Weather Records on 20 December 1974

328 weather records were set or tied worldwide on 20 December 1974. Highest significance: Uitzicht, ZA.

Key Facts for 20 December 1974

On 20 December 1974, 328 weather records were set or tied at long-record stations worldwide.
85 were record highs and 39 were record lows, counting maximum and minimum temperature.
By timescale, 0 were all-time records, 4 monthly and 324 daily.
Uitzicht set a daily record precipitation of 73.0 mm (2.9 in) on 20 December 1974.
Across 163 earlier years (1793 to 2025) the same calendar date averaged 468 records.

Record Map

328 stations

328 station records on 20 December 1974 are marked on the map, coloured by record type. Dot size shows the significance score. Made with Natural Earth.

Weather records on 20 December 1974: highest significance records shown on the map
Station	Country	Type	Value	Significance
Uitzicht	South Africa	Record daily precipitation	73.0 mm (2.9 in)	58 of 100 (Notable)
Saanich Dom Astro Obs	Canada	Record daily precipitation	60.7 mm (2.4 in)	57 of 100 (Notable)
Cultus Lake	Canada	Record daily precipitation	60.2 mm (2.4 in)	47 of 100 (Notable)
Elk City 1NE	United States	Record daily snowfall	28.2 cm (11.1 in)	47 of 100 (Notable)
Renison Bell	Australia	Record daily precipitation	42.4 mm (1.7 in)	46 of 100 (Notable)
Hebgen Dam	United States	Record daily snowfall	35.6 cm (14.0 in)	46 of 100 (Notable)
Mvenyane	South Africa	Record daily precipitation	50.5 mm (2.0 in)	44 of 100 (Notable)
Cedar Rapids #1	United States	Record daily snowfall	12.7 cm (5.0 in)	44 of 100 (Notable)
Idaho City	United States	Record daily snowfall	20.3 cm (8.0 in)	40 of 100 (Notable)
McCall	United States	Record daily snowfall	30.5 cm (12.0 in)	40 of 100 (Notable)
Chilliwack	Canada	Record daily precipitation	53.8 mm (2.1 in)	39 of 100 (Notable)
Libby 1 NE Rs	United States	Record daily precipitation	25.4 mm (1.0 in)	39 of 100 (Notable)
Ivanhoe Station	Australia	Record daily precipitation	53.4 mm (2.1 in)	38 of 100 (Notable)
Agassiz Cda	Canada	Record daily precipitation	49.0 mm (1.9 in)	38 of 100 (Notable)
Elk City 1NE	United States	Record daily precipitation	30.2 mm (1.2 in)	38 of 100 (Notable)
Wallowa	United States	Record daily precipitation	27.9 mm (1.1 in)	37 of 100 (Notable)
Batesburg	United States	Record daily precipitation	29.2 mm (1.1 in)	37 of 100 (Notable)
Acude Varzea da Volta	Brazil	Record daily precipitation	30.0 mm (1.2 in)	35 of 100 (Notable)
Nuwara Eliya	Sri Lanka	Record low maximum temperature	15.4 C (59.7 F)	35 of 100 (Notable)
Cottonwood	United States	Record daily snowfall	10.7 cm (4.2 in)	34 of 100 (Routine)
James Island	Canada	Record daily precipitation	38.9 mm (1.5 in)	33 of 100 (Routine)
Corning	United States	Record daily snowfall	14.0 cm (5.5 in)	33 of 100 (Routine)
Perth Regional Office	Australia	Record high minimum temperature	23.5 C (74.3 F)	32 of 100 (Routine)
Cloverdale	United States	Record daily precipitation	81.3 mm (3.2 in)	32 of 100 (Routine)
Rainier Paradise Rs	United States	Record daily precipitation	93.0 mm (3.7 in)	32 of 100 (Routine)
Carlton Hill	Australia	Record daily precipitation	35.6 mm (1.4 in)	31 of 100 (Routine)
