- April 4
- Earthquake in Kangra, India, kills 370,000. [1]
- December 11
- 120 degrees F (49 degrees C), Rivadavia, Argentina (South American record). [1]
1906
- January 31
- An 8.8-magnitude (strongest instrumentally recorded) earthquake strikes off the coast of Ecuador; the quake and resulting tsunami kill over 500 people. [1] [383.A8]
- March 6
- Heavy storm bursts dike, flooding Vlissingen, Netherlands. [1]
- March 12
- Heavy storm ravages Dutch west coast. [1]
- April 18
- At 5:13 a.m., an earthquake estimated at close to 8.0 on the Richter scale strikes San Francisco, California, caused by a slip of the San Andreas Fault over a segment about 275 miles long. An estimated 3,000 people die from the quake and fires. Almost 30,000 buildings are destroyed, including most of the city's homes and nearly all the central business district. [1] [129] [648.41]
1907
- March 19
- 18.8cm precipitation at Lewer's Ranch, Nevada, USA (state record). [1]
- June 1
- -27 degrees F (-33 degrees C), Sarmiento, Argentina (South American record low). [1]
1908
- May 1
- World's most intense rain shower (2.47 inches in 3 minutes) at Portobelo, Panamá. [1]
- December 28
- Messina, Italy struck by an earthquake (nearly 80,000 dead). [1]
1909
- November 23
- 18.2 cm (7.17 inches) of rainfall, in Rattlesnake Creek, Idaho (state record). [1]
1910
- March 1
- An avalanche of snow hits two trains stranded for seven days outside the Cascade Tunnel below Stevens Pass, near Wellington, Washington, USA, killing 96. Deadliest avalanche in US history. [1] [377.13]
1911
- July 15
- 46 inches of rain (beginning July 14) falls in Baguio, Phillipines. [1]
1912
- June 6
- Novarupta in Alaska begins erupting, resulting in the second largest volcanic eruption in historic time. [5]
1913
- March 21
- Flood in Ohio, USA, kills 400. [1]
- March 26
- City of Dayton, Ohio almost destroyed when Scioto, Miami, and Muskingum Rivers reach flood stage simultaneously. [1]
- July 10
- The highest temperature ever recorded in the United States is at Death Valley, California: 134 degrees F (56.7 C). [1] [5]
1915
- January 13
- Earthquake in Avezzano, Italy, kills 30,000. [1]
- June 27
- 100 degrees F (38 degrees C), Fort Yukon, Alaska (state record). [1]
- August 17
- Hurricane kills 275 in Galveston, Texas with $50 million damage. [1] [245.4]
- September 29
- A hurricane claims 275 human deaths in the Mississippi Delta. [1]
- December 21
- 25.83 cm (10.17 inches) of rainfall, in Glenora, Oregon (state record). [1]
1916
- January 23
- Temperature falls from 44 degrees F (7 degrees C) to -56 degrees F (49 degrees C) night of January 23-24, in Browning, Montana, USA. [1]
- July 15
- 22.22 inches of rain falls in Altapass, North Carolina, USA. [1]
- December 13
- Avalanche kills 10,000 Austrian and Italian troops in 24 hours in Tyrol. [1]
1917
- March 23
- Four-day series of tornadoes kills 211 in Midwest USA. [1]
1918
- July 22
- Lightning kills 504 sheep in Utah's Wasatch National Park. [1]
1919
- May 1
- Mount Kelud (Indonesia) erupts, boiling crater lake which breaks through crater wall killing 5,000 people in 104 small villages. [1]
- May 20
- Volcano Keluit on Java erupts, killing 550. [1]
- September 18
- Hurricane tides 16 feet above normal drown 280 along Gulf Coast. [1]
1920
- April 20
- Tornadoes kill 219 in Alabama and Mississippi, USA. [1]
- December 16
- Over 180,000 die when 8.6 earthquake destroys 15,000 square miles (Kansu, China). [1]
1921
- June 3
- A sudden cloudburst kills 120 near Pikes Peak, Colorado, USA. [1]
1922
- May 24
- Record high temperature in Netherlands for May (35.6 degrees C). [1]
- September 13
- 136.4 degrees F (58 degrees C), El Aziziyah, Libya in shade (world record). [1]
1923
- July 10
- 2-pound hailstones kill 23 and many cattle (Rostov, Russia). [1]
- September 1
- Earthquake strikes Tokyo and Yokohama, Japan; kills 106,000. [1]
1924
- June 28
