Weather Records on 20 December 1959

142 weather records were set or tied worldwide on 20 December 1959. Highest significance: Wattoning, AU.

Key Facts for 20 December 1959

On 20 December 1959, 142 weather records were set or tied at long-record stations worldwide.
19 were record highs and 9 were record lows, counting maximum and minimum temperature.
By timescale, 0 were all-time records, 1 monthly and 141 daily.
Wattoning set a daily record precipitation of 34.3 mm (1.4 in) on 20 December 1959.
Across 163 earlier years (1793 to 2025) the same calendar date averaged 469 records.

Record Map

142 stations

142 station records on 20 December 1959 are marked on the map, coloured by record type. Dot size shows the significance score. Made with Natural Earth.

Weather records on 20 December 1959: highest significance records shown on the map
Station	Country	Type	Value	Significance
Wattoning	Australia	Record daily precipitation	34.3 mm (1.4 in)	50 of 100 (Notable)
Marvel Loch	Australia	Record daily precipitation	35.1 mm (1.4 in)	46 of 100 (Notable)
Saint-Germain-Les-Belles	France	Record daily precipitation	35.4 mm (1.4 in)	35 of 100 (Notable)
Thammampatty	India	Record daily precipitation	56.0 mm (2.2 in)	33 of 100 (Routine)
Bjornholt	Norway	Record daily precipitation	40.0 mm (1.6 in)	33 of 100 (Routine)
Gordon Downs	Australia	Record daily precipitation	52.1 mm (2.1 in)	30 of 100 (Routine)
Esk Post Office	Australia	Record daily precipitation	45.0 mm (1.8 in)	30 of 100 (Routine)
Mavelikara	India	Record daily precipitation	28.7 mm (1.1 in)	30 of 100 (Routine)
Swanfels Upper	Australia	Record daily precipitation	54.1 mm (2.1 in)	29 of 100 (Routine)
Kuzhithurai	India	Record daily precipitation	70.0 mm (2.8 in)	29 of 100 (Routine)
Charters Towers Post Office	Australia	Record high minimum temperature	25.0 C (77.0 F)	27 of 100 (Routine)
Thiruvalla	India	Record daily precipitation	25.7 mm (1.0 in)	27 of 100 (Routine)
Hedrum	Norway	Record daily precipitation	32.5 mm (1.3 in)	27 of 100 (Routine)
Mount Larcom Post Office	Australia	Record daily precipitation	74.2 mm (2.9 in)	25 of 100 (Routine)
Mayne Junction	Australia	Record daily precipitation	29.2 mm (1.1 in)	25 of 100 (Routine)
Kjusjur	Russia	Record high minimum temperature	-21.2 C (-6.2 F)	25 of 100 (Routine)
Widgiemooltha	Australia	Record daily precipitation	34.0 mm (1.3 in)	24 of 100 (Routine)
Palayankottai	India	Record daily precipitation	31.2 mm (1.2 in)	24 of 100 (Routine)
Campion	Australia	Record daily precipitation	36.6 mm (1.4 in)	23 of 100 (Routine)
Kadayam	India	Record daily precipitation	53.3 mm (2.1 in)	23 of 100 (Routine)
Salekhard	Russia	Record high minimum temperature	-7.9 C (17.8 F)	22 of 100 (Routine)
Karambakkudi	India	Record daily precipitation	62.0 mm (2.4 in)	21 of 100 (Routine)
Ambasamudram	India	Record daily precipitation	43.9 mm (1.7 in)	21 of 100 (Routine)
Umea	Sweden	Record daily precipitation	14.8 mm (0.6 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Orje	Norway	Record daily precipitation	22.7 mm (0.9 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Poitiers - Biard	France	Record daily precipitation	19.0 mm (0.7 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Nord Odal	Norway	Record daily precipitation	20.0 mm (0.8 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Tropic	United States	Record daily precipitation	20.3 mm (0.8 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Lunner	Norway	Record daily precipitation	22.0 mm (0.9 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Clarksville	United States	Record daily snowfall	2.5 cm (1.0 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Malung	Sweden	Record daily precipitation	12.0 mm (0.5 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Halden	Norway	Record daily precipitation	23.1 mm (0.9 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Vasteras-Hasslo	Sweden	Record daily precipitation	10.4 mm (0.4 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Naryn	Kyrgyzstan	Record daily precipitation	4.0 mm (0.16 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Pullagaroo	Australia	Record daily precipitation	4.8 mm (0.19 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Wandi Farm	Australia	Record daily precipitation	21.3 mm (0.8 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Zanthus	Australia	Record daily precipitation	10.2 mm (0.4 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Deols Chateauroux Aerodrome de	France	Record daily precipitation	11.0 mm (0.4 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Namakkal	India	Record daily precipitation	3.6 mm (0.14 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Beito	Norway	Record daily precipitation	17.1 mm (0.7 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Gvarv	Norway	Record daily precipitation	18.2 mm (0.7 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Karonie	Australia	Record daily precipitation	23.1 mm (0.9 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Franklyn Vale	Australia	Record daily precipitation	50.8 mm (2.0 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Coomrith	Australia	Record daily precipitation	30.5 mm (1.2 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Harrow Cda	Canada	Record daily snowfall	7.6 cm (3.0 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Pte de Chassiron	France	Record daily precipitation	16.8 mm (0.7 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Kaiserslautern	Germany	Record daily precipitation	13.2 mm (0.5 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Ponnamaravathi	India	Record daily precipitation	40.0 mm (1.6 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Den Helder-1	Netherlands	Record high minimum temperature	7.8 C (46.0 F)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Modoc Orchard	United States	Record low maximum temperature	0.0 C (32.0 F)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Bullardoo	Australia	Record daily precipitation	8.9 mm (0.35 in)	19 of 100 (Routine)
Lezay	France	Record daily precipitation	21.2 mm (0.8 in)	19 of 100 (Routine)
Le Bourget	France	Record daily precipitation	9.6 mm (0.38 in)	19 of 100 (Routine)
Zinder	Niger	Record low maximum temperature	25.2 C (77.4 F)	19 of 100 (Routine)
Eidsvoll Verk	Norway	Record daily precipitation	18.6 mm (0.7 in)	19 of 100 (Routine)
Biri	Norway	Record daily precipitation	16.5 mm (0.6 in)	19 of 100 (Routine)
Dohne (Sar)	South Africa	Record daily precipitation	33.5 mm (1.3 in)	19 of 100 (Routine)
Keosauqua	United States	Record daily snowfall	3.0 cm (1.2 in)	19 of 100 (Routine)
Marble Bar Comparison	Australia	Record high maximum temperature	46.7 C (116.1 F)	18 of 100 (Routine)
Marble Bar Comparison	Australia	Record high minimum temperature	31.1 C (88.0 F)	18 of 100 (Routine)

