Weather Records on 21 April 1972

593 weather records were set or tied worldwide on 21 April 1972. Highest significance: Sheldon, US.

Key Facts for 21 April 1972

On 21 April 1972, 593 weather records were set or tied at long-record stations worldwide.
98 were record highs and 155 were record lows, counting maximum and minimum temperature.
By timescale, 1 were all-time records, 13 monthly and 579 daily.
Sheldon set a daily record precipitation of 44.7 mm (1.8 in) on 21 April 1972.
Across 159 earlier years (1793 to 2026) the same calendar date averaged 461 records.

Record Map

593 stations

593 station records on 21 April 1972 are marked on the map, coloured by record type. Dot size shows the significance score. Made with Natural Earth.

Weather records on 21 April 1972: highest significance records shown on the map
Station	Country	Type	Value	Significance
Sheldon	United States	Record daily precipitation	44.7 mm (1.8 in)	63 of 100 (Major)
Governador Dix-Sept Rosado	Brazil	Record daily precipitation	135.6 mm (5.3 in)	62 of 100 (Major)
Limoeiro Do Norte	Brazil	Record daily precipitation	126.3 mm (5.0 in)	61 of 100 (Major)
Meanook	Canada	Record daily snowfall	17.8 cm (7.0 in)	56 of 100 (Notable)
Hickman	United States	Record daily precipitation	56.6 mm (2.2 in)	56 of 100 (Notable)
Hutchinson 1 N	United States	Record daily precipitation	30.7 mm (1.2 in)	54 of 100 (Notable)
Lexington Bluegrass AP	United States	Record daily precipitation	63.5 mm (2.5 in)	53 of 100 (Notable)
Alton	United States	Record daily precipitation	46.0 mm (1.8 in)	51 of 100 (Notable)
St Cloud Rgnl AP	United States	Record daily snowfall	8.9 cm (3.5 in)	51 of 100 (Notable)
Olathe 3E	United States	Record daily precipitation	70.1 mm (2.8 in)	50 of 100 (Notable)
Pedro Avelino	Brazil	Record daily precipitation	80.0 mm (3.1 in)	49 of 100 (Notable)
Gravelly	United States	Record daily precipitation	101.3 mm (4.0 in)	47 of 100 (Notable)
Fairfield	United States	Record daily precipitation	40.9 mm (1.6 in)	47 of 100 (Notable)
Sigourney	United States	Record daily precipitation	46.5 mm (1.8 in)	47 of 100 (Notable)
Bird Island	United States	Record daily precipitation	37.1 mm (1.5 in)	47 of 100 (Notable)
Windom	United States	Record daily precipitation	32.3 mm (1.3 in)	47 of 100 (Notable)
Waldron	United States	Record daily precipitation	107.4 mm (4.2 in)	46 of 100 (Notable)
Redwood Falls Muni AP	United States	Record daily snowfall	7.6 cm (3.0 in)	45 of 100 (Notable)
Springfield 1 NW	United States	Record daily precipitation	41.7 mm (1.6 in)	43 of 100 (Notable)
Wasola 5N	United States	Record daily precipitation	70.4 mm (2.8 in)	43 of 100 (Notable)
Sibley	United States	Record daily precipitation	35.1 mm (1.4 in)	42 of 100 (Notable)
Luverne	United States	Record daily precipitation	27.7 mm (1.1 in)	42 of 100 (Notable)
Low Head (Comparison)	Australia	Record high maximum temperature	22.8 C (73.0 F)	41 of 100 (Notable)
Sparta 1 W	United States	Record daily precipitation	54.1 mm (2.1 in)	40 of 100 (Notable)
Torrevieja	Spain	Record daily precipitation	32.6 mm (1.3 in)	39 of 100 (Notable)
