Weather Records on 20 December 2002

943 weather records were set or tied worldwide on 20 December 2002. Highest significance: Bridgeport, US.

Key Facts for 20 December 2002

On 20 December 2002, 943 weather records were set or tied at long-record stations worldwide.
315 were record highs and 201 were record lows, counting maximum and minimum temperature.
By timescale, 1 were all-time records, 21 monthly and 921 daily.
Bridgeport set a daily record snow depth of 55.9 cm (22.0 in) on 20 December 2002.
Across 163 earlier years (1793 to 2025) the same calendar date averaged 464 records.

Record Map

943 stations

943 station records on 20 December 2002 are marked on the map, coloured by record type. Dot size shows the significance score. Made with Natural Earth.

Weather records on 20 December 2002: highest significance records shown on the map
Station	Country	Type	Value	Significance
Bridgeport	United States	Record snow depth	55.9 cm (22.0 in)	65 of 100 (Major)
Newark	United States	Record daily precipitation	40.6 mm (1.6 in)	63 of 100 (Major)
Aiken 5SE	United States	Record daily precipitation	63.5 mm (2.5 in)	62 of 100 (Major)
Glenbrook	United States	Record snow depth	66.0 cm (26.0 in)	58 of 100 (Notable)
Ft Grant	United States	Record low minimum temperature	-12.8 C (9.0 F)	51 of 100 (Notable)
Gulargambone (Yalcogrin St)	Australia	Record daily precipitation	39.0 mm (1.5 in)	50 of 100 (Notable)
Bottineau	United States	Record daily snowfall	25.4 cm (10.0 in)	48 of 100 (Notable)
Speddingup	Australia	Record daily precipitation	41.0 mm (1.6 in)	47 of 100 (Notable)
Stewart	United States	Record daily precipitation	25.4 mm (1.0 in)	47 of 100 (Notable)
Burlington Fire STN #5	United States	Record daily precipitation	48.3 mm (1.9 in)	47 of 100 (Notable)
Black Rock	United States	Record daily precipitation	25.4 mm (1.0 in)	47 of 100 (Notable)
San Diego Curupatzeo	Mexico	Record low minimum temperature	5.6 C (42.1 F)	45 of 100 (Notable)
Santa Cruz	United States	Record daily precipitation	52.1 mm (2.1 in)	45 of 100 (Notable)
Bodie California St Historic P	United States	Record daily snowfall	20.3 cm (8.0 in)	44 of 100 (Notable)
Yosemite Park HQ	United States	Record daily snowfall	17.8 cm (7.0 in)	44 of 100 (Notable)
Isabela Substn	Puerto Rico [United States]	Record high minimum temperature	22.8 C (73.0 F)	43 of 100 (Notable)
Nikolskoye/Beringa Ostrov	Russia	Record low maximum temperature	-7.4 C (18.7 F)	42 of 100 (Notable)
Bridgeport	United States	Record daily snowfall	10.2 cm (4.0 in)	42 of 100 (Notable)
Upper Lake 2 N	United States	Record daily precipitation	37.6 mm (1.5 in)	42 of 100 (Notable)
Warsaw Markland Dam	United States	Record daily precipitation	48.0 mm (1.9 in)	42 of 100 (Notable)
Princeton	United States	Record high maximum temperature	17.2 C (63.0 F)	42 of 100 (Notable)
Lake Spaulding	United States	Record daily snowfall	48.3 cm (19.0 in)	40 of 100 (Notable)
Pinnacles Np	United States	Record daily precipitation	38.1 mm (1.5 in)	40 of 100 (Notable)
Ukiah	United States	Record daily precipitation	48.3 mm (1.9 in)	40 of 100 (Notable)
Hesperia 4 WNW	United States	Record high maximum temperature	11.1 C (52.0 F)	40 of 100 (Notable)
Little Valley	United States	Record daily precipitation	43.2 mm (1.7 in)	40 of 100 (Notable)
Gunlock Ph	United States	Record daily snowfall	7.6 cm (3.0 in)	40 of 100 (Notable)
Quincy	United States	Record daily snowfall	15.2 cm (6.0 in)	39 of 100 (Notable)
