Extreme rain in Australia, 19 to 26 May 2020

Name: Extreme rain in Australia, 19 to 26 May 2020
Start: 2020-05-19
End: 2020-05-26
Location: Australia

Extreme rain in Australia, 19 to 26 May 2020: 110 records at 79 stations, peak on 23 May 2020. Closed.

Data as of 2026-10-12. Last revised 12 October 2026 (2026-10-12).

Key Facts

Extreme rain in Australia, 19 to 26 May 2020 set or tied 110 station records at 79 stations.
It ran from 19 May 2020 to 26 May 2020 (8 days) and its peak day was 23 May 2020.
Status: closed.
Cairns Post Office set a daily record precipitation of 75.2 mm (3.0 in) on 19 May 2020.
The busiest day was 23 May 2020 with 25 records.
The oldest broken record in the ranked list had stood for 115 years.

Footprint

19 to 26 May 2020

The area covered by Extreme rain in Australia, 19 to 26 May 2020 is outlined, with 17 of the stations that set records marked, coloured by record type. Made with Natural Earth.

Footprint of Extreme rain in Australia, 19 to 26 May 2020: stations that set records in the event
Station	Type	Value	Date
Cairns Post Office	Record daily precipitation	75.2 mm (3.0 in)	2020-05-19
Deeral	Record daily precipitation	169.0 mm (6.7 in)	2020-05-21
Bingil Bay	Record daily precipitation	301.8 mm (11.9 in)	2020-05-21
Mossman South Alchera Drive	Record daily precipitation	51.2 mm (2.0 in)	2020-05-21
Mena Creek Post Office	Record daily precipitation	179.0 mm (7.0 in)	2020-05-20
Mulgrave Mill	Record daily precipitation	50.0 mm (2.0 in)	2020-05-21
Bellenden Ker Bottom STN	Record daily precipitation	175.0 mm (6.9 in)	2020-05-21
Port Douglas - Warner St	Record daily precipitation	58.0 mm (2.3 in)	2020-05-21
Bellenden Ker Top STN	Record daily precipitation	427.0 mm (16.8 in)	2020-05-20
Lyndhurst Station	Record daily precipitation	32.1 mm (1.3 in)	2020-05-23
Tully Sugar Mill	Record daily precipitation	157.0 mm (6.2 in)	2020-05-21
Cairns Aero	Record daily precipitation	75.2 mm (3.0 in)	2020-05-20
Kuranda Railway Station	Record daily precipitation	87.0 mm (3.4 in)	2020-05-20
South Johnstone Exp STN	Record daily precipitation	150.0 mm (5.9 in)	2020-05-20
Irvinebank	Record daily precipitation	28.2 mm (1.1 in)	2020-05-23
Gilberton	Record daily precipitation	29.0 mm (1.1 in)	2020-05-23
Hughenden Station	Record daily precipitation	40.0 mm (1.6 in)	2020-05-22

Records per Day

Peak day 25

Records set or tied each day from 19 May 2020 to 26 May 2020. The most in one day was 25 on 23 May 2020.

Top Records by Margin

Margin over the record replaced

Top records of Extreme rain in Australia, 19 to 26 May 2020 ranked by margin
Bellenden Ker Top STN, 05-20	142.0 mm (5.6 in)
Bingil Bay, 05-21	127.4 mm (5.0 in)
Mena Creek Post Office, 05-20	127.0 mm (5.0 in)
Bellenden Ker Bottom STN, 05-21	108.0 mm (4.3 in)
Bingil Bay, 05-20	92.2 mm (3.6 in)
Deeral, 05-21	79.3 mm (3.1 in)
Tully Sugar Mill, 05-21	74.0 mm (2.9 in)
Cairns Post Office, 05-19	53.4 mm (2.1 in)
South Johnstone Exp STN, 05-20	45.9 mm (1.8 in)
Port Douglas - Warner St, 05-21	40.4 mm (1.6 in)
Mossman South Alchera Drive, 05-21	35.4 mm (1.4 in)
Kuranda Railway Station, 05-20	29.6 mm (1.2 in)
Cairns Aero, 05-20	29.0 mm (1.1 in)
Hughenden Station, 05-22	27.8 mm (1.1 in)
Lyndhurst Station, 05-23	23.5 mm (0.9 in)

Margin is how far the new value is beyond the record it replaced. Ties are not shown.

Margin Against Age of the Broken Record

110 records plotted by how far they beat the old record (across) and how many years the old record had stood (up). Long standing records beaten by a wide margin sit in the top right.

