Weather Records on 21 December 1938

145 weather records were set or tied worldwide on 21 December 1938. Highest significance: De Wagendrift, ZA.

Key Facts for 21 December 1938

On 21 December 1938, 145 weather records were set or tied at long-record stations worldwide.
32 were record highs and 44 were record lows, counting maximum and minimum temperature.
By timescale, 0 were all-time records, 0 monthly and 145 daily.
De Wagendrift set a daily record precipitation of 87.6 mm (3.4 in) on 21 December 1938.
Across 158 earlier years (1793 to 2025) the same calendar date averaged 491 records.

Record Map

145 stations

145 station records on 21 December 1938 are marked on the map, coloured by record type. Dot size shows the significance score. Made with Natural Earth.

Weather records on 21 December 1938: highest significance records shown on the map
Station	Country	Type	Value	Significance
De Wagendrift	South Africa	Record daily precipitation	87.6 mm (3.4 in)	47 of 100 (Notable)
Uccle	Belgium	Record low minimum temperature	-14.9 C (5.2 F)	37 of 100 (Notable)
West Souburg	Netherlands	Record low maximum temperature	-7.6 C (18.3 F)	30 of 100 (Routine)
Aachen	Germany	Record low maximum temperature	-7.6 C (18.3 F)	29 of 100 (Routine)
Bourke Post Office	Australia	Record high minimum temperature	29.6 C (85.3 F)	27 of 100 (Routine)
Grand Canyon HQ	United States	Record daily snowfall	19.1 cm (7.5 in)	26 of 100 (Routine)
Muenster	Germany	Record low maximum temperature	-8.0 C (17.6 F)	25 of 100 (Routine)
Aachen	Germany	Record low minimum temperature	-10.4 C (13.3 F)	23 of 100 (Routine)
Nemours (Ghazaouet)	Algeria	Record low minimum temperature	2.0 C (35.6 F)	22 of 100 (Routine)
Sandvig	Denmark	Record low minimum temperature	-9.0 C (15.8 F)	22 of 100 (Routine)
Groningen	Netherlands	Record low maximum temperature	-7.4 C (18.7 F)	22 of 100 (Routine)
Eelde	Netherlands	Record low maximum temperature	-7.8 C (18.0 F)	22 of 100 (Routine)
Le Bourget	France	Record low maximum temperature	-7.9 C (17.8 F)	21 of 100 (Routine)
De Bilt	Netherlands	Record low maximum temperature	-9.1 C (15.6 F)	21 of 100 (Routine)
Lowestoft	United Kingdom	Record low minimum temperature	-5.0 C (23.0 F)	21 of 100 (Routine)
Cuyamaca	United States	Record daily precipitation	79.0 mm (3.1 in)	21 of 100 (Routine)
Clayton Muni Air Pk	United States	Record snow depth	15.2 cm (6.0 in)	21 of 100 (Routine)
Malung	Sweden	Record daily precipitation	21.0 mm (0.8 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Denial Bay (Nadia)	Australia	Record daily precipitation	10.2 mm (0.4 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Grand Canyon HQ	United States	Record daily precipitation	19.1 mm (0.8 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Moscow U of I	United States	Record snow depth	7.6 cm (3.0 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Las Vegas	United States	Record daily precipitation	4.6 mm (0.18 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Roy Hill	Australia	Record daily precipitation	18.3 mm (0.7 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Cambridge Niab	United Kingdom	Record daily precipitation	15.5 mm (0.6 in)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Sfax El-Maou	Tunisia	Record high minimum temperature	13.0 C (55.4 F)	20 of 100 (Routine)