Rock Rapids	United States	Record daily precipitation	40.6 mm (1.6 in)	38 of 100 (Notable)
Oswego 1 N	United States	Record daily precipitation	50.8 mm (2.0 in)	38 of 100 (Notable)
Minneapolis-St Paul Intl AP	United States	Record daily snowfall	12.2 cm (4.8 in)	38 of 100 (Notable)
Sao Paulo Do Potengi	Brazil	Record daily precipitation	44.0 mm (1.7 in)	37 of 100 (Notable)
Keosauqua	United States	Record daily precipitation	34.3 mm (1.4 in)	37 of 100 (Notable)
Sioux Ctr 2 SE	United States	Record daily precipitation	41.4 mm (1.6 in)	37 of 100 (Notable)
Oak Ridge Rsvr	United States	Record daily precipitation	37.6 mm (1.5 in)	37 of 100 (Notable)
Recanto	Brazil	Record daily precipitation	105.1 mm (4.1 in)	36 of 100 (Notable)
Iowa City	United States	Record daily precipitation	37.3 mm (1.5 in)	36 of 100 (Notable)
Frankfort	United States	Record daily precipitation	30.2 mm (1.2 in)	36 of 100 (Notable)
Bird Island	United States	Record daily snowfall	10.2 cm (4.0 in)	36 of 100 (Notable)
Nora	Russia	Record daily precipitation	42.1 mm (1.7 in)	35 of 100 (Notable)
Columbus Junction	United States	Record daily precipitation	39.9 mm (1.6 in)	35 of 100 (Notable)
Sanborn	United States	Record daily precipitation	32.8 mm (1.3 in)	35 of 100 (Notable)
Tracy	United States	Record daily precipitation	55.1 mm (2.2 in)	35 of 100 (Notable)
Tahlequah	United States	Record daily precipitation	73.9 mm (2.9 in)	35 of 100 (Notable)
Sao Joao Do Jaguaribe	Brazil	Record daily precipitation	53.8 mm (2.1 in)	34 of 100 (Routine)
Red Deer	Canada	Record daily snowfall	16.5 cm (6.5 in)	34 of 100 (Routine)
Milan 1NW	United States	Record daily precipitation	33.8 mm (1.3 in)	34 of 100 (Routine)
Lebanon 2W	United States	Record daily precipitation	44.7 mm (1.8 in)	34 of 100 (Routine)
Cape Otway Lighthouse	Australia	Record high minimum temperature	19.2 C (66.6 F)	33 of 100 (Routine)
Lacombe Cda	Canada	Record daily snowfall	20.3 cm (8.0 in)	33 of 100 (Routine)
Bedford	United States	Record daily precipitation	29.0 mm (1.1 in)	33 of 100 (Routine)
Artichoke Lake 1 E	United States	Record snow depth	10.2 cm (4.0 in)	33 of 100 (Routine)
Springfield 1 NW	United States	Record daily snowfall	7.6 cm (3.0 in)	33 of 100 (Routine)
Sallisaw 2 NW	United States	Record daily precipitation	48.8 mm (1.9 in)	33 of 100 (Routine)
Baraboo Wwtp	United States	Record daily precipitation	30.7 mm (1.2 in)	33 of 100 (Routine)
Apodi	Brazil	Record daily precipitation	54.2 mm (2.1 in)	32 of 100 (Routine)
Milford 4 NW	United States	Record daily precipitation	32.0 mm (1.3 in)	32 of 100 (Routine)
Albert Lea 3SE	United States	Record daily precipitation	38.1 mm (1.5 in)	32 of 100 (Routine)
Plattsmouth 1E	United States	Record daily precipitation	48.3 mm (1.9 in)	32 of 100 (Routine)
Southport 5 N	United States	Record high maximum temperature	29.4 C (84.9 F)	32 of 100 (Routine)
Warren 3 S	United States	Record low minimum temperature	-6.7 C (19.9 F)	32 of 100 (Routine)
River Falls	United States	Record daily snowfall	8.9 cm (3.5 in)	32 of 100 (Routine)
Wetaskiwin	Canada	Record daily snowfall	15.2 cm (6.0 in)	31 of 100 (Routine)

