Weather Records on 31 August 1978

891 weather records were set or tied worldwide on 31 August 1978. Highest significance: Pira Wild Horse Plains, AU.

Key Facts for 31 August 1978

On 31 August 1978, 891 weather records were set or tied at long-record stations worldwide.
108 were record highs and 386 were record lows, counting maximum and minimum temperature.
By timescale, 1 were all-time records, 52 monthly and 838 daily.
Pira Wild Horse Plains set a daily record precipitation of 45.0 mm (1.8 in) on 31 August 1978.
Across 165 earlier years (1796 to 2026) the same calendar date averaged 433 records.

Record Map

891 stations

891 station records on 31 August 1978 are marked on the map, coloured by record type. Dot size shows the significance score. Made with Natural Earth.

Weather records on 31 August 1978: highest significance records shown on the map
Station	Country	Type	Value	Significance
Pira Wild Horse Plains	Australia	Record daily precipitation	45.0 mm (1.8 in)	68 of 100 (Major)
Nyah West Post Office	Australia	Record daily precipitation	49.2 mm (1.9 in)	55 of 100 (Notable)
Buffelsnek (Bos)	South Africa	Record daily precipitation	75.0 mm (3.0 in)	55 of 100 (Notable)
Madison 3NNW	United States	Record daily precipitation	79.2 mm (3.1 in)	55 of 100 (Notable)
Landsort	Sweden	Record daily precipitation	44.0 mm (1.7 in)	54 of 100 (Notable)
Gum Lake (Albemarle)	Australia	Record daily precipitation	33.2 mm (1.3 in)	52 of 100 (Notable)
Euston ( Benington)	Australia	Record daily precipitation	26.0 mm (1.0 in)	52 of 100 (Notable)
Nykopings_Flygplats	Sweden	Record daily precipitation	40.7 mm (1.6 in)	52 of 100 (Notable)
Nynashamn	Sweden	Record daily precipitation	48.0 mm (1.9 in)	52 of 100 (Notable)
Ada	Sweden	Record daily precipitation	52.8 mm (2.1 in)	52 of 100 (Notable)
Eumundi - Crescent Rd	Australia	Record daily precipitation	60.0 mm (2.4 in)	51 of 100 (Notable)
Nyah	Australia	Record daily precipitation	32.0 mm (1.3 in)	50 of 100 (Notable)
Gann Valley 4NW	United States	Record daily precipitation	33.8 mm (1.3 in)	49 of 100 (Notable)
Bustard Head Lighthouse	Australia	Record daily precipitation	43.6 mm (1.7 in)	47 of 100 (Notable)
Robinvale (Kyndalyn Park)	Australia	Record daily precipitation	28.0 mm (1.1 in)	47 of 100 (Notable)
Mount Wellington (the Springs)	Australia	Record daily precipitation	44.8 mm (1.8 in)	47 of 100 (Notable)
Huskvarna	Sweden	Record daily precipitation	40.2 mm (1.6 in)	47 of 100 (Notable)
Norsborg	Sweden	Record daily precipitation	43.0 mm (1.7 in)	46 of 100 (Notable)
Frenchburg 2 W	United States	Record daily precipitation	83.6 mm (3.3 in)	46 of 100 (Notable)
Flen	Sweden	Record daily precipitation	43.2 mm (1.7 in)	45 of 100 (Notable)
Pooncarie (Moorara)	Australia	Record daily precipitation	28.2 mm (1.1 in)	44 of 100 (Notable)
Sarajevo	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Record low minimum temperature	1.2 C (34.2 F)	44 of 100 (Notable)
Gustavsberg	Sweden	Record daily precipitation	36.3 mm (1.4 in)	44 of 100 (Notable)
Liberty	United States	Record daily precipitation	80.0 mm (3.1 in)	44 of 100 (Notable)
Arteaga (Smn)	Mexico	Record daily precipitation	99.8 mm (3.9 in)	43 of 100 (Notable)
