Weather Records on 5 December 1959

287 weather records were set or tied worldwide on 5 December 1959. Highest significance: Wrangell AP, US.

Key Facts for 5 December 1959

On 5 December 1959, 287 weather records were set or tied at long-record stations worldwide.
55 were record highs and 109 were record lows, counting maximum and minimum temperature.
By timescale, 0 were all-time records, 6 monthly and 281 daily.
Wrangell AP set a daily record precipitation of 80.5 mm (3.2 in) on 5 December 1959.
Across 170 earlier years (1796 to 2025) the same calendar date averaged 477 records.

Record Map

287 stations

287 station records on 5 December 1959 are marked on the map, coloured by record type. Dot size shows the significance score. Made with Natural Earth.

Weather records on 5 December 1959: highest significance records shown on the map
Station	Country	Type	Value	Significance
Wrangell AP	United States	Record daily precipitation	80.5 mm (3.2 in)	54 of 100 (Notable)
Wooroona	Australia	Record daily precipitation	79.2 mm (3.1 in)	53 of 100 (Notable)
Lower Boro (Calderwood)	Australia	Record daily precipitation	58.7 mm (2.3 in)	51 of 100 (Notable)
Montreal River	Canada	Record daily snowfall	17.8 cm (7.0 in)	44 of 100 (Notable)
Ketchikan AP	United States	Record daily precipitation	126.5 mm (5.0 in)	44 of 100 (Notable)
Narada Downs	Australia	Record daily precipitation	35.1 mm (1.4 in)	38 of 100 (Notable)
Stewart	Canada	Record daily precipitation	57.2 mm (2.3 in)	38 of 100 (Notable)
Newry	Australia	Record daily precipitation	71.1 mm (2.8 in)	36 of 100 (Notable)
West Quarter	Australia	Record daily precipitation	51.1 mm (2.0 in)	36 of 100 (Notable)
Tonteldoos	South Africa	Record daily precipitation	61.4 mm (2.4 in)	33 of 100 (Routine)
Virden	Canada	Record high maximum temperature	-2.2 C (28.0 F)	31 of 100 (Routine)
Santa Cruz	United States	Record high maximum temperature	26.7 C (80.1 F)	31 of 100 (Routine)
Hawthorne AP	United States	Record low minimum temperature	-13.9 C (7.0 F)	31 of 100 (Routine)
Ferrara	Italy	Record daily precipitation	35.2 mm (1.4 in)	30 of 100 (Routine)
Riva	Italy	Record high maximum temperature	14.0 C (57.2 F)	30 of 100 (Routine)
Riverside Fire STN 3	United States	Record high minimum temperature	13.9 C (57.0 F)	30 of 100 (Routine)
Aliwal North	South Africa	Record daily precipitation	38.0 mm (1.5 in)	29 of 100 (Routine)
Palmer Estate	South Africa	Record daily precipitation	60.0 mm (2.4 in)	29 of 100 (Routine)
Orleans	United States	Record low minimum temperature	-5.0 C (23.0 F)	28 of 100 (Routine)
Mirtna	Australia	Record daily precipitation	30.5 mm (1.2 in)	27 of 100 (Routine)
Minsk	Belarus	Record low maximum temperature	-13.1 C (8.4 F)	27 of 100 (Routine)
Aleksandrovsk-Sahalinskij	Russia	Record high minimum temperature	-3.1 C (26.4 F)	27 of 100 (Routine)
Timovskoe	Russia	Record high minimum temperature	-4.1 C (24.6 F)	27 of 100 (Routine)
Winnemucca AP	United States	Record low minimum temperature	-19.4 C (-2.9 F)	27 of 100 (Routine)
La Palma	Australia	Record daily precipitation	37.6 mm (1.5 in)	26 of 100 (Routine)
Riva	Italy	Record high minimum temperature	10.0 C (50.0 F)	26 of 100 (Routine)
