December 1 edit
2013: Cyclone Alessia dissipated over the Northern Territory, Australia.
December 2 edit
1996: The final WSR-57 weather radar was decommissioned at Charleston International Airport in Charleston, South Carolina. It was replaced by a new NEXRAD (WSR-88D) radar.
December 3 edit
1999: European windstorm Anatol struck the coast of Sweden, Denmark, and Germany with wind gusts of up to 175 kilometers per hour (109 mph), causing over $2 billion in damage and killing 20 people.
December 4 edit
2001: Hurricane Olga, the largest tropical cyclone on record in the Atlantic Ocean (in terms of physical size), dissipated east of The Bahamas.
December 5 edit
2003: A nor'easter began impacting the Northeastern United States, eventually bringing more than 40 inches (100 cm) of snow to some areas.
December 6 edit
2014: Typhoon Hagupit moved slowly through the Philippines, killing 22 people.
December 7 edit
1966: ATS-1, an experimental satellite which was the first to successfully reach geostationary orbit, was launched. Though nominally a communications satellite, the Spin Scan Cloud Camera on board ATS-1 would provide cloud images for use in weather forecasting for more than 10 years.
December 8 edit
2011: A severe windstorm produced gusts of up to 165 miles per hour (270 km/h) in the British Isles.
December 9 edit
2006: Typhoon Utor struck the Philippines with maximum sustained winds of more than 100 miles per hour (160 km/h).
December 10 edit
2021: A violent tornado outbreak killed 90 people in the Central United States, including 75 in Kentucky alone. The 69 tornadoes that touched down were the most ever recorded for an outbreak in the month of December, until that record was broken less than a week later.
December 11 edit
1998: Cyclone Thelma, the most intense tropical cyclone ever recorded in the Timor Sea, made landfall near Kuri Bay in the Kimberley Region of Western Australia.
December 12 edit
1984: The NOAA-9 weather satellite was launched into a polar orbit from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.
December 13 edit
2013: A historic snowfall struck parts of the Middle East, including the first snow recorded in Cairo in more than 100 years.
December 14 edit
2008: Typhoon Dolphin sunk the combined cargo/passenger ship M/Bca Mae Jan, killing 47 people.
December 15 edit
1968: The ESSA-8 weather satellite was launched.
December 16 edit
1964: Super Typhoon Opal, the last of a record 39 named storms in the 1964 Pacific typhoon season, dissipated near Hong Kong.
December 17 edit
2020: A severe snowstorm reached its peak intensity over the Northeastern United States, bringing more than 40 inches (100 cm) of snow to parts of several states.
December 18 edit
1957: A tornado outbreak, including three violent tornadoes, killed 17 people in Missouri and Illinois.
December 19 edit
2006: Cyclone Bondo reached peak intensity as a Category 4 storm while approaching Madagascar.
December 20 edit
2010: Tropical Storm Omeka formed near the International Date Line, and moved east into the Northeastern Pacific Ocean. This is the latest on record that a tropical storm occurred in this area.
December 21 edit
1963: The TIROS-8 weather satellite was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.
December 22 edit
1993: The Congress of Colombia passed Law 99 of 1993, mandating the creation of Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies.
December 23 edit
1964: A severe tropical cyclone made landfall on Pamban Island between mainland India and Ceylon (modern-day Sri Lanka), killing at least 1,000 people on the small island alone.
December 24 edit
1971: LANSA Flight 508 crashed in the Peruvian jungle en route to Lima after being struck by lightning. Incredibly, a 17-year-old girl survived a 2-mile (3.2 km) fall strapped to her seat, and walked 10 days to safety.
December 25 edit
1994: The Christmas 1994 nor'easter caused high winds and coastal flooding along most of the east coast of the United States.
December 26 edit
2001: Tropical Storm Vamei formed only 1.4° (104 miles, 170 km) from the equator. This was the closest to the equator a tropical cyclone had ever formed. Tropical cyclones rarely approach the equator due to the lack of the Coriolis force which typically powers their circulation.
December 27 edit
2002: Cyclone Zoe reached peak intensity with a minimum central pressure of 890 millibars (26.28 inHg), the strongest tropical cyclone on record in the Southern Hemisphere at the time (surpassed by Cyclone Winston in 2016).
December 28 edit
2008: Two avalanches killed 8 snowmobilers near Fernie, British Columbia, Canada
December 29 edit
2011: Cyclone Thane reached peak intensity over the Bay of Bengal, with 3-minute maximum sustained winds of 140 kilometres per hour (85 mph). The storm made landfall near Chennai, India the next day, killing 48 people.
December 30 edit
1954: Hurricane Alice formed in the eastern Caribbean Sea. Alice was one of only two North Atlantic tropical cyclones on record to span two calendar years, and the only hurricane to do so.
December 31 edit
2010: A tornado outbreak killed 9 people in Arkansas and Missouri.