Counts by Type and Timescale

142 records

Records set or tied on 20 December 1959 by type: Highest daily maximum 10, Lowest daily maximum 5, Highest daily minimum 9, Lowest daily minimum 4, Heaviest daily rainfall 104, Heaviest daily snowfall 10.

Records on 20 December 1959 by type
Record type	Records
Highest daily maximum	10
Lowest daily maximum	5
Highest daily minimum	9
Lowest daily minimum	4
Heaviest daily rainfall	104
Heaviest daily snowfall	10
Deepest snow cover	0

Records on 20 December 1959 by timescale: all-time 0, monthly 1, daily 141.

How Much Records Were Beaten By

127 broken records

Margins by which the 127 broken records beat the old ones, in degrees Celsius for temperature and millimetres for precipitation and snow; the largest margin was 44.1. Ties are not counted.

Top 20 by Significance

20 December 1959

Top 20 records on 20 December 1959 by significance
Date	Station	Record	Value	Beat old record by	Old record stood	Significance
20 December 1959	Wattoning, AU	daily rain	34.3 mm (1.4 in)	24.1 mm (0.9 in)	45 years	50 of 100 (Notable)
20 December 1959	Marvel Loch, AU	daily rain	35.1 mm (1.4 in)	23.9 mm (0.9 in)	10 years	46 of 100 (Notable)
20 December 1959	Saint-Germain-Les-Belles, FR	daily rain	35.4 mm (1.4 in)	16.1 mm (0.6 in)	33 years	35 of 100 (Notable)
20 December 1959	Thammampatty, IN	daily rain	56.0 mm (2.2 in)	44.1 mm (1.7 in)	16 years	33 of 100 (Routine)
20 December 1959	Bjornholt, NO	daily rain	40.0 mm (1.6 in)	5.5 mm (0.22 in)	64 years	33 of 100 (Routine)
20 December 1959	Gordon Downs, AU	daily rain	52.1 mm (2.1 in)	22.4 mm (0.9 in)	36 years	30 of 100 (Routine)
20 December 1959	Esk Post Office, AU	daily rain	45.0 mm (1.8 in)	13.2 mm (0.5 in)	50 years	30 of 100 (Routine)
20 December 1959	Mavelikara, IN	daily rain	28.7 mm (1.1 in)	17.8 mm (0.7 in)	52 years	30 of 100 (Routine)
20 December 1959	Swanfels Upper, AU	daily rain	54.1 mm (2.1 in)	28.7 mm (1.1 in)	24 years	29 of 100 (Routine)
20 December 1959	Kuzhithurai, IN	daily rain	70.0 mm (2.8 in)	16.2 mm (0.6 in)	52 years	29 of 100 (Routine)
20 December 1959	Charters Towers Post Office, AU	daily high min	25.0 C (77.0 F)	0.6 C (1.1 F)	60 years	27 of 100 (Routine)
20 December 1959	Thiruvalla, IN	daily rain	25.7 mm (1.0 in)	12.5 mm (0.5 in)	52 years	27 of 100 (Routine)
20 December 1959	Hedrum, NO	daily rain	32.5 mm (1.3 in)	18.5 mm (0.7 in)	0 years	27 of 100 (Routine)
20 December 1959	Mount Larcom Post Office, AU	daily rain	74.2 mm (2.9 in)	33.8 mm (1.3 in)	30 years	25 of 100 (Routine)