Hogsjo	Sweden	Record daily precipitation	50.1 mm (2.0 in)	43 of 100 (Notable)
Akers_Styckebruk	Sweden	Record daily precipitation	47.4 mm (1.9 in)	43 of 100 (Notable)
Frankfort Downtown	United States	Record daily precipitation	51.3 mm (2.0 in)	43 of 100 (Notable)
Confluence 1 SW Dam	United States	Record daily precipitation	57.2 mm (2.3 in)	43 of 100 (Notable)
Munchen-Nymphenburg	Germany	Record low maximum temperature	11.5 C (52.7 F)	42 of 100 (Notable)
El Palmito	Mexico	Record daily precipitation	60.2 mm (2.4 in)	42 of 100 (Notable)
Nizhnyj Tagil	Russia	Record daily precipitation	36.4 mm (1.4 in)	42 of 100 (Notable)
Canal Pt USDA	United States	Record daily precipitation	72.9 mm (2.9 in)	42 of 100 (Notable)
Carrollton Lock 1	United States	Record low maximum temperature	22.2 C (72.0 F)	42 of 100 (Notable)
Mt Sterling	United States	Record daily precipitation	57.7 mm (2.3 in)	42 of 100 (Notable)
London Locks	United States	Record daily precipitation	51.3 mm (2.0 in)	42 of 100 (Notable)
Winfield	Australia	Record daily precipitation	30.6 mm (1.2 in)	41 of 100 (Notable)
Bjelasnica	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Record low minimum temperature	-3.7 C (25.3 F)	41 of 100 (Notable)
Godegard	Sweden	Record daily precipitation	35.4 mm (1.4 in)	41 of 100 (Notable)
Sickelsjo	Sweden	Record daily precipitation	42.0 mm (1.7 in)	41 of 100 (Notable)
Uccle	Belgium	Record low maximum temperature	14.4 C (57.9 F)	40 of 100 (Notable)
Cointzio	Mexico	Record daily precipitation	43.2 mm (1.7 in)	40 of 100 (Notable)
Vasterhaninge	Sweden	Record daily precipitation	39.2 mm (1.5 in)	40 of 100 (Notable)
Ulvhall	Sweden	Record daily precipitation	30.3 mm (1.2 in)	40 of 100 (Notable)
Ford Lock 1O	United States	Record daily precipitation	71.1 mm (2.8 in)	40 of 100 (Notable)
Logan	United States	Record daily precipitation	43.2 mm (1.7 in)	40 of 100 (Notable)
Vastervik	Sweden	Record low maximum temperature	11.9 C (53.4 F)	39 of 100 (Notable)
Katrineholm_D	Sweden	Record daily precipitation	41.2 mm (1.6 in)	39 of 100 (Notable)
Lancaster	United States	Record daily precipitation	61.7 mm (2.4 in)	39 of 100 (Notable)
Owensboro 3ENE	United States	Record daily precipitation	35.3 mm (1.4 in)	39 of 100 (Notable)
Hamlin	United States	Record daily precipitation	42.4 mm (1.7 in)	39 of 100 (Notable)
Collerina (Corrella)	Australia	Record daily precipitation	25.4 mm (1.0 in)	38 of 100 (Notable)
Alapajevsk	Russia	Record daily precipitation	41.0 mm (1.6 in)	38 of 100 (Notable)
Samary	Russia	Record daily precipitation	44.7 mm (1.8 in)	38 of 100 (Notable)
Torntorp	Sweden	Record daily precipitation	50.1 mm (2.0 in)	38 of 100 (Notable)
Bergaholm	Sweden	Record daily precipitation	34.1 mm (1.3 in)	38 of 100 (Notable)
Chiricahua Nm	United States	Record low minimum temperature	7.2 C (45.0 F)	38 of 100 (Notable)
Cambridge City 3 N	United States	Record low maximum temperature	17.8 C (64.0 F)	38 of 100 (Notable)
Rowlesburg 1	United States	Record daily precipitation	42.9 mm (1.7 in)	38 of 100 (Notable)
Monticello Muni AP	United States	Record low minimum temperature	12.8 C (55.0 F)	38 of 100 (Notable)