Falmouth	United States	Record daily precipitation	31.0 mm (1.2 in)	39 of 100 (Notable)
Maysville Wwtp	United States	Record daily precipitation	25.4 mm (1.0 in)	39 of 100 (Notable)
Tryon	United States	Record daily precipitation	44.2 mm (1.7 in)	39 of 100 (Notable)
Bolivar Wtr Wks	United States	Record daily precipitation	57.9 mm (2.3 in)	39 of 100 (Notable)
Hartford Brainard Fld	United States	Record daily precipitation	43.2 mm (1.7 in)	39 of 100 (Notable)
Pearce Raaf	Australia	Record high maximum temperature	44.1 C (111.4 F)	38 of 100 (Notable)
Coahuayutla	Mexico	Record low minimum temperature	8.9 C (48.0 F)	38 of 100 (Notable)
Cachuma Lake	United States	Record daily precipitation	85.6 mm (3.4 in)	38 of 100 (Notable)
Brockton	United States	Record daily precipitation	33.0 mm (1.3 in)	38 of 100 (Notable)
London State Fish Hatchery	United States	Record daily precipitation	29.0 mm (1.1 in)	38 of 100 (Notable)
Mt Shasta	United States	Record daily snowfall	58.4 cm (23.0 in)	37 of 100 (Notable)
Wauchula	United States	Record daily precipitation	25.4 mm (1.0 in)	37 of 100 (Notable)
Sherwood	United States	Record daily snowfall	12.7 cm (5.0 in)	37 of 100 (Notable)
Vero Beach Intl AP	United States	Record daily precipitation	32.0 mm (1.3 in)	37 of 100 (Notable)
Riito	Mexico	Record high maximum temperature	35.0 C (95.0 F)	36 of 100 (Notable)
Tifton	United States	Record daily precipitation	29.7 mm (1.2 in)	36 of 100 (Notable)
Vanderbilt 11ENE	United States	Record high maximum temperature	10.6 C (51.1 F)	36 of 100 (Notable)
Igor I Sikorsky Mem AP	United States	Record daily precipitation	35.1 mm (1.4 in)	36 of 100 (Notable)
Cheviot	United States	Record daily precipitation	45.7 mm (1.8 in)	35 of 100 (Notable)
Bishopville 1.4 ENE	United States	Record daily precipitation	40.4 mm (1.6 in)	35 of 100 (Notable)
Philippi	United States	Record high maximum temperature	18.3 C (64.9 F)	35 of 100 (Notable)
Buenavista	Mexico	Record high minimum temperature	17.8 C (64.0 F)	34 of 100 (Routine)
Hopkinsville	United States	Record daily precipitation	40.6 mm (1.6 in)	34 of 100 (Routine)
W Branch 3SE	United States	Record high maximum temperature	11.7 C (53.1 F)	34 of 100 (Routine)
Yangjiang	China	Record daily precipitation	26.1 mm (1.0 in)	33 of 100 (Routine)
Strawberry Valley 2	United States	Record daily snowfall	35.6 cm (14.0 in)	33 of 100 (Routine)
Houghton Lake 6 WSW	United States	Record high maximum temperature	10.6 C (51.1 F)	33 of 100 (Routine)
Salem 5 NNE	United States	Record daily precipitation	50.8 mm (2.0 in)	33 of 100 (Routine)
Ellendale	Australia	Record daily precipitation	118.0 mm (4.6 in)	32 of 100 (Routine)
Portland Jetport	United States	Record daily precipitation	28.4 mm (1.1 in)	32 of 100 (Routine)
Yelarbon Post Office	Australia	Record daily precipitation	25.4 mm (1.0 in)	31 of 100 (Routine)
San Miguel Ejutla	Mexico	Record high minimum temperature	17.8 C (64.0 F)	31 of 100 (Routine)

Counts by Type and Timescale

943 records

Records set or tied on 20 December 2002 by type: Highest daily maximum 169, Lowest daily maximum 56, Highest daily minimum 146, Lowest daily minimum 145, Heaviest daily rainfall 370, Heaviest daily snowfall 45, Deepest snow cover 12.

Records on 20 December 2002 by type
Record type	Records
Highest daily maximum	169
Lowest daily maximum	56
Highest daily minimum	146
Lowest daily minimum	145
Heaviest daily rainfall	370
Heaviest daily snowfall	45
Deepest snow cover	12

Records on 20 December 2002 by timescale: all-time 1, monthly 21, daily 921.

