2 cm (11.5 in)	19.0 cm (7.5 in)	19 years	48 of 100 (Notable)
16 December 1940	Phelps, US	daily rain	31.8 mm (1.3 in)	22.1 mm (0.9 in)	19 years	48 of 100 (Notable)
16 December 1940	Farmington 3NW, US	monthly snowfall	35.6 cm (14.0 in)	10.2 cm (4.0 in)	38 years	47 of 100 (Notable)
16 December 1940	Rhinelander, US	daily rain	26.9 mm (1.1 in)	16.2 mm (0.6 in)	19 years	46 of 100 (Notable)
16 December 1940	Stanley Wwtp, US	daily snowfall	20.3 cm (8.0 in)	11.4 cm (4.5 in)	25 years	45 of 100 (Notable)
16 December 1940	Gurjala(Gurujala), IN	daily rain	41.1 mm (1.6 in)	35.5 mm (1.4 in)	38 years	44 of 100 (Notable)
16 December 1940	Hampton, US	daily snowfall	15.2 cm (6.0 in)	14.9 cm (5.9 in)	39 years	44 of 100 (Notable)
16 December 1940	Farmington 3NW, US	daily rain	26.7 mm (1.1 in)	14.0 mm (0.6 in)	45 years	44 of 100 (Notable)
16 December 1940	Merrill, US	daily rain	75.4 mm (3.0 in)	55.6 mm (2.2 in)	17 years	43 of 100 (Notable)
16 December 1940	Park Falls Dnr HQ, US	daily rain	29.2 mm (1.1 in)	19.0 mm (0.7 in)	19 years	43 of 100 (Notable)

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 1940

Records set or tied on this calendar date in each year from 1793 to 1940. 1940 had 633 records.

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

Records on 12-16 in each year
Year	Records
1793	2
1798	2
1808	1
1810	1
1814	2
1815	2
1835	1
1839	1
1840	1
1846	3
1852	1
1853	1
1859	3
1864	1
1869	1
1870	1
1872	1
1876	1
1877	1
1878	2
1879	1
1885	2
1886	2
1888	2
1889	1
1890	4
1891	2
1892	3
1893	1
1894	1
1895	1
1896	7
1897	4
1898	1
1899	2
1900	2
1901	4
1902	17
1903	6
1904	8
1905	4
1906	5
1907	30
1908	11
1909	5
1910	38
1911	26
1912	31
1913	12
1914	26
1915	55
1916	31
1917	60
1918	33
1919	52
1920	61
1921	35
1922	62
1923	205
1924	347
1925	93
1926	130
1927	218
1928	338
1929	383
1930	398
1931	168
1932	880
1933	716
1934	163
1935	71
1936	429
1937	351
1938	142
1939	1,014
1940	633
1941	348
1942	550
1943	491
1944	189
1945	478
1946	357
1947	506
1948	775
1949	132
1950	272
1951	987
1952	349
1953	265
1954	305
1955	325
1956	650
1957	478
1958	497
1959	605
1960	393
1961	858
1962	859
1963	484
1964	639
1965	576
1966	417
1967	886
1968	557
1969	205
1970	726
1971	1,540
1972	1,020
1973	823
1974	546
1975	493
1976	526
1977	950
1978	532
1979	528
1980	1,322
1981	1,498
1982	1,208
1983	1,156
1984	1,944
1985	983
1986	485
1987	1,377
1988	605
1989	3,181
1990	753
1991	659
1992	1,408
1993	676
1994	698
1995	714
1996	797
1997	1,260
1998	698
1999	821
2000	1,160
2001	1,197
2002	990
2003	679
2004	510
2005	1,073
2006	1,020
2007	1,301
2008	2,049
2009	1,032
2010	1,585
2011	777
2012	912
2013	762
2014	465
2015	925
2016	1,588
2017	349
2018	624
2019	786
2020	415
2021	1,485
2022	836
2023	841
2024	755
2025	1,820

Download the Data

Data for records on 1940-12-16: 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 25	476
25 to 50	36
50 to 75	16
75 to 100	9
100 to 125	7
125 to 150	5
150 to 175	5
175 to 200	3