Weather Records on 17 May 1979

459 weather records were set or tied worldwide on 17 May 1979. Highest significance: Shamhor, AZ.

Key Facts for 17 May 1979

On 17 May 1979, 459 weather records were set or tied at long-record stations worldwide.
212 were record highs and 112 were record lows, counting maximum and minimum temperature.
By timescale, 1 were all-time records, 7 monthly and 451 daily.
Shamhor set an all-time record daily precipitation of 79.2 mm (3.1 in) on 17 May 1979.
Across 167 earlier years (1802 to 2026) the same calendar date averaged 434 records.

Record Map

459 stations

459 station records on 17 May 1979 are marked on the map, coloured by record type. Dot size shows the significance score. Made with Natural Earth.

Weather records on 17 May 1979: highest significance records shown on the map
Station	Country	Type	Value	Significance
Shamhor	Azerbaijan	Record daily precipitation	79.2 mm (3.1 in)	56 of 100 (Notable)
The Pas A	Canada	Record daily precipitation	37.3 mm (1.5 in)	52 of 100 (Notable)
Strawberry Hill (Bos)	South Africa	Record daily precipitation	50.0 mm (2.0 in)	48 of 100 (Notable)
Big Trout Lake	Canada	Record daily precipitation	28.6 mm (1.1 in)	40 of 100 (Notable)
Tuzantla (Smn)	Mexico	Record low maximum temperature	30.6 C (87.1 F)	40 of 100 (Notable)
Springer	United States	Record high minimum temperature	15.0 C (59.0 F)	40 of 100 (Notable)
Koebenhavn: Landbohojskolen-1	Denmark	Record high minimum temperature	13.3 C (55.9 F)	38 of 100 (Notable)
Leipzig-Holzhausen	Germany	Record high minimum temperature	15.4 C (59.7 F)	36 of 100 (Notable)
Petropavlovskij Majak	Russia	Record high minimum temperature	3.9 C (39.0 F)	35 of 100 (Notable)
Gavle	Sweden	Record high maximum temperature	26.9 C (80.4 F)	35 of 100 (Notable)
Itajuipe (Piranji)	Brazil	Record daily precipitation	27.2 mm (1.1 in)	34 of 100 (Routine)
Guayama 1SW	Puerto Rico [United States]	Record high minimum temperature	27.2 C (81.0 F)	34 of 100 (Routine)
Sharon Springs	United States	Record high minimum temperature	16.7 C (62.1 F)	34 of 100 (Routine)
Pipestone	United States	Record high minimum temperature	16.1 C (61.0 F)	34 of 100 (Routine)
Spencer	United States	Record low minimum temperature	0.0 C (32.0 F)	34 of 100 (Routine)
Gorakhpur	India	Record daily precipitation	25.9 mm (1.0 in)	33 of 100 (Routine)
Agdam	Azerbaijan	Record daily precipitation	32.0 mm (1.3 in)	32 of 100 (Routine)
Vestmannaeyjar	Iceland	Record low maximum temperature	2.9 C (37.2 F)	31 of 100 (Routine)
Cottbus	Germany	Record high minimum temperature	17.0 C (62.6 F)	30 of 100 (Routine)
Swellendam (Bos)	South Africa	Record daily precipitation	41.0 mm (1.6 in)	30 of 100 (Routine)
Eskridge	United States	Record high minimum temperature	20.0 C (68.0 F)	29 of 100 (Routine)
Greeley	United States	Record high minimum temperature	16.7 C (62.1 F)	29 of 100 (Routine)
The Pas A	Canada	Record daily snowfall	14.8 cm (5.8 in)	28 of 100 (Routine)
Skovorodino	Russia	Record high minimum temperature	9.5 C (49.1 F)	28 of 100 (Routine)
Visby_Flygplats	Sweden	Record high minimum temperature	14.3 C (57.7 F)	28 of 100 (Routine)
Fairmont	United States	Record low minimum temperature	-0.6 C (30.9 F)	28 of 100 (Routine)
Plauen	Germany	Record high minimum temperature	15.0 C (59.0 F)	27 of 100 (Routine)
Viljujsk	Russia	Record high minimum temperature	7.1 C (44.8 F)	27 of 100 (Routine)