Counts by Type and Timescale

593 records

Records set or tied on 21 April 1972 by type: Highest daily maximum 29, Lowest daily maximum 63, Highest daily minimum 69, Lowest daily minimum 92, Heaviest daily rainfall 272, Heaviest daily snowfall 54, Deepest snow cover 14.

Records on 21 April 1972 by type
Record type	Records
Highest daily maximum	29
Lowest daily maximum	63
Highest daily minimum	69
Lowest daily minimum	92
Heaviest daily rainfall	272
Heaviest daily snowfall	54
Deepest snow cover	14

Records on 21 April 1972 by timescale: all-time 1, monthly 13, daily 579.

How Much Records Were Beaten By

472 broken records

Margins by which the 472 broken records beat the old ones, in degrees Celsius for temperature and millimetres for precipitation and snow; the largest margin was 508.0. Ties are not counted.

Top 20 by Significance

21 April 1972

Top 20 records on 21 April 1972 by significance
Date	Station	Record	Value	Beat old record by	Old record stood	Significance
21 April 1972	Sheldon, US	daily rain	44.7 mm (1.8 in)	31.2 mm (1.2 in)	63 years	63 of 100 (Major)
21 April 1972	Governador Dix-Sept Rosado, BR	daily rain	135.6 mm (5.3 in)	83.6 mm (3.3 in)	58 years	62 of 100 (Major)
21 April 1972	Limoeiro Do Norte, BR	monthly rain	126.3 mm (5.0 in)	45.7 mm (1.8 in)	43 years	61 of 100 (Major)
21 April 1972	Meanook, CA	daily snowfall	17.8 cm (7.0 in)	15.8 cm (6.2 in)	54 years	56 of 100 (Notable)
21 April 1972	Hickman, US	daily rain	56.6 mm (2.2 in)	31.7 mm (1.2 in)	74 years	56 of 100 (Notable)
21 April 1972	Hutchinson 1 N, US	daily rain	30.7 mm (1.2 in)	24.9 mm (1.0 in)	51 years	54 of 100 (Notable)
21 April 1972	Lexington Bluegrass AP, US	daily rain	63.5 mm (2.5 in)	31.5 mm (1.2 in)	41 years	53 of 100 (Notable)
21 April 1972	Alton, US	daily rain	46.0 mm (1.8 in)	23.6 mm (0.9 in)	49 years	51 of 100 (Notable)
21 April 1972	St Cloud Rgnl AP, US	daily snowfall	8.9 cm (3.5 in)	8.9 cm (3.5 in)	67 years	51 of 100 (Notable)
21 April 1972	Olathe 3E, US	daily rain	70.1 mm (2.8 in)	41.9 mm (1.6 in)	28 years	50 of 100 (Notable)
21 April 1972	Pedro Avelino, BR	daily rain	80.0 mm (3.1 in)	66.5 mm (2.6 in)	23 years	49 of 100 (Notable)
21 April 1972	Gravelly, US	daily rain	101.3 mm (4.0 in)	65.5 mm (2.6 in)	21 years	47 of 100 (Notable)
21 April 1972	Fairfield, US	daily rain	40.9 mm (1.6 in)	22.6 mm (0.9 in)	63 years	47 of 100 (Notable)
21 April 1972	Sigourney, US	daily rain	46.5 mm (1.8 in)	22.4 mm (0.9 in)	63 years	47 of 100 (Notable)
21 April 1972	Bird Island, US	daily rain	37.1 mm (1.5 in)	16.0 mm (0.6 in)	60 years	47 of 100 (Notable)
21 April 1972	Windom, US	daily rain	32.3 mm (1.3 in)	20.4 mm (0.8 in)	63 years	47 of 100 (Notable)
21 April 1972	Waldron, US	daily rain	107.4 mm (4.2 in)	53.6 mm (2.1 in)	45 years	46 of 100 (Notable)
21 April 1972	Redwood Falls Muni AP, US	daily snowfall	7.6 cm (3.0 in)	7.6 cm (3.0 in)	79 years	45 of 100 (Notable)
21 April 1972	Springfield 1 NW, US	daily rain	41.7 mm (1.6 in)	28.2 mm (1.1 in)	20 years	43 of 100 (Notable)
21 April 1972	Wasola 5N, US	daily rain	70.4 mm (2.8 in)	50.1 mm (2.0 in)	8 years	43 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 1972

Records set or tied on this calendar date in each year from 1793 to 1972. 1972 had 593 records.

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

Records on 04-21 in each year
Year	Records
1793	1
1814	1
1820	1
1838	1
1849	2
1851	1
1852	3
1854	1
1858	3
1861	2
1865	3
1866	1
1868	1
1870	1
1875	4
1876	2
1877	1
1879	3
1880	1
1881	1
1882	1
1884	1
1885	2
1888	1
1890	1
1891	1
1892	1
1893	2
1894	4
1895	1
1897	1
1898	2
1899	2
1900	7
1901	17
1902	7
1903	3
1904	10
1905	18
1906	5
1907	17
1908	25
1909	20
1910	33
1911	9
1912	22
1913	14
1914	220
1915	24
1916	64
1917	48
1918	84
1919	31
1920	85
1921	59
1922	70
1923	223
1924	119
1925	295
1926	148
1927	284
1928	269
1929	193
1930	127
1931	358
1932	304
1933	201
1934	497
1935	266
1936	277
1937	416
1938	295
1939	110
1940	462
1941	306
1942	285
1943	481
1944	261
1945	367
1946	448
1947	459
1948	365
1949	448
1950	529
1951	884
1952	665
1953	640
1954	527
1955	607
1956	497
1957	824
1958	329
1959	505
1960	889
1961	647
1962	319
1963	778
1964	1,125
1965	658
1966	756
1967	903
1968	655
1969	388
1970	728
1971	546
1972	593
1973	1,163
1974	528
1975	360
1976	452
1977	854
1978	735
1979	449
1980	1,934
1981	944
1982	1,075
1983	1,366
1984	1,231
1985	1,245
1986	977
1987	1,290
1988	898
1989	1,557
1990	1,463
1991	1,291
1992	1,763
1993	847
1994	859
1995	1,476
1996	788
1997	964
1998	876
1999	752
2000	921
2001	967
2002	1,312
2003	607
2004	586
2005	693
2006	761
2007	480
2008	1,327
2009	983
2010	805
2011	1,053
2012	687
2013	1,015
2014	393
2015	621
2016	587
2017	797
2018	862
2019	731
2020	397
2021	1,608
2022	433
2023	886
2024	754
2025	506
2026	853

Download the Data

Data for records on 1972-04-21: 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 100	462
100 to 200	7
200 to 300	0
300 to 400	2
400 to 500	0
500 to 600	1