How Much Records Were Beaten By

747 broken records

Margins by which the 747 broken records beat the old ones, in degrees Celsius for temperature and millimetres for precipitation and snow; the largest margin was 355.0. Ties are not counted.

Top 20 by Significance

20 December 2002

Top 20 records on 20 December 2002 by significance
Date	Station	Record	Value	Beat old record by	Old record stood	Significance
20 December 2002	Bridgeport, US	daily snow depth	55.9 cm (22.0 in)	33.0 cm (13.0 in)	96 years	65 of 100 (Major)
20 December 2002	Newark, US	daily rain	40.6 mm (1.6 in)	30.9 mm (1.2 in)	47 years	63 of 100 (Major)
20 December 2002	Aiken 5SE, US	daily rain	63.5 mm (2.5 in)	30.5 mm (1.2 in)	96 years	62 of 100 (Major)
20 December 2002	Glenbrook, US	daily snow depth	66.0 cm (26.0 in)	35.5 cm (14.0 in)	88 years	58 of 100 (Notable)
20 December 2002	Ft Grant, US	monthly low min	-12.8 C (9.0 F)	0.6 C (1.1 F)	101 years	51 of 100 (Notable)
20 December 2002	Gulargambone (Yalcogrin St), AU	daily rain	39.0 mm (1.5 in)	12.3 mm (0.5 in)	104 years	50 of 100 (Notable)
20 December 2002	Bottineau, US	monthly snowfall	25.4 cm (10.0 in)	5.1 cm (2.0 in)	35 years	48 of 100 (Notable)
20 December 2002	Speddingup, AU	daily rain	41.0 mm (1.6 in)	37.0 mm (1.5 in)	1 year	47 of 100 (Notable)
20 December 2002	Stewart, US	daily rain	25.4 mm (1.0 in)	18.3 mm (0.7 in)	24 years	47 of 100 (Notable)
20 December 2002	Burlington Fire STN #5, US	daily rain	48.3 mm (1.9 in)	35.1 mm (1.4 in)	31 years	47 of 100 (Notable)
20 December 2002	Black Rock, US	daily rain	25.4 mm (1.0 in)	14.7 mm (0.6 in)	4 years	47 of 100 (Notable)
20 December 2002	San Diego Curupatzeo, MX	daily low min	5.6 C (42.1 F)	5.0 C (9.0 F)	63 years	45 of 100 (Notable)
20 December 2002	Santa Cruz, US	daily rain	52.1 mm (2.1 in)	19.1 mm (0.8 in)	80 years	45 of 100 (Notable)
20 December 2002	Bodie California St Historic P, US	daily snowfall	20.3 cm (8.0 in)	5.1 cm (2.0 in)	106 years	44 of 100 (Notable)
20 December 2002	Yosemite Park HQ, US	daily snowfall	17.8 cm (7.0 in)	7.6 cm (3.0 in)	95 years	44 of 100 (Notable)
20 December 2002	Isabela Substn, PR	daily high min	22.8 C (73.0 F)	1.1 C (2.0 F)	87 years	43 of 100 (Notable)
20 December 2002	Nikolskoye/Beringa Ostrov, RU	daily low max	-7.4 C (18.7 F)	1.9 C (3.4 F)	85 years	42 of 100 (Notable)
20 December 2002	Bridgeport, US	daily snowfall	10.2 cm (4.0 in)	5.1 cm (2.0 in)	88 years	42 of 100 (Notable)
20 December 2002	Upper Lake 2 N, US	daily rain	37.6 mm (1.5 in)	3.8 mm (0.15 in)	106 years	42 of 100 (Notable)
20 December 2002	Warsaw Markland Dam, US	daily rain	48.0 mm (1.9 in)	29.2 mm (1.1 in)	28 years	42 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 2002

Records set or tied on this calendar date in each year from 1793 to 2002. 2002 had 943 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 2002-12-20: 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 2026-10-16 (16 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 50	719
50 to 100	19
100 to 150	4
150 to 200	1
200 to 250	0
250 to 300	2
300 to 350	1
350 to 400	1