Lunner	Norway	Record daily precipitation	28.8 mm (1.1 in)	26 of 100 (Routine)
Kazan	Russia	Record low maximum temperature	-20.4 C (-4.7 F)	26 of 100 (Routine)
Springer	United States	Record daily snowfall	5.1 cm (2.0 in)	26 of 100 (Routine)
Coorada	Australia	Record daily precipitation	42.7 mm (1.7 in)	25 of 100 (Routine)
Wollomombi (Wallamumbi)	Australia	Record daily precipitation	35.6 mm (1.4 in)	25 of 100 (Routine)
Champoton (Smn)	Mexico	Record low minimum temperature	10.0 C (50.0 F)	25 of 100 (Routine)
Coloso	Puerto Rico [United States]	Record daily precipitation	32.0 mm (1.3 in)	25 of 100 (Routine)
Sundance	United States	Record daily snowfall	6.4 cm (2.5 in)	25 of 100 (Routine)
Jeogla Station	Australia	Record daily precipitation	46.0 mm (1.8 in)	24 of 100 (Routine)
Velikie Luki	Russia	Record low minimum temperature	-26.4 C (-15.5 F)	24 of 100 (Routine)
Kursk	Russia	Record low minimum temperature	-25.8 C (-14.4 F)	24 of 100 (Routine)
Kamennaja-Step	Russia	Record low maximum temperature	-16.5 C (2.3 F)	24 of 100 (Routine)
Vilsandi	Estonia	Record low maximum temperature	-6.8 C (19.8 F)	23 of 100 (Routine)
Bezenchuk	Russia	Record low maximum temperature	-17.0 C (1.4 F)	23 of 100 (Routine)
Riggins	United States	Record low minimum temperature	-7.8 C (18.0 F)	23 of 100 (Routine)
Hana 354	United States	Record low minimum temperature	15.6 C (60.1 F)	23 of 100 (Routine)
Bezenchuk	Russia	Record low minimum temperature	-26.6 C (-15.9 F)	22 of 100 (Routine)
Kamennaja-Step	Russia	Record low minimum temperature	-28.0 C (-18.4 F)	22 of 100 (Routine)
Monument 2 WSW	United States	Record daily snowfall	12.7 cm (5.0 in)	22 of 100 (Routine)
Imlay	United States	Record low minimum temperature	-16.7 C (1.9 F)	22 of 100 (Routine)
Yerington	United States	Record low minimum temperature	-17.8 C (0.0 F)	22 of 100 (Routine)
Klamath Falls 2 SSW	United States	Record low minimum temperature	-12.8 C (9.0 F)	22 of 100 (Routine)
Prince	Canada	Record high maximum temperature	7.2 C (45.0 F)	21 of 100 (Routine)
Guayama 1SW	Puerto Rico [United States]	Record high maximum temperature	35.0 C (95.0 F)	21 of 100 (Routine)
Enisejsk	Russia	Record low maximum temperature	-39.6 C (-39.3 F)	21 of 100 (Routine)
Pretoria-Fountains	South Africa	Record daily precipitation	26.0 mm (1.0 in)	21 of 100 (Routine)
Elsinore	United States	Record high minimum temperature	11.7 C (53.1 F)	21 of 100 (Routine)
Weaverville	United States	Record low minimum temperature	-10.0 C (14.0 F)	21 of 100 (Routine)
Minden	United States	Record low minimum temperature	-15.6 C (3.9 F)	21 of 100 (Routine)
Buskala Rch	United States	Record daily snowfall	8.9 cm (3.5 in)	21 of 100 (Routine)
Olands Sodra Udde	Sweden	Record daily precipitation	22.9 mm (0.9 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Kalmar_D	Sweden	Record daily precipitation	17.0 mm (0.7 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Nikolaevsk-Na-Amure	Russia	Record daily precipitation	20.7 mm (0.8 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Timovskoe	Russia	Record daily precipitation	19.4 mm (0.8 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)