20 December 1959	Mayne Junction, AU	daily rain	29.2 mm (1.1 in)	8.1 mm (0.32 in)	52 years	25 of 100 (Routine)
20 December 1959	Kjusjur, RU	daily high min	-21.2 C (-6.2 F)	6.6 C (11.9 F)	48 years	25 of 100 (Routine)
20 December 1959	Widgiemooltha, AU	daily rain	34.0 mm (1.3 in)	5.0 mm (0.20 in)	45 years	24 of 100 (Routine)
20 December 1959	Palayankottai, IN	daily rain	31.2 mm (1.2 in)	19.8 mm (0.8 in)	40 years	24 of 100 (Routine)
20 December 1959	Campion, AU	monthly rain	36.6 mm (1.4 in)	3.1 mm (0.12 in)	22 years	23 of 100 (Routine)
20 December 1959	Kadayam, IN	daily rain	53.3 mm (2.1 in)	12.4 mm (0.5 in)	46 years	23 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 1959

Records set or tied on this calendar date in each year from 1793 to 1959. 1959 had 142 records.

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

Records on 12-20 in each year
Year	Records
1793	1
1795	1
1804	1
1805	2
1808	1
1815	1
1828	1
1837	1
1846	1
1855	8
1858	1
1860	1
1866	1
1867	1
1868	1
1869	1
1871	2
1874	3
1875	1
1877	2
1878	1
1879	1
1880	1
1881	1
1882	1
1884	4
1885	1
1886	4
1889	4
1890	2
1891	2
1892	1
1894	2
1895	8
1896	1
1897	4
1898	2
1899	1
1900	7
1901	8
1902	14
1903	17
1904	9
1905	5
1906	5
1907	11
1908	5
1909	22
1910	17
1911	24
1912	27
1913	7
1914	43
1915	18
1916	45
1917	33
1918	18
1919	25
1920	22
1921	101
1922	88
1923	215
1924	332
1925	96
1926	163
1927	200
1928	93
1929	256
1930	67
1931	536
1932	170
1933	492
1934	265
1935	152
1936	416
1937	181
1938	240
1939	308
1940	965
1941	633
1942	817
1943	193
1944	340
1945	430
1946	327
1947	385
1948	345
1949	1,141
1950	758
1951	926
1952	394
1953	385
1954	416
1955	726
1956	471
1957	1,354
1958	382
1959	142
1960	354
1961	369
1962	475
1963	875
1964	499
1965	353
1966	555
1967	1,370
1968	482
1969	514
1970	518
1971	441
1972	448
1973	1,184
1974	328
1975	610
1976	382
1977	484
1978	910
1979	600
1980	667
1981	1,681
1982	712
1983	2,995
1984	1,411
1985	1,035
1986	321
1987	1,179
1988	760
1989	1,812
1990	1,885
1991	1,172
1992	1,134
1993	1,266
1994	813
1995	1,128
1996	1,448
1997	651
1998	1,110
1999	938
2000	1,150
2001	523
2002	943
2003	1,315
2004	836
2005	515
2006	1,387
2007	986
2008	1,356
2009	1,502
2010	2,055
2011	846
2012	1,131
2013	584
2014	524
2015	1,238
2016	603
2017	688
2018	592
2019	731
2020	554
2021	442
2022	567
2023	1,242
2024	897
2025	1,166

Download the Data

Data for records on 1959-12-20: 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).

Histogram of margins by which records were beaten on 20 December 1959
Margin	Records
0 to 10	95
10 to 20	20
20 to 30	8
30 to 40	3
40 to 50	1