1939

3 tropical cyclones near the U.S., 8 notable earthquakes.

01

Tropical cyclones

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

Tropical cyclones near the U.S. in 1939

Storm	Peak	Counties ≤50 mi	States
Unnamed	Tropical storm	12	AL, FL, MS
Unnamed	Category 1	50	AL, FL
Unnamed	Tropical storm	26	AL, LA, MS

02

Earthquakes

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

Notable earthquakes of 1939

Date	Magnitude	Where	Depth, mi
Nov 12, 1939	6.1	Puget Sound region, Washington Pierce WA	34.2
Jan 11, 1939	5.5	California-Nevada border region Lyon NV	—
May 11, 1939	5.5	near Mina, Nevada Mineral NV	—
Jun 24, 1939	5.5	near Hollister, California San Benito CA	—
Jul 14, 1939	5.5	near Fern Forest, Hawaii Hawaii HI	—
Jun 24, 1939	5.2	near Rosarito, B.C., MX San Diego CA	3.7
Dec 28, 1939	5.2	near Lake Nacimiento, CA Monterey CA	3.7
May 4, 1939	5.0	near Boulder City, Nevada Clark NV	—

03

Drought

On average 14% of lower-48 counties were in severe drought in 1939. The worst month was December 1939, with 35%.

Watch it spread, month by month · 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.