1938

4 tropical cyclones near the U.S., 9 notable earthquakes.

01

Tropical cyclones

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

Tropical cyclones near the U.S. in 1938

Storm	Peak	Counties ≤50 mi	States
Unnamed	Category 2	17	LA, TX
Unnamed	Category 5	30	CT, MA, NH, NY, VT
Unnamed	Tropical storm	7	TX
Unnamed	Tropical storm	0	—

02

Earthquakes

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

Notable earthquakes of 1938

Date	Magnitude	Where	Depth, mi
Nov 10, 1938	8.2	Semidi Islands, Alaska Aleutians East AK	21.7
Nov 16, 1938	6.9	near Perryville, Alaska Lake and Peninsula AK	21.7
Jan 22, 1938	6.6	near Wailua, Hawaii Maui HI	6.2
Nov 10, 1938	6.6	near Perryville, Alaska Aleutians East AK	21.7
Sep 11, 1938	5.8	near Ferndale, California Humboldt CA	9.3
Sep 11, 1938	5.5	near Shelter Cove, California Mendocino CA	—
Dec 3, 1938	5.5	near Mammoth Lakes, CA Mono CA	3.7
May 31, 1938	5.2	near Trabuco Canyon, CA Orange CA	6.3
Jul 1, 1938	5.0	near Fieldbrook, California Humboldt CA	—

03

Drought

On average 7% of lower-48 counties were in severe drought in 1938. The worst month was January 1938, with 11%.

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.