- Tornado strikes Sandusky and Lorain in Ohio, USA, killing 93. [1]
1925
- March 18
- Eight 60-MPH tornadoes speed through Missouri, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, and Tennessee killing 689. [1]
- June 23
- Landslides create 3-mile long "Slide Lake" (Gros Ventre, Wyoming, USA). [1]
1926
- January 1
- Flood in Rhine strikes Cologne, Germany. [1]
- February 17
- Avalanche buries 75 people in Sap Gulch in Bingham, Utah, USA; 40 die. [1]
- September 18
- Hurricane hits Miami and south Florida, USA, destroying hotels, piers, marinas, mansions built in preceding years. 400 killed, 50,000 made homeless. [1] [341.116]
1927
- March 7
- Earthquake measuring 8 on Richter scale strikes Tango, Japan. [1]
- May 22
- 8.3 earthquake strikes Nan-Shan China, 200,000 killed. [1]
- November 3
- Tropical storm flooding kills 84 in Winooski River Valley (Vermont, USA). [1]
- November 17
- Tornado hits Washington DC. [1]
1928
- May 1
- Six children die and ten injured by hailstones in Klausenburg, Romania. [1]
- July 6
- World's largest hailstones 1.5 pounds (17 inch diameter) fall in Potter, Nebraska, USA. [1] [5]
- September 17
- Hurricane hits Lake Okeechobee, Florida, USA drowning 1,800-2500. [1]
1929
- November 18
- Large earthquake in Atlantic breaks Transatlantic cable in 28 places. [1]
1930
- May 13
- Farmer killed by hail in Lubbock, Texas, USA; this is the only known fatality due to hail. [1]
- June 13
- 22 people killed by hailstones in Siatista, Greece. [1]
- September 3
- Hurricane kills 2,000, injures 4,000 (Dominican Republic). [1]
- September 11
- Stomboli volcano (Sicily) throws 2-ton basaltic rocks two miles. [1]
- November 25
- 690 earthquake shocks recorded in one day (Ito, Japan). [1]
1931
- February 3
- Hawke's Bay earthquake: Much of the New Zealand city of Napier is destroyed in an earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale. [429]
- March 31
- An earthquake destroys Managua, Nicaragua, killing 2,000 people. [429]
- May 10
- Golf ball size hail falls in Burlington, New Jersey, USA. [1]
- July 16
- The Huang He floods kill between 850,000 and 4,000,000 people (the deadliest historic natural disaster). [429]
- August 31
- The Yangtze River floods, leaving 23 million homeless. [429]
- September 10
- The worst hurricane in Belize history kills an estimated 1,500 people. [429]
- November 8
- The Panama Canal is closed for a couple of weeks due to damage caused by a number of earthquakes. [429]
1932
- February 9
- US airship Columbia crashes during storm (Flushing, New York). [1]
- June 19
- Hailstones kill 200 in Hunan Province, China. [1]
- November 9
- Hurricane storm wave sweeps over Santa Cruz del Sur, Cuba; kills 2,500. [1]
- December 16
- Heavy earthquake ravages Kansu, China, 70,000 killed. [1]
- December 26
- Earthquake kills 70,000 in Kansu, China. [1]
1933
- February 6
- Highest recorded sea wave (not tsunami), 34 metres (112 feet), in Pacific hurricane near Manila, Philippines. [1]
- March 2
- Most powerful earthquake in 180 years hits Japan. [1]
- March 10
- Major earthquake in Long Beach, California, USA. [1]
- August 11
- Temperature reaches 136 degrees F (58 degrees C) at San Luis Potosí, Mexico (world record). [1]
- November 11
- "Great Black Blizzard" first great dust storm in the Great Plains of the USA. [1]
1934
- January 15
- 8.4 earthquake in India/Nepal, 10,700 die. [1]
- April 12
- Highest velocity wind ever recorded on Mount Washington, New Hampshire, 231 mph. [1]
- May 11
- Over two days, the most severe dust storm to date in the USA sweeps an estimated 350 million tons of topsoil from the Great Plains across to the eastern seaboard. [129]
- September 21
- Typhoon strikes Honshu Island, Japan, kills 4,000. [1]
1935
- February 11
- -11 degrees F (-24 degrees C), Ifrane, Morocco (African record low). [1]
- April 15
- Another massive dust storm in the USA becomes known as "Black Sunday". [129]
