Weather Records on 20 December 1971

441 weather records were set or tied worldwide on 20 December 1971. Highest significance: Moultrie 2 ESE, US.

Key Facts for 20 December 1971

On 20 December 1971, 441 weather records were set or tied at long-record stations worldwide.
138 were record highs and 61 were record lows, counting maximum and minimum temperature.
By timescale, 1 were all-time records, 11 monthly and 429 daily.
Moultrie 2 ESE set a daily record precipitation of 115.1 mm (4.5 in) on 20 December 1971.
Across 163 earlier years (1793 to 2025) the same calendar date averaged 467 records.

Record Map

441 stations

441 station records on 20 December 1971 are marked on the map, coloured by record type. Dot size shows the significance score. Made with Natural Earth.

Weather records on 20 December 1971: highest significance records shown on the map
Station	Country	Type	Value	Significance
Moultrie 2 ESE	United States	Record daily precipitation	115.1 mm (4.5 in)	56 of 100 (Notable)
Brooklet 1 W	United States	Record daily precipitation	65.5 mm (2.6 in)	55 of 100 (Notable)
Bajramaly	Turkmenistan	Record daily precipitation	26.9 mm (1.1 in)	53 of 100 (Notable)
Alapaha Exp STN	United States	Record daily precipitation	93.2 mm (3.7 in)	53 of 100 (Notable)
Ft Gaines	United States	Record daily precipitation	95.8 mm (3.8 in)	53 of 100 (Notable)
Cuthbert	United States	Record daily precipitation	84.1 mm (3.3 in)	51 of 100 (Notable)
Darnley Island School	Australia	Record daily precipitation	135.9 mm (5.4 in)	49 of 100 (Notable)
Beau Maison	Australia	Record daily precipitation	71.1 mm (2.8 in)	49 of 100 (Notable)
Binnaway (Wattle St)	Australia	Record daily precipitation	48.3 mm (1.9 in)	47 of 100 (Notable)
Ozark 6 NNW	United States	Record daily precipitation	81.3 mm (3.2 in)	46 of 100 (Notable)
Fernlees Post Office	Australia	Record daily precipitation	69.3 mm (2.7 in)	45 of 100 (Notable)
Ksara	Lebanon	Record low minimum temperature	-13.4 C (7.9 F)	44 of 100 (Notable)
Whatley	United States	Record daily precipitation	101.6 mm (4.0 in)	44 of 100 (Notable)
Newton	United States	Record daily precipitation	54.6 mm (2.1 in)	41 of 100 (Notable)
Alma Bacon Co AP	United States	Record daily precipitation	75.4 mm (3.0 in)	41 of 100 (Notable)
Bothaville (Mun)	South Africa	Record daily precipitation	90.0 mm (3.5 in)	40 of 100 (Notable)
Oxford	United Kingdom	Record high maximum temperature	13.6 C (56.5 F)	40 of 100 (Notable)
Saragt	Turkmenistan	Record daily precipitation	33.4 mm (1.3 in)	39 of 100 (Notable)
Stornoway Airport	United Kingdom	Record high maximum temperature	13.4 C (56.1 F)	36 of 100 (Notable)
Elba	United States	Record daily precipitation	57.2 mm (2.3 in)	36 of 100 (Notable)
Valdosta 2 S	United States	Record daily precipitation	48.8 mm (1.9 in)	36 of 100 (Notable)
Columbia	United States	Record daily precipitation	71.1 mm (2.8 in)	36 of 100 (Notable)
Warwick Park	Australia	Record daily precipitation	97.8 mm (3.9 in)	35 of 100 (Notable)
Blackwater Post Office	Australia	Record daily precipitation	116.8 mm (4.6 in)	35 of 100 (Notable)
Springsure Comet St	Australia	Record daily precipitation	43.2 mm (1.7 in)	35 of 100 (Notable)
