1917

2 tropical cyclones near the U.S., 6 notable earthquakes.

01

Tropical cyclones

Storms whose tracks came within 100 miles of a U.S. county.

Tropical cyclones near the U.S. in 1917

Storm	Peak	Counties ≤50 mi	States
Unnamed	Tropical storm	4	MA, ME
Unnamed	Category 4	71	AL, FL, GA, LA

02

Earthquakes

Magnitude 5 or more in the lower 48 and Hawaii, 6.5 or more in Alaska, strongest first.

Notable earthquakes of 1917

Date	Magnitude	Where	Depth, mi
May 30, 1917	7.4	near Sand Point, Alaska Aleutians East AK	21.7
Dec 21, 1917	6.6	near Old Harbor, Alaska Kodiak Island AK	9.3
May 27, 1917	5.5	Near Holtville, California Imperial CA	—
Dec 12, 1917	5.3	Southeastern Idaho Caribou ID	—
Apr 9, 1917	5.1	Southwestern Illinois Monroe IL	—
Apr 11, 1917	5.1	Western Nevada Churchill NV	—

03

Drought

On average 8% of lower-48 counties were in severe drought in 1917. The worst month was December 1917, with 15%.

Every year since 1895 on the drought page

Storm Prediction Center, National Hurricane Center HURDAT2, Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity, NOAA Storm Events Database, USGS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog, NOAA nClimDiv Palmer Drought Severity Index. Damage is as reported at the time, not adjusted for inflation.