Victoria Int'l A	Canada	Record daily precipitation	37.3 mm (1.5 in)	31 of 100 (Routine)
Cayo Arcas	Mexico	Record daily precipitation	46.0 mm (1.8 in)	31 of 100 (Routine)
Saltspring Island	Canada	Record daily precipitation	32.8 mm (1.3 in)	30 of 100 (Routine)
Zugspitze	Germany	Record snow depth	440.0 cm (173.2 in)	30 of 100 (Routine)
Greenwood	United States	Record daily precipitation	26.7 mm (1.1 in)	29 of 100 (Routine)
Cle Elum	United States	Record daily precipitation	30.0 mm (1.2 in)	29 of 100 (Routine)
Mankayane	Swaziland	Record daily precipitation	46.5 mm (1.8 in)	29 of 100 (Routine)
Fazenda Laranjal	Brazil	Record daily precipitation	56.5 mm (2.2 in)	28 of 100 (Routine)
Clarinda	United States	Record daily snowfall	15.2 cm (6.0 in)	28 of 100 (Routine)
Montello 2NE	United States	Record high minimum temperature	0.6 C (33.1 F)	27 of 100 (Routine)
Austin 3 S	United States	Record daily snowfall	15.2 cm (6.0 in)	27 of 100 (Routine)
Montrose	Australia	Record daily precipitation	41.0 mm (1.6 in)	26 of 100 (Routine)
Victoria Gonzales Hts	Canada	Record daily precipitation	33.5 mm (1.3 in)	26 of 100 (Routine)
Malad	United States	Record daily snowfall	12.7 cm (5.0 in)	26 of 100 (Routine)
Halfway	United States	Record daily snowfall	20.3 cm (8.0 in)	26 of 100 (Routine)
Cowichan Bay Cherry Point	Canada	Record daily precipitation	31.2 mm (1.2 in)	25 of 100 (Routine)
Alouette Lake	Canada	Record daily precipitation	54.9 mm (2.2 in)	25 of 100 (Routine)
Ioco Refinery	Canada	Record daily precipitation	50.8 mm (2.0 in)	25 of 100 (Routine)
Stave Falls	Canada	Record daily precipitation	52.6 mm (2.1 in)	25 of 100 (Routine)
Flahult	Sweden	Record high maximum temperature	6.6 C (43.9 F)	25 of 100 (Routine)
Sao Jose Do Rio Preto	Brazil	Record daily precipitation	36.2 mm (1.4 in)	24 of 100 (Routine)
Vancouver Harbour CS	Canada	Record daily precipitation	33.5 mm (1.3 in)	24 of 100 (Routine)
Eelde	Netherlands	Record high minimum temperature	7.7 C (45.9 F)	24 of 100 (Routine)
Dufur	United States	Record high maximum temperature	17.2 C (63.0 F)	24 of 100 (Routine)
Brisbane Regional Office	Australia	Record high minimum temperature	22.9 C (73.2 F)	23 of 100 (Routine)
Vancouver Pmo	Canada	Record daily precipitation	34.5 mm (1.4 in)	23 of 100 (Routine)
Apalachicola AP	United States	Record daily precipitation	40.4 mm (1.6 in)	23 of 100 (Routine)
Arlington	United States	Record high minimum temperature	6.7 C (44.1 F)	23 of 100 (Routine)
Burpengary Ulmann Rd	Australia	Record daily precipitation	53.6 mm (2.1 in)	22 of 100 (Routine)
Ibitiuva	Brazil	Record daily precipitation	90.3 mm (3.6 in)	22 of 100 (Routine)
Lussanvira	Brazil	Record daily precipitation	54.6 mm (2.1 in)	22 of 100 (Routine)
South Slocan	Canada	Record daily precipitation	26.4 mm (1.0 in)	22 of 100 (Routine)
Bradford	United Kingdom	Record high minimum temperature	7.5 C (45.5 F)	22 of 100 (Routine)
Durham	United Kingdom	Record high maximum temperature	12.4 C (54.3 F)	22 of 100 (Routine)

Counts by Type and Timescale

328 records

Records set or tied on 20 December 1974 by type: Highest daily maximum 38, Lowest daily maximum 19, Highest daily minimum 47, Lowest daily minimum 20, Heaviest daily rainfall 149, Heaviest daily snowfall 50, Deepest snow cover 5.