Kaslo	Canada	Record daily snowfall	21.3 cm (8.4 in)	35 of 100 (Notable)
Theodore Dpi	Australia	Record daily precipitation	114.3 mm (4.5 in)	34 of 100 (Routine)
Lowestoft	United Kingdom	Record high maximum temperature	15.2 C (59.4 F)	34 of 100 (Routine)
Cairo 1SW	United States	Record daily precipitation	60.2 mm (2.4 in)	34 of 100 (Routine)
Glennville 3NW	United States	Record daily precipitation	53.3 mm (2.1 in)	34 of 100 (Routine)
Somerby	Australia	Record daily precipitation	47.0 mm (1.9 in)	33 of 100 (Routine)
Galway	Ireland	Record high maximum temperature	14.0 C (57.2 F)	33 of 100 (Routine)
Elandsheuwel	South Africa	Record daily precipitation	39.0 mm (1.5 in)	33 of 100 (Routine)
Hattiesburg 5SW	United States	Record daily precipitation	69.6 mm (2.7 in)	33 of 100 (Routine)
Bearbung (Aller)	Australia	Record daily precipitation	31.5 mm (1.2 in)	32 of 100 (Routine)
Moncton	Canada	Record low minimum temperature	-32.8 C (-27.0 F)	31 of 100 (Routine)
Armagh	United Kingdom	Record high maximum temperature	14.3 C (57.7 F)	31 of 100 (Routine)
Hollister 1 SW	United States	Record low minimum temperature	-6.7 C (19.9 F)	31 of 100 (Routine)
Avington	Australia	Record daily precipitation	48.3 mm (1.9 in)	29 of 100 (Routine)
Tara Shire Council	Australia	Record daily precipitation	45.7 mm (1.8 in)	29 of 100 (Routine)
Galway	Ireland	Record high minimum temperature	8.5 C (47.3 F)	29 of 100 (Routine)
Reit Im Winkl	Germany	Record daily precipitation	29.5 mm (1.2 in)	29 of 100 (Routine)
Carrabelle 1 NNW	United States	Record high maximum temperature	24.4 C (75.9 F)	29 of 100 (Routine)
St Augustine	United States	Record high maximum temperature	27.8 C (82.0 F)	29 of 100 (Routine)
Brunswick	United States	Record high minimum temperature	16.1 C (61.0 F)	29 of 100 (Routine)
New Iberia AP - Acadiana Rgnl	United States	Record daily precipitation	66.8 mm (2.6 in)	29 of 100 (Routine)
Union	United States	Record snow depth	15.2 cm (6.0 in)	29 of 100 (Routine)
McGrath AP	United States	Record snow depth	96.5 cm (38.0 in)	29 of 100 (Routine)
Taroom Post Office	Australia	Record daily precipitation	32.3 mm (1.3 in)	28 of 100 (Routine)
Hambantota	Sri Lanka	Record low maximum temperature	26.9 C (80.4 F)	28 of 100 (Routine)
Bad Reichenhall	Germany	Record daily precipitation	47.8 mm (1.9 in)	28 of 100 (Routine)
Lisboa Geofisica	Portugal	Record high maximum temperature	18.5 C (65.3 F)	28 of 100 (Routine)
Coffee Springs 2 NW	United States	Record daily precipitation	62.7 mm (2.5 in)	28 of 100 (Routine)
Fairhope 2 NE	United States	Record daily precipitation	42.7 mm (1.7 in)	28 of 100 (Routine)
Fergus Falls	United States	Record snow depth	22.9 cm (9.0 in)	28 of 100 (Routine)
Inukjuak Ua	Canada	Record daily snowfall	8.1 cm (3.2 in)	27 of 100 (Routine)
Wrixum/Fohr	Germany	Record high minimum temperature	6.5 C (43.7 F)	27 of 100 (Routine)
Lowmead Post Office	Australia	Record daily precipitation	72.9 mm (2.9 in)	26 of 100 (Routine)
Ocean Falls	Canada	Record daily snowfall	31.8 cm (12.5 in)	26 of 100 (Routine)
Tranebjerg	Denmark	Record high maximum temperature	9.2 C (48.6 F)	26 of 100 (Routine)