Angola	United States	Record low minimum temperature	0.6 C (33.1 F)	27 of 100 (Routine)
Lewisburg Exp STN	United States	Record low minimum temperature	3.9 C (39.0 F)	27 of 100 (Routine)
Dudinka	Russia	Record low minimum temperature	-20.9 C (-5.6 F)	26 of 100 (Routine)
Carlsbad	United States	Record daily precipitation	27.9 mm (1.1 in)	26 of 100 (Routine)
Salva Vidas	Brazil	Record daily precipitation	33.2 mm (1.3 in)	25 of 100 (Routine)
Lost River	Canada	Record low maximum temperature	6.1 C (43.0 F)	25 of 100 (Routine)
Liepaja	Latvia	Record high maximum temperature	26.6 C (79.9 F)	25 of 100 (Routine)
Fajardo	Puerto Rico [United States]	Record daily precipitation	104.1 mm (4.1 in)	25 of 100 (Routine)
Tranebjerg	Denmark	Record high minimum temperature	11.4 C (52.5 F)	24 of 100 (Routine)
Sokode	Togo	Record daily precipitation	42.9 mm (1.7 in)	24 of 100 (Routine)
Kemmerer 2N	United States	Record high minimum temperature	8.9 C (48.0 F)	24 of 100 (Routine)
Klaipeda	Lithuania	Record high minimum temperature	14.9 C (58.8 F)	23 of 100 (Routine)
Humacao 2 SSE	Puerto Rico [United States]	Record daily precipitation	78.7 mm (3.1 in)	23 of 100 (Routine)
Gotska Sandon	Sweden	Record high minimum temperature	10.8 C (51.4 F)	23 of 100 (Routine)
Walthill 1E	United States	Record high minimum temperature	20.6 C (69.1 F)	23 of 100 (Routine)
Hope	United States	Record daily precipitation	25.4 mm (1.0 in)	23 of 100 (Routine)
Saint Paul Is AP	United States	Record high maximum temperature	7.2 C (45.0 F)	23 of 100 (Routine)
Quiriego (Smn)	Mexico	Record low maximum temperature	30.6 C (87.1 F)	22 of 100 (Routine)
Gogland	Russia	Record high maximum temperature	26.7 C (80.1 F)	22 of 100 (Routine)
Orebro	Sweden	Record high minimum temperature	13.4 C (56.1 F)	22 of 100 (Routine)
Deer Lake	Canada	Record high minimum temperature	10.0 C (50.0 F)	21 of 100 (Routine)
Mont-de-Marsan	France	Record daily precipitation	29.9 mm (1.2 in)	21 of 100 (Routine)
Chemnitz	Germany	Record high minimum temperature	16.2 C (61.2 F)	21 of 100 (Routine)
Santa Fe del Rio	Mexico	Record low maximum temperature	21.7 C (71.1 F)	21 of 100 (Routine)
Ust-Njukzha	Russia	Record high maximum temperature	24.8 C (76.6 F)	21 of 100 (Routine)
Malmo	Sweden	Record high minimum temperature	14.1 C (57.4 F)	21 of 100 (Routine)
Svalov	Sweden	Record high minimum temperature	14.0 C (57.2 F)	21 of 100 (Routine)
Skara 1	Sweden	Record high minimum temperature	12.1 C (53.8 F)	21 of 100 (Routine)
Cambridge	United States	Record high minimum temperature	18.3 C (64.9 F)	21 of 100 (Routine)
Powers Lake 1N	United States	Record high maximum temperature	33.3 C (91.9 F)	21 of 100 (Routine)
Ipiau	Brazil	Record daily precipitation	22.7 mm (0.9 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
El Pilar	Mexico	Record daily precipitation	17.8 mm (0.7 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)

Counts by Type and Timescale

459 records

Records set or tied on 17 May 1979 by type: Highest daily maximum 77, Lowest daily maximum 46, Highest daily minimum 135, Lowest daily minimum 66, Heaviest daily rainfall 131, Heaviest daily snowfall 4.

Records on 17 May 1979 by type
Record type	Records
Highest daily maximum	77
Lowest daily maximum	46
Highest daily minimum	135
Lowest daily minimum	66
Heaviest daily rainfall	131
Heaviest daily snowfall	4
Deepest snow cover	0

Records on 17 May 1979 by timescale: all-time 1, monthly 7, daily 451.