Margin against age of the broken record in Extreme rain in Australia, 19 to 26 May 2020
Margin (mm)	Years the old record stood
53	115
79	86
127	22
92	37
35	37
127	41
22	86
108	39
40	37
142	28
24	88
0	107
74	39
29	56
30	56
46	56
11	88
16	88
28	55
8	93
13	59
31	30
13	65
56	39
93	2
14	30
25	32
26	31
2	104
17	78
8	65
2	88
26	59
18	39
0	88
13	40
21	39
13	60
17	30
17	60
4	75
8	61
12	39
83	37
10	39
41	20
1	70
21	31
10	24
35	46
27	20
4	59
1	61
2	59
14	30
3	54
7	30
26	31
5	30
11	30
2	55
17	46
7	46
26	4
8	35
20	31
7	31
6	40
13	30
22	11
1	39
8	35
5	39
6	46
6	46
29	6
2	39
2	30
3	44
3	30
1	40
5	29
4	37
5	39
1	39
5	20
3	43
3	37
7	32
1	30
5	7
8	14
13	4
3	31
25	9
2	35
3	31
1	14
1	29
4	14
7	16
8	8
2	20
6	14
3	4
2	20
9	4
6	3
1	7
1	6

Compared With Other Events

Station records per event

Station records in Extreme rain in Australia, 19 to 26 May 2020 compared with similar events
Extreme rain in United States and Mexico, 23 February to 15 March 2019	2,223 records
Extreme rain in United States, 3 to 19 January 2024	2,133 records
Extreme rain in Australia, 7 to 26 March 2021	2,099 records
Extreme rain in United States and Mexico, 29 September to 19 October 2018	1,970 records
Extreme rain in United States, 19 December 2022 to 13 January 2023	1,941 records
Extreme rain in Australia, 19 to 26 May 2020 (this event)	110 records

Every Record Set

20 of 110

Every record set or tied during Extreme rain in Australia, 19 to 26 May 2020, in date order
Date	Station	Record	Value	Margin	Years stood	Significance
2020-05-19	Cairns Post Office	Record daily precipitation	75.2 mm (3.0 in)	53.4 mm (2.1 in)	115	80 of 100 (Exceptional)
2020-05-20	Bingil Bay	Record daily precipitation	152.2 mm (6.0 in)	92.2 mm (3.6 in)	37	60 of 100 (Major)
2020-05-20	Mena Creek Post Office	Record daily precipitation	179.0 mm (7.0 in)	127.0 mm (5.0 in)	41	56 of 100 (Notable)
2020-05-20	Bellenden Ker Top STN	Record daily precipitation	427.0 mm (16.8 in)	142.0 mm (5.6 in)	28	52 of 100 (Notable)
2020-05-20	Mulgrave Mill	Record daily precipitation	112.0 mm (4.4 in)	0.2 mm (0.01 in)	107	50 of 100 (Notable)
2020-05-20	Cairns Aero	Record daily precipitation	75.2 mm (3.0 in)	29.0 mm (1.1 in)	56	49 of 100 (Notable)
2020-05-20	Kuranda Railway Station	Record daily precipitation	87.0 mm (3.4 in)	29.6 mm (1.2 in)	56	48 of 100 (Notable)
2020-05-20	South Johnstone Exp STN	Record daily precipitation	150.0 mm (5.9 in)	45.9 mm (1.8 in)	56	48 of 100 (Notable)
2020-05-21	Deeral	Record daily precipitation	169.0 mm (6.7 in)	79.3 mm (3.1 in)	86	67 of 100 (Major)
2020-05-21	Bingil Bay	Record daily precipitation	301.8 mm (11.9 in)	127.4 mm (5.0 in)	22	65 of 100 (Major)
2020-05-21	Mossman South Alchera Drive	Record daily precipitation	51.2 mm (2.0 in)	35.4 mm (1.4 in)	37	58 of 100 (Notable)
2020-05-21	Mulgrave Mill	Record daily precipitation	50.0 mm (2.0 in)	22.1 mm (0.9 in)	86	55 of 100 (Notable)
2020-05-21	Bellenden Ker Bottom STN	Record daily precipitation	175.0 mm (6.9 in)	108.0 mm (4.3 in)	39	55 of 100 (Notable)
2020-05-21	Port Douglas - Warner St	Record daily precipitation	58.0 mm (2.3 in)	40.4 mm (1.6 in)	37	54 of 100 (Notable)
2020-05-21	Tully Sugar Mill	Record daily precipitation	157.0 mm (6.2 in)	74.0 mm (2.9 in)	39	50 of 100 (Notable)
2020-05-22	Hughenden Station	Record daily precipitation	40.0 mm (1.6 in)	27.8 mm (1.1 in)	55	45 of 100 (Notable)
2020-05-23	Lyndhurst Station	Record daily precipitation	32.1 mm (1.3 in)	23.5 mm (0.9 in)	88	51 of 100 (Notable)
2020-05-23	Irvinebank	Record daily precipitation	28.2 mm (1.1 in)	10.9 mm (0.4 in)	88	47 of 100 (Notable)
2020-05-23	Gilberton	Record daily precipitation	29.0 mm (1.1 in)	16.3 mm (0.6 in)	88	46 of 100 (Notable)
2020-05-24	Irvinebank	Record daily precipitation	19.0 mm (0.7 in)	8.1 mm (0.32 in)	93	20 of 100 (Routine)