Guy Fawkes 2	Australia	Record daily precipitation	45.7 mm (1.8 in)	19 of 100 (Routine)
Le Bourget	France	Record low minimum temperature	-11.7 C (10.9 F)	19 of 100 (Routine)
Den Helder	Netherlands	Record low maximum temperature	-6.7 C (19.9 F)	19 of 100 (Routine)
Herefoss	Norway	Record snow depth	76.0 cm (29.9 in)	19 of 100 (Routine)
Chippewa Lake	United States	Record daily snowfall	7.6 cm (3.0 in)	19 of 100 (Routine)
Levan	United States	Record daily snowfall	19.1 cm (7.5 in)	19 of 100 (Routine)
Marree (Farina)	Australia	Record high minimum temperature	29.9 C (85.8 F)	18 of 100 (Routine)
Deols Chateauroux Aerodrome de	France	Record low minimum temperature	-13.7 C (7.3 F)	18 of 100 (Routine)
Clausthal-Zellerfeld	Germany	Record low minimum temperature	-15.6 C (3.9 F)	18 of 100 (Routine)
Den Helder-1	Netherlands	Record low maximum temperature	-7.5 C (18.5 F)	18 of 100 (Routine)
Pinal Rch	United States	Record daily precipitation	36.1 mm (1.4 in)	18 of 100 (Routine)
Prescott	United States	Record daily precipitation	32.5 mm (1.3 in)	18 of 100 (Routine)
Porterville	United States	Record daily precipitation	25.1 mm (1.0 in)	18 of 100 (Routine)
Visalia	United States	Record daily precipitation	22.6 mm (0.9 in)	18 of 100 (Routine)
Duchesne	United States	Record daily precipitation	5.8 mm (0.23 in)	18 of 100 (Routine)
Duchesne	United States	Record daily snowfall	6.4 cm (2.5 in)	18 of 100 (Routine)
Moab	United States	Record daily precipitation	6.9 mm (0.27 in)	18 of 100 (Routine)
Yarraloola	Australia	Record daily precipitation	3.8 mm (0.15 in)	17 of 100 (Routine)
Arnsberg	Germany	Record low maximum temperature	-6.3 C (20.7 F)	17 of 100 (Routine)
Badgam	India	Record daily precipitation	23.9 mm (0.9 in)	17 of 100 (Routine)
Maastricht-1	Netherlands	Record low maximum temperature	-7.3 C (18.9 F)	17 of 100 (Routine)
Maastricht	Netherlands	Record low maximum temperature	-8.2 C (17.2 F)	17 of 100 (Routine)
Natural Brg	United States	Record daily precipitation	35.6 mm (1.4 in)	17 of 100 (Routine)
Angiola	United States	Record daily precipitation	13.5 mm (0.5 in)	17 of 100 (Routine)
Miami	United States	Record daily snowfall	7.6 cm (3.0 in)	17 of 100 (Routine)
Cobar Post Office	Australia	Record high minimum temperature	26.7 C (80.1 F)	16 of 100 (Routine)
Los Alamos	United States	Record daily precipitation	22.1 mm (0.9 in)	16 of 100 (Routine)
Ashland	United States	Record snow depth	10.2 cm (4.0 in)	16 of 100 (Routine)
Hiram	United States	Record daily snowfall	6.4 cm (2.5 in)	16 of 100 (Routine)
Manti	United States	Record daily precipitation	5.6 mm (0.22 in)	16 of 100 (Routine)
Altastenberg	Germany	Record low maximum temperature	-11.2 C (11.8 F)	15 of 100 (Routine)
Brocken	Germany	Record low minimum temperature	-17.8 C (0.0 F)	15 of 100 (Routine)
West Souburg	Netherlands	Record low minimum temperature	-11.2 C (11.8 F)	15 of 100 (Routine)
Towanda 1 S	United States	Record daily snowfall	8.9 cm (3.5 in)	15 of 100 (Routine)
Makaweli 965	United States	Record high minimum temperature	20.6 C (69.1 F)	15 of 100 (Routine)