Counts by Type and Timescale

287 records

Records set or tied on 5 December 1959 by type: Highest daily maximum 24, Lowest daily maximum 41, Highest daily minimum 31, Lowest daily minimum 68, Heaviest daily rainfall 110, Heaviest daily snowfall 12, Deepest snow cover 1.

Records on 5 December 1959 by type
Record type	Records
Highest daily maximum	24
Lowest daily maximum	41
Highest daily minimum	31
Lowest daily minimum	68
Heaviest daily rainfall	110
Heaviest daily snowfall	12
Deepest snow cover	1

Records on 5 December 1959 by timescale: all-time 0, monthly 6, daily 281.

How Much Records Were Beaten By

253 broken records

Margins by which the 253 broken records beat the old ones, in degrees Celsius for temperature and millimetres for precipitation and snow; the largest margin was 107.0. Ties are not counted.

Top 20 by Significance

5 December 1959

Top 20 records on 5 December 1959 by significance
Date	Station	Record	Value	Beat old record by	Old record stood	Significance
5 December 1959	Wrangell AP, US	daily rain	80.5 mm (3.2 in)	59.4 mm (2.3 in)	33 years	54 of 100 (Notable)
5 December 1959	Wooroona, AU	daily rain	79.2 mm (3.1 in)	69.0 mm (2.7 in)	32 years	53 of 100 (Notable)
5 December 1959	Lower Boro (Calderwood), AU	daily rain	58.7 mm (2.3 in)	39.4 mm (1.6 in)	21 years	51 of 100 (Notable)
5 December 1959	Montreal River, CA	daily snowfall	17.8 cm (7.0 in)	10.7 cm (4.2 in)	38 years	44 of 100 (Notable)
5 December 1959	Ketchikan AP, US	daily rain	126.5 mm (5.0 in)	52.3 mm (2.1 in)	36 years	44 of 100 (Notable)
5 December 1959	Narada Downs, AU	daily rain	35.1 mm (1.4 in)	24.9 mm (1.0 in)	40 years	38 of 100 (Notable)
5 December 1959	Stewart, CA	daily rain	57.2 mm (2.3 in)	26.7 mm (1.1 in)	37 years	38 of 100 (Notable)
5 December 1959	Newry, AU	daily rain	71.1 mm (2.8 in)	41.1 mm (1.6 in)	28 years	36 of 100 (Notable)
5 December 1959	West Quarter, AU	daily rain	51.1 mm (2.0 in)	27.0 mm (1.1 in)	40 years	36 of 100 (Notable)
5 December 1959	Tonteldoos, ZA	daily rain	61.4 mm (2.4 in)	38.5 mm (1.5 in)	8 years	33 of 100 (Routine)
5 December 1959	Virden, CA	daily high max	-2.2 C (28.0 F)	3.9 C (7.0 F)	68 years	31 of 100 (Routine)
5 December 1959	Santa Cruz, US	daily high max	26.7 C (80.1 F)	2.3 C (4.1 F)	65 years	31 of 100 (Routine)
5 December 1959	Hawthorne AP, US	daily low min	-13.9 C (7.0 F)	3.3 C (5.9 F)	56 years	31 of 100 (Routine)
5 December 1959	Ferrara, IT	daily rain	35.2 mm (1.4 in)	3.2 mm (0.13 in)	61 years	30 of 100 (Routine)
5 December 1959	Riva, IT	daily high max	14.0 C (57.2 F)	1.2 C (2.2 F)	60 years	30 of 100 (Routine)
5 December 1959	Riverside Fire STN 3, US	daily high min	13.9 C (57.0 F)	2.2 C (4.0 F)	65 years	30 of 100 (Routine)
5 December 1959	Aliwal North, ZA	daily rain	38.0 mm (1.5 in)	6.2 mm (0.24 in)	58 years	29 of 100 (Routine)
5 December 1959	Palmer Estate, ZA	daily rain	60.0 mm (2.4 in)	20.6 mm (0.8 in)	34 years	29 of 100 (Routine)
5 December 1959	Orleans, US	daily low min	-5.0 C (23.0 F)	3.3 C (5.9 F)	46 years	28 of 100 (Routine)
5 December 1959	Mirtna, AU	daily rain	30.5 mm (1.2 in)	25.7 mm (1.0 in)	28 years	27 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

1796 to 1959

Records set or tied on this calendar date in each year from 1796 to 1959. 1959 had 287 records.

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

Records on 12-05 in each year
Year	Records
1796	1
1797	2
1808	1
1812	1
1820	1
1823	1
1824	1
1825	2
1827	1
1829	3
1833	2
1841	1
1842	1
1844	2
1846	2
1852	1
1853	1
1856	4
1859	1
1863	1
1866	2
1867	4
1868	4
1869	1
1870	1
1871	1
1872	1
1874	1
1875	2
1876	1
1877	2
1878	1
1879	3
1880	1
1884	1
1885	2
1886	2
1888	3
1891	5
1892	2
1893	1
1895	13
1896	1
1897	1
1898	7
1900	11
1901	1
1902	13
1903	8
1904	4
1905	4
1906	15
1907	6
1908	7
1909	55
1910	10
1911	97
1912	40
1913	35
1914	22
1915	95
1916	81
1917	35
1918	32
1919	48
1920	89
1921	56
1922	99
1923	168
1924	106
1925	220
1926	370
1927	82
1928	168
1929	111
1930	247
1931	224
1932	235
1933	566
1934	164
1935	273
1936	409
1937	336
1938	279
1939	691
1940	244
1941	899
1942	583
1943	276
1944	320
1945	418
1946	552
1947	283
1948	529
1949	139
1950	887
1951	780
1952	324
1953	459
1954	425
1955	568
1956	1,229
1957	348
1958	465
1959	287
1960	898
1961	415
1962	834
1963	326
1964	909
1965	534
1966	1,038
1967	253
1968	766
1969	594
1970	845
1971	690
1972	2,240
1973	910
1974	527
1975	859
1976	533
1977	1,227
1978	960
1979	863
1980	1,054
1981	590
1982	1,577
1983	1,024
1984	1,141
1985	1,324
1986	798
1987	829
1988	581
1989	1,317
1990	887
1991	1,384
1992	1,743
1993	871
1994	1,481
1995	1,094
1996	987
1997	718
1998	2,489
1999	1,060
2000	973
2001	2,046
2002	2,027
2003	1,031
2004	805
2005	1,475
2006	1,646
2007	992
2008	807
2009	1,229
2010	1,237
2011	1,472
2012	1,081
2013	1,763
2014	476
2015	721
2016	636
2017	568
2018	338
2019	463
2020	529
2021	679
2022	454
2023	1,402
2024	796
2025	872

Download the Data

Data for records on 1959-12-05: 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 2026-10-16. Last revised 16 October 2026 (2026-10-16).

Margin	Records
0 to 20	231
20 to 40	12
40 to 60	7
60 to 80	2
80 to 100	0
100 to 120	1