The daily ledgers keep a limited number of records per day, so this list has 20 of the 110 records the event counts. The counts above use the full total.

Related Headlines

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Download the Data

Source: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Global Historical Climatology Network Daily (GHCN-Daily). Records are computed by World Extreme Weather Monitor and are not official NOAA products. (US Government open data (NOAA NCEI)) Data as of 2026-10-12. Events are found by this site from station records and are not official designations. Records are provisional until reprocessed.

Margin (mm)	Years the old record stood
53	115
79	86
127	22
92	37
35	37
127	41
22	86
108	39
40	37
142	28
24	88
0	107
74	39
29	56
30	56
46	56
11	88
16	88
28	55
8	93
13	59
31	30
13	65
56	39
93	2
14	30
25	32
26	31
2	104
17	78
8	65
2	88
26	59
18	39
0	88
13	40
21	39
13	60
17	30
17	60
4	75
8	61
12	39
83	37
10	39
41	20
1	70
21	31
10	24
35	46
27	20
4	59
1	61
2	59
14	30
3	54
7	30
26	31
5	30
11	30
2	55
17	46
7	46
26	4
8	35
20	31
7	31
6	40
13	30
22	11
1	39
8	35
5	39
6	46
6	46
29	6
2	39
2	30
3	44
3	30
1	40
5	29
4	37
5	39
1	39
5	20
3	43
3	37
7	32
1	30
5	7
8	14
13	4
3	31
25	9
2	35
3	31
1	14
1	29
4	14
7	16
8	8
2	20
6	14
3	4
2	20
9	4
6	3
1	7
1	6

Margin (mm)	Years the old record stood
53	115
79	86
127	22
92	37
35	37
127	41
22	86
108	39
40	37
142	28
24	88
0	107
74	39
29	56
30	56
46	56
11	88
16	88
28	55
8	93
13	59
31	30
13	65
56	39
93	2
14	30
25	32
26	31
2	104
17	78
8	65
2	88
26	59
18	39
0	88
13	40
21	39
13	60
17	30
17	60
4	75
8	61
12	39
83	37
10	39
41	20
1	70
21	31
10	24
35	46
27	20
4	59
1	61
2	59
14	30
3	54
7	30
26	31
5	30
11	30
2	55
17	46
7	46
26	4
8	35
20	31
7	31
6	40
13	30
22	11
1	39
8	35
5	39
6	46
6	46
29	6
2	39
2	30
3	44
3	30
1	40
5	29
4	37
5	39
1	39
5	20
3	43
3	37
7	32
1	30
5	7
8	14
13	4
3	31
25	9
2	35
3	31
1	14
1	29
4	14
7	16
8	8
2	20
6	14
3	4
2	20
9	4
6	3
1	7
1	6

Margin (mm)	Years the old record stood
53	115
79	86
127	22
92	37
35	37
127	41
22	86
108	39
40	37
142	28
24	88
0	107
74	39
29	56
30	56
46	56
11	88
16	88
28	55
8	93
13	59
31	30
13	65
56	39
93	2
14	30
25	32
26	31
2	104
17	78
8	65
2	88
26	59
18	39
0	88
13	40
21	39
13	60
17	30
17	60
4	75
8	61
12	39
83	37
10	39
41	20
1	70
21	31
10	24
35	46
27	20
4	59
1	61
2	59
14	30
3	54
7	30
26	31
5	30
11	30
2	55
17	46
7	46
26	4
8	35
20	31
7	31
6	40
13	30
22	11
1	39
8	35
5	39
6	46
6	46
29	6
2	39
2	30
3	44
3	30
1	40
5	29
4	37
5	39
1	39
5	20
3	43
3	37
7	32
1	30
5	7
8	14
13	4
3	31
25	9
2	35
3	31
1	14
1	29
4	14
7	16
8	8
2	20
6	14
3	4
2	20
9	4
6	3
1	7
1	6