Counts by Type and Timescale

145 records

Records set or tied on 21 December 1938 by type: Highest daily maximum 8, Lowest daily maximum 28, Highest daily minimum 24, Lowest daily minimum 16, Heaviest daily rainfall 44, Heaviest daily snowfall 17, Deepest snow cover 8.

Records on 21 December 1938 by type
Record type	Records
Highest daily maximum	8
Lowest daily maximum	28
Highest daily minimum	24
Lowest daily minimum	16
Heaviest daily rainfall	44
Heaviest daily snowfall	17
Deepest snow cover	8

Records on 21 December 1938 by timescale: all-time 0, monthly 0, daily 145.

How Much Records Were Beaten By

115 broken records

Margins by which the 115 broken records beat the old ones, in degrees Celsius for temperature and millimetres for precipitation and snow; the largest margin was 160.0. Ties are not counted.

Top 20 by Significance

21 December 1938

Top 20 records on 21 December 1938 by significance
Date	Station	Record	Value	Beat old record by	Old record stood	Significance
21 December 1938	De Wagendrift, ZA	daily rain	87.6 mm (3.4 in)	77.4 mm (3.0 in)	13 years	47 of 100 (Notable)
21 December 1938	Uccle, BE	daily low min	-14.9 C (5.2 F)	1.7 C (3.1 F)	82 years	37 of 100 (Notable)
21 December 1938	West Souburg, NL	daily low max	-7.6 C (18.3 F)	7.6 C (13.7 F)	20 years	30 of 100 (Routine)
21 December 1938	Aachen, DE	daily low max	-7.6 C (18.3 F)	6.2 C (11.2 F)	38 years	29 of 100 (Routine)
21 December 1938	Bourke Post Office, AU	daily high min	29.6 C (85.3 F)	1.7 C (3.1 F)	59 years	27 of 100 (Routine)
21 December 1938	Grand Canyon HQ, US	daily snowfall	19.1 cm (7.5 in)	8.9 cm (3.5 in)	33 years	26 of 100 (Routine)
21 December 1938	Muenster, DE	daily low max	-8.0 C (17.6 F)	4.5 C (8.1 F)	38 years	25 of 100 (Routine)
21 December 1938	Aachen, DE	daily low min	-10.4 C (13.3 F)	2.6 C (4.7 F)	46 years	23 of 100 (Routine)
21 December 1938	Nemours (Ghazaouet), DZ	daily low min	2.0 C (35.6 F)	2.0 C (3.6 F)	32 years	22 of 100 (Routine)
21 December 1938	Sandvig, DK	daily low min	-9.0 C (15.8 F)	3.0 C (5.4 F)	23 years	22 of 100 (Routine)
21 December 1938	Groningen, NL	daily low max	-7.4 C (18.7 F)	4.2 C (7.6 F)	32 years	22 of 100 (Routine)
21 December 1938	Eelde, NL	daily low max	-7.8 C (18.0 F)	4.0 C (7.2 F)	32 years	22 of 100 (Routine)
21 December 1938	Le Bourget, FR	daily low max	-7.9 C (17.8 F)	5.2 C (9.4 F)	20 years	21 of 100 (Routine)
21 December 1938	De Bilt, NL	daily low max	-9.1 C (15.6 F)	7.4 C (13.3 F)	0 years	21 of 100 (Routine)
21 December 1938	Lowestoft, GB	daily low min	-5.0 C (23.0 F)	0.7 C (1.3 F)	47 years	21 of 100 (Routine)
21 December 1938	Cuyamaca, US	daily rain	79.0 mm (3.1 in)	32.0 mm (1.3 in)	16 years	21 of 100 (Routine)
21 December 1938	Clayton Muni Air Pk, US	daily snow depth	15.2 cm (6.0 in)	12.7 cm (5.0 in)	15 years	21 of 100 (Routine)
21 December 1938	Malung, SE	daily rain	21.0 mm (0.8 in)	8.1 mm (0.32 in)	44 years	20 of 100 (Routine)
21 December 1938	Denial Bay (Nadia), AU	daily rain	10.2 mm (0.4 in)	8.9 mm (0.35 in)	36 years	20 of 100 (Routine)
21 December 1938	Grand Canyon HQ, US	daily rain	19.1 mm (0.8 in)	8.9 mm (0.35 in)	33 years	20 of 100 (Routine)

Significance is a score from 0 to 100 combining margin, the age of the old record and the length of the station's record. How it is computed.

The Same Date in Other Years

1793 to 1938

Records set or tied on this calendar date in each year from 1793 to 1938. 1938 had 145 records.

Counts for years before the ledger starts come from the same station rules.

Records on 12-21 in each year
Year	Records
1793	1
1794	1
1799	1
1801	2
1808	3
1825	1
1828	1
1839	1
1846	1
1850	1
1855	7
1859	1
1860	1
1868	1
1870	1
1871	2
1874	2
1875	3
1876	1
1877	1
1878	1
1879	1
1880	1
1884	1
1886	3
1889	1
1890	4
1893	4
1894	1
1895	5
1896	3
1897	3
1898	1
1900	8
1901	15
1902	5
1903	25
1904	3
1905	15
1906	15
1907	17
1908	19
1909	20
1910	29
1911	36
1912	23
1913	11
1914	107
1915	43
1916	40
1917	18
1918	41
1919	57
1920	30
1921	104
1922	34
1923	323
1924	377
1925	120
1926	178
1927	147
1928	70
1929	156
1930	66
1931	556
1932	150
1933	581
1934	230
1935	398
1936	323
1937	189
1938	145
1939	140
1940	622
1941	651
1942	968
1943	148
1944	762
1945	396
1946	495
1947	700
1948	297
1949	1,281
1950	504
1951	1,061
1952	197
1953	256
1954	444
1955	888
1956	672
1957	846
1958	516
1959	272
1960	585
1961	254
1962	563
1963	1,137
1964	613
1965	247
1966	400
1967	1,923
1968	818
1969	828
1970	547
1971	680
1972	651
1973	1,292
1974	374
1975	548
1976	446
1977	470
1978	517
1979	558
1980	726
1981	1,476
1982	702
1983	3,324
1984	1,012
1985	979
1986	404
1987	775
1988	717
1989	3,203
1990	2,701
1991	1,125
1992	751
1993	967
1994	793
1995	878
1996	1,114
1997	810
1998	1,142
1999	851
2000	944
2001	650
2002	579
2003	1,103
2004	675
2005	606
2006	1,443
2007	946
2008	1,062
2009	1,097
2010	2,039
2011	653
2012	759
2013	1,029
2014	878
2015	1,173
2016	543
2017	459
2018	742
2019	755
2020	965
2021	323
2022	528
2023	1,170
2024	778
2025	1,099

Download the Data

Data for records on 1938-12-21: CSV or JSON. Field meanings are on the data page.

Sources: 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)) Made with Natural Earth. Public domain map data. Borders are Natural Earth's de facto depiction. Data as of 2026-10-14 (14 October 2026). Records are computed by this site and are not official.

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

Margin	Records
0 to 20	98
20 to 40	9
40 to 60	3
60 to 80	2
80 to 100	1
100 to 120	0
120 to 140	1
140 to 160	1