How Much Records Were Beaten By

363 broken records

Margins by which the 363 broken records beat the old ones, in degrees Celsius for temperature and millimetres for precipitation and snow; the largest margin was 50.0. Ties are not counted.

Top 20 by Significance

17 May 1979

Top 20 records on 17 May 1979 by significance
Date	Station	Record	Value	Beat old record by	Old record stood	Significance
17 May 1979	Shamhor, AZ	all-time rain	79.2 mm (3.1 in)	13.6 mm (0.5 in)	41 years	56 of 100 (Notable)
17 May 1979	The Pas A, CA	daily rain	37.3 mm (1.5 in)	32.7 mm (1.3 in)	32 years	52 of 100 (Notable)
17 May 1979	Strawberry Hill (Bos), ZA	daily rain	50.0 mm (2.0 in)	22.1 mm (0.9 in)	72 years	48 of 100 (Notable)
17 May 1979	Big Trout Lake, CA	daily rain	28.6 mm (1.1 in)	14.1 mm (0.6 in)	29 years	40 of 100 (Notable)
17 May 1979	Tuzantla (Smn), MX	daily low max	30.6 C (87.1 F)	6.1 C (11.0 F)	30 years	40 of 100 (Notable)
17 May 1979	Springer, US	daily high min	15.0 C (59.0 F)	2.8 C (5.0 F)	84 years	40 of 100 (Notable)
17 May 1979	Koebenhavn: Landbohojskolen-1, DK	daily high min	13.3 C (55.9 F)	1.3 C (2.3 F)	81 years	38 of 100 (Notable)
17 May 1979	Leipzig-Holzhausen, DE	daily high min	15.4 C (59.7 F)	0.1 C (0.2 F)	89 years	36 of 100 (Notable)
17 May 1979	Petropavlovskij Majak, RU	daily high min	3.9 C (39.0 F)	0.5 C (0.9 F)	83 years	35 of 100 (Notable)
17 May 1979	Gavle, SE	daily high max	26.9 C (80.4 F)	2.4 C (4.3 F)	73 years	35 of 100 (Notable)
17 May 1979	Itajuipe (Piranji), BR	daily rain	27.2 mm (1.1 in)	17.2 mm (0.7 in)	32 years	34 of 100 (Routine)
17 May 1979	Guayama 1SW, PR	daily high min	27.2 C (81.0 F)	1.1 C (2.0 F)	64 years	34 of 100 (Routine)
17 May 1979	Sharon Springs, US	daily high min	16.7 C (62.1 F)	0.6 C (1.1 F)	85 years	34 of 100 (Routine)
17 May 1979	Pipestone, US	daily high min	16.1 C (61.0 F)	1.1 C (2.0 F)	76 years	34 of 100 (Routine)
17 May 1979	Spencer, US	daily low min	0.0 C (32.0 F)	0.6 C (1.1 F)	83 years	34 of 100 (Routine)
17 May 1979	Gorakhpur, IN	daily rain	25.9 mm (1.0 in)	7.9 mm (0.31 in)	72 years	33 of 100 (Routine)
17 May 1979	Agdam, AZ	daily rain	32.0 mm (1.3 in)	14.2 mm (0.6 in)	24 years	32 of 100 (Routine)
17 May 1979	Vestmannaeyjar, IS	daily low max	2.9 C (37.2 F)	3.7 C (6.7 F)	24 years	31 of 100 (Routine)
17 May 1979	Cottbus, DE	daily high min	17.0 C (62.6 F)	0.5 C (0.9 F)	68 years	30 of 100 (Routine)
17 May 1979	Swellendam (Bos), ZA	daily rain	41.0 mm (1.6 in)	25.3 mm (1.0 in)	28 years	30 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 1979

Records set or tied on this calendar date in each year from 1802 to 1979. 1979 had 459 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 1979-05-17: 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 2026-10-16. Last revised 16 October 2026 (2026-10-16).

Margin	Records
0 to 10	333
10 to 20	22
20 to 30	6
30 to 40	1
40 to 50	1