- May 31
- Earthquake kills 50,000 in Quetta, Pakistan. [1]
- September 2
- A hurricane slams the Florida Keys killing 423. [1]
- October 25
- Hurricane-produced floods kill 2,000 in Jeremie and Jacmel, Haiti. [1]
1936
- April 5
- Tupelo, Mississippi, USA virtually annihilated by a tornado, 216 die. [1]
- April 6
- Tornado kills 203 and injures 1,800 in Gainesville, Georgia, USA. [1]
- July 13
- A Midwestern U.S. heat wave sets the all-time highest temperature records for Wisconsin (46 C), Michigan (44 C), and Indiana (47 C). [1] [5]
1938
- March 2
- Landslides and floods in Los Angeles, California, USA cause over 200 deaths. [1]
- September 21
- Hurricane (winds 183 MPH) in New England (Long Island, New York, New Jersey) kills 500-700, wrecking tens of millions of dollars in property. [1] [500.E10]
- December 8
- Highest temperature for December in US recorded in La Mesa, California. [1]
1939
- January 24
- 30,000 killed by earthquake in Concepcion Chile. [1]
- January 25
- Earthquake hits Chillán, Chile, 10,000 killed. [1]
- January 30
- Heavy earthquake aftershocks destroy some of Chile. [1]
- March 10
- Seventeen villages damaged by hailstones in Hyderabad, India. [1]
- May 5
- Flash floods kill 75 in Northeast Kentucky, USA. [1]
- December 12
- Soviet prison ship Indigirka, carrying 2,500 prisoners capsizes in blizzard off Japanese coast; 2,470 die. [1]
- December 27
- 8.0 Earthquake in Erzincam, Turkey, about 50,000 die. [1]
1940
- November 12
- Blizzard strikes midwestern US, 154 die (69 on boat on Great Lakes). [1]
1941
- March 15
- Blizzard in North Dakota kills 151. [1]
- March 16
- Blizzard hits North Dakota and Minnesota killing 60. [1]
- May 25
- 5,000 drown in a storm at Ganges Delta region in India. [1]
1942
- January 27
- -19 degrees F (-27.4 degrees C), Netherlands' coldest day since 1850. [1]
- April 27
- Tornado destroys Pryor, Oklahoma, USA killing 100, injuring 300. [1]
- June 12
- Tornado kills 35 in Oklahoma City, USA. [1]
- June 21
- 129 degrees F (54 degrees C), Tirat Zevi, Israel (Asian record). [1]
- July 17
- 3 feet of rain falls on Pennsylvania, flooding kills 15. [1]
- October 16
- Cyclone in Bay of Bengal kills some 40,000 south of Calcutta, India. [1]
1943
- January 20
- Temperature in Lead, South Dakota is 52 degrees F, while 1.5 miles away Deadwood, South Dakota records -16 degrees F. [1]
- January 22
- Temperature rises 49 degrees F (9 degrees C) in two minutes in Spearfish, South Dakota, USA. [1]
- February 20
- New volcano Paracutin erupts in farmer's corn patch (México). [1]
1944
- March 20
- Mount Vesuvius, Italy explodes. [1]
- June 23
- Four tornadoes strike Appalachia, killing 153. [1]
- December 18
- US Destroyers Hull, Spence, and Monaghan sink in typhoon off Philippines, 790 killed. [1]
- Year
- Global mean surface temperature at peak highest point since accurate measurements in 1880, beginning of gradual decline. [58]
1945
- September 16
- Barometric pressure at 856mb (25.55 inches) off Okinawa, Japan (record low). [1]
1946
- April 1
- Tsunamis generated by an earthquake in Aleutian Trench strike Hilo, Hawaii. [1]
- December 21
- Earthquake in South Japan kills 1,086. [1]
1947
- February 3
- -81 degrees F (-63 degrees C) in Snag, Yukon (North American record). [1]
- April 9
- Tornadoes striking West Texas and Oklahoma kill 169, injuring 1,300. [1]
- May 5
- Mississippi Valley flooding kills 16 and causes $850 million in damage. [1]
- July 22
- -8 degrees F (-13 degrees C), Charlotte Pass, New South Wales (Australian record). [1]
- December 26
- Heavy snow blankets Northeast USA, buries New York City under 25.8 inches of snow in 16 hours; the same day, Los Angeles sets a record high of 84 degrees F. [1]
1949
- July 31
- Lightning strikes a baseball field in Florida, kills the shortstop and third baseman. [1]
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