Records on 20 December 1974 by type
Record type	Records
Highest daily maximum	38
Lowest daily maximum	19
Highest daily minimum	47
Lowest daily minimum	20
Heaviest daily rainfall	149
Heaviest daily snowfall	50
Deepest snow cover	5

Records on 20 December 1974 by timescale: all-time 0, monthly 4, daily 324.

How Much Records Were Beaten By

262 broken records

Margins by which the 262 broken records beat the old ones, in degrees Celsius for temperature and millimetres for precipitation and snow; the largest margin was 500.0. Ties are not counted.

Top 20 by Significance

20 December 1974

Top 20 records on 20 December 1974 by significance
Date	Station	Record	Value	Beat old record by	Old record stood	Significance
20 December 1974	Uitzicht, ZA	daily rain	73.0 mm (2.9 in)	45.8 mm (1.8 in)	44 years	58 of 100 (Notable)
20 December 1974	Saanich Dom Astro Obs, CA	daily rain	60.7 mm (2.4 in)	37.3 mm (1.5 in)	40 years	57 of 100 (Notable)
20 December 1974	Cultus Lake, CA	daily rain	60.2 mm (2.4 in)	36.8 mm (1.4 in)	40 years	47 of 100 (Notable)
20 December 1974	Elk City 1NE, US	daily snowfall	28.2 cm (11.1 in)	18.0 cm (7.1 in)	32 years	47 of 100 (Notable)
20 December 1974	Renison Bell, AU	daily rain	42.4 mm (1.7 in)	24.9 mm (1.0 in)	52 years	46 of 100 (Notable)
20 December 1974	Hebgen Dam, US	daily snowfall	35.6 cm (14.0 in)	20.4 cm (8.0 in)	29 years	46 of 100 (Notable)
20 December 1974	Mvenyane, ZA	daily rain	50.5 mm (2.0 in)	34.5 mm (1.4 in)	19 years	44 of 100 (Notable)
20 December 1974	Cedar Rapids #1, US	daily snowfall	12.7 cm (5.0 in)	5.1 cm (2.0 in)	76 years	44 of 100 (Notable)
20 December 1974	Idaho City, US	daily snowfall	20.3 cm (8.0 in)	7.6 cm (3.0 in)	75 years	40 of 100 (Notable)
20 December 1974	McCall, US	daily snowfall	30.5 cm (12.0 in)	17.3 cm (6.8 in)	29 years	40 of 100 (Notable)
20 December 1974	Chilliwack, CA	daily rain	53.8 mm (2.1 in)	11.6 mm (0.5 in)	73 years	39 of 100 (Notable)
20 December 1974	Libby 1 NE Rs, US	daily rain	25.4 mm (1.0 in)	12.7 mm (0.5 in)	19 years	39 of 100 (Notable)
20 December 1974	Ivanhoe Station, AU	daily rain	53.4 mm (2.1 in)	22.9 mm (0.9 in)	63 years	38 of 100 (Notable)
20 December 1974	Agassiz Cda, CA	daily rain	49.0 mm (1.9 in)	10.4 mm (0.4 in)	73 years	38 of 100 (Notable)
20 December 1974	Elk City 1NE, US	daily rain	30.2 mm (1.2 in)	15.5 mm (0.6 in)	4 years	38 of 100 (Notable)
20 December 1974	Wallowa, US	daily rain	27.9 mm (1.1 in)	11.4 mm (0.4 in)	16 years	37 of 100 (Notable)
20 December 1974	Batesburg, US	daily rain	29.2 mm (1.1 in)	11.7 mm (0.5 in)	68 years	37 of 100 (Notable)
20 December 1974	Acude Varzea da Volta, BR	daily rain	30.0 mm (1.2 in)	26.4 mm (1.0 in)	56 years	35 of 100 (Notable)
20 December 1974	Nuwara Eliya, LK	daily low max	15.4 C (59.7 F)	0.6 C (1.1 F)	75 years	35 of 100 (Notable)
20 December 1974	Cottonwood, US	daily snowfall	10.7 cm (4.2 in)	3.1 cm (1.2 in)	60 years	34 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 1974

Records set or tied on this calendar date in each year from 1793 to 1974. 1974 had 328 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 1974-12-20: 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 100	255
100 to 200	5
200 to 300	1
300 to 400	0
400 to 500	1