Counts by Type and Timescale

441 records

Records set or tied on 20 December 1971 by type: Highest daily maximum 77, Lowest daily maximum 15, Highest daily minimum 61, Lowest daily minimum 46, Heaviest daily rainfall 192, Heaviest daily snowfall 27, Deepest snow cover 23.

Records on 20 December 1971 by type
Record type	Records
Highest daily maximum	77
Lowest daily maximum	15
Highest daily minimum	61
Lowest daily minimum	46
Heaviest daily rainfall	192
Heaviest daily snowfall	27
Deepest snow cover	23

Records on 20 December 1971 by timescale: all-time 1, monthly 11, daily 429.

How Much Records Were Beaten By

355 broken records

Margins by which the 355 broken records beat the old ones, in degrees Celsius for temperature and millimetres for precipitation and snow; the largest margin was 279.0. Ties are not counted.

Top 20 by Significance

20 December 1971

Top 20 records on 20 December 1971 by significance
Date	Station	Record	Value	Beat old record by	Old record stood	Significance
20 December 1971	Moultrie 2 ESE, US	daily rain	115.1 mm (4.5 in)	84.1 mm (3.3 in)	42 years	56 of 100 (Notable)
20 December 1971	Brooklet 1 W, US	daily rain	65.5 mm (2.6 in)	47.7 mm (1.9 in)	42 years	55 of 100 (Notable)
20 December 1971	Bajramaly, TM	daily rain	26.9 mm (1.1 in)	16.9 mm (0.7 in)	24 years	53 of 100 (Notable)
20 December 1971	Alapaha Exp STN, US	daily rain	93.2 mm (3.7 in)	58.7 mm (2.3 in)	42 years	53 of 100 (Notable)
20 December 1971	Ft Gaines, US	daily rain	95.8 mm (3.8 in)	45.0 mm (1.8 in)	65 years	53 of 100 (Notable)
20 December 1971	Cuthbert, US	daily rain	84.1 mm (3.3 in)	46.5 mm (1.8 in)	65 years	51 of 100 (Notable)
20 December 1971	Darnley Island School, AU	daily rain	135.9 mm (5.4 in)	73.7 mm (2.9 in)	37 years	49 of 100 (Notable)
20 December 1971	Beau Maison, AU	daily rain	71.1 mm (2.8 in)	45.7 mm (1.8 in)	41 years	49 of 100 (Notable)
20 December 1971	Binnaway (Wattle St), AU	daily rain	48.3 mm (1.9 in)	33.3 mm (1.3 in)	44 years	47 of 100 (Notable)
20 December 1971	Ozark 6 NNW, US	daily rain	81.3 mm (3.2 in)	36.3 mm (1.4 in)	65 years	46 of 100 (Notable)
20 December 1971	Fernlees Post Office, AU	daily rain	69.3 mm (2.7 in)	41.4 mm (1.6 in)	44 years	45 of 100 (Notable)
20 December 1971	Ksara, LB	all-time low min	-13.4 C (7.9 F)	1.3 C (2.3 F)	46 years	44 of 100 (Notable)
20 December 1971	Whatley, US	daily rain	101.6 mm (4.0 in)	78.2 mm (3.1 in)	20 years	44 of 100 (Notable)
20 December 1971	Newton, US	daily rain	54.6 mm (2.1 in)	22.6 mm (0.9 in)	75 years	41 of 100 (Notable)
20 December 1971	Alma Bacon Co AP, US	daily rain	75.4 mm (3.0 in)	50.8 mm (2.0 in)	18 years	41 of 100 (Notable)
20 December 1971	Bothaville (Mun), ZA	monthly rain	90.0 mm (3.5 in)	15.6 mm (0.6 in)	33 years	40 of 100 (Notable)
20 December 1971	Oxford, GB	daily high max	13.6 C (56.5 F)	0.3 C (0.5 F)	102 years	40 of 100 (Notable)
20 December 1971	Saragt, TM	monthly rain	33.4 mm (1.3 in)	8.8 mm (0.35 in)	17 years	39 of 100 (Notable)
20 December 1971	Stornoway Airport, GB	daily high max	13.4 C (56.1 F)	1.7 C (3.1 F)	70 years	36 of 100 (Notable)
20 December 1971	Elba, US	daily rain	57.2 mm (2.3 in)	13.5 mm (0.5 in)	75 years	36 of 100 (Notable)

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 1971

Records set or tied on this calendar date in each year from 1793 to 1971. 1971 had 441 records.

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

Records on 12-20 in each year
Year	Records
1793	1
1795	1
1804	1
1805	2
1808	1
1815	1
1828	1
1837	1
1846	1
1855	8
1858	1
1860	1
1866	1
1867	1
1868	1
1869	1
1871	2
1874	3
1875	1
1877	2
1878	1
1879	1
1880	1
1881	1
1882	1
1884	4
1885	1
1886	4
1889	4
1890	2
1891	2
1892	1
1894	2
1895	8
1896	1
1897	4
1898	2
1899	1
1900	7
1901	8
1902	14
1903	17
1904	9
1905	5
1906	5
1907	11
1908	5
1909	22
1910	17
1911	24
1912	27
1913	7
1914	43
1915	18
1916	45
1917	33
1918	18
1919	25
1920	22
1921	101
1922	88
1923	215
1924	332
1925	96
1926	163
1927	200
1928	93
1929	256
1930	67
1931	536
1932	170
1933	492
1934	265
1935	152
1936	416
1937	181
1938	240
1939	308
1940	965
1941	633
1942	817
1943	193
1944	340
1945	430
1946	327
1947	385
1948	345
1949	1,141
1950	758
1951	926
1952	394
1953	385
1954	416
1955	726
1956	471
1957	1,354
1958	382
1959	142
1960	354
1961	369
1962	475
1963	875
1964	499
1965	353
1966	555
1967	1,370
1968	482
1969	514
1970	518
1971	441
1972	448
1973	1,184
1974	328
1975	610
1976	382
1977	484
1978	910
1979	600
1980	667
1981	1,681
1982	712
1983	2,995
1984	1,411
1985	1,035
1986	321
1987	1,179
1988	760
1989	1,812
1990	1,885
1991	1,172
1992	1,134
1993	1,266
1994	813
1995	1,128
1996	1,448
1997	651
1998	1,110
1999	938
2000	1,150
2001	523
2002	943
2003	1,315
2004	836
2005	515
2006	1,387
2007	986
2008	1,356
2009	1,502
2010	2,055
2011	846
2012	1,131
2013	584
2014	524
2015	1,238
2016	603
2017	688
2018	592
2019	731
2020	554
2021	442
2022	567
2023	1,242
2024	897
2025	1,166

Download the Data

Data for records on 1971-12-20: 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 2026-10-17 (17 October 2026). Records are computed by this site and are not official.

Data as of 2026-10-16. Last revised 16 October 2026 (2026-10-16).

Margin	Records
0 to 50	332
50 to 100	16
100 to 150	5
150 to 200	1
200 to 250	0
250 to 300	1