Counts by Type and Timescale

891 records

Records set or tied on 31 August 1978 by type: Highest daily maximum 17, Lowest daily maximum 287, Highest daily minimum 91, Lowest daily minimum 99, Heaviest daily rainfall 397.

Records on 31 August 1978 by type
Record type	Records
Highest daily maximum	17
Lowest daily maximum	287
Highest daily minimum	91
Lowest daily minimum	99
Heaviest daily rainfall	397
Heaviest daily snowfall	0
Deepest snow cover	0

Records on 31 August 1978 by timescale: all-time 1, monthly 52, daily 838.

How Much Records Were Beaten By

740 broken records

Margins by which the 740 broken records beat the old ones, in degrees Celsius for temperature and millimetres for precipitation and snow; the largest margin was 69.8. Ties are not counted.

Top 20 by Significance

31 August 1978

Top 20 records on 31 August 1978 by significance
Date	Station	Record	Value	Beat old record by	Old record stood	Significance
31 August 1978	Pira Wild Horse Plains, AU	daily rain	45.0 mm (1.8 in)	28.0 mm (1.1 in)	72 years	68 of 100 (Major)
31 August 1978	Nyah West Post Office, AU	daily rain	49.2 mm (1.9 in)	38.8 mm (1.5 in)	36 years	55 of 100 (Notable)
31 August 1978	Buffelsnek (Bos), ZA	daily rain	75.0 mm (3.0 in)	44.8 mm (1.8 in)	68 years	55 of 100 (Notable)
31 August 1978	Madison 3NNW, US	daily rain	79.2 mm (3.1 in)	61.7 mm (2.4 in)	24 years	55 of 100 (Notable)
31 August 1978	Landsort, SE	daily rain	44.0 mm (1.7 in)	20.1 mm (0.8 in)	63 years	54 of 100 (Notable)
31 August 1978	Gum Lake (Albemarle), AU	daily rain	33.2 mm (1.3 in)	13.6 mm (0.5 in)	72 years	52 of 100 (Notable)
31 August 1978	Euston ( Benington), AU	daily rain	26.0 mm (1.0 in)	19.9 mm (0.8 in)	36 years	52 of 100 (Notable)
31 August 1978	Nykopings_Flygplats, SE	daily rain	40.7 mm (1.6 in)	29.2 mm (1.1 in)	32 years	52 of 100 (Notable)
31 August 1978	Nynashamn, SE	daily rain	48.0 mm (1.9 in)	35.3 mm (1.4 in)	32 years	52 of 100 (Notable)
31 August 1978	Ada, SE	daily rain	52.8 mm (2.1 in)	44.0 mm (1.7 in)	32 years	52 of 100 (Notable)
31 August 1978	Eumundi - Crescent Rd, AU	daily rain	60.0 mm (2.4 in)	23.7 mm (0.9 in)	76 years	51 of 100 (Notable)
31 August 1978	Nyah, AU	daily rain	32.0 mm (1.3 in)	11.7 mm (0.5 in)	67 years	50 of 100 (Notable)
31 August 1978	Gann Valley 4NW, US	daily rain	33.8 mm (1.3 in)	24.9 mm (1.0 in)	76 years	49 of 100 (Notable)
31 August 1978	Bustard Head Lighthouse, AU	daily rain	43.6 mm (1.7 in)	17.2 mm (0.7 in)	76 years	47 of 100 (Notable)
31 August 1978	Robinvale (Kyndalyn Park), AU	daily rain	28.0 mm (1.1 in)	16.1 mm (0.6 in)	51 years	47 of 100 (Notable)
31 August 1978	Mount Wellington (the Springs), AU	daily rain	44.8 mm (1.8 in)	18.4 mm (0.7 in)	60 years	47 of 100 (Notable)
31 August 1978	Huskvarna, SE	daily rain	40.2 mm (1.6 in)	21.0 mm (0.8 in)	32 years	47 of 100 (Notable)
31 August 1978	Norsborg, SE	daily rain	43.0 mm (1.7 in)	31.8 mm (1.3 in)	11 years	46 of 100 (Notable)
31 August 1978	Frenchburg 2 W, US	daily rain	83.6 mm (3.3 in)	57.7 mm (2.3 in)	25 years	46 of 100 (Notable)
31 August 1978	Flen, SE	daily rain	43.2 mm (1.7 in)	24.0 mm (0.9 in)	32 years	45 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

1796 to 1978

Records set or tied on this calendar date in each year from 1796 to 1978. 1978 had 891 records.

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

Records on 08-31 in each year
Year	Records
1796	1
1806	1
1807	2
1813	1
1814	1
1816	1
1827	1
1836	1
1846	1
1849	1
1851	1
1856	2
1858	1
1859	1
1860	1
1861	1
1863	1
1867	1
1869	1
1873	1
1875	1
1876	1
1877	2
1879	2
1881	3
1882	2
1885	1
1886	5
1887	1
1889	1
1890	2
1892	3
1893	1
1894	1
1895	1
1896	1
1897	5
1898	10
1899	4
1900	3
1901	5
1902	5
1903	16
1904	13
1905	8
1906	47
1907	6
1908	12
1909	39
1910	20
1911	31
1912	34
1913	40
1914	23
1915	71
1916	7
1917	60
1918	58
1919	25
1920	46
1921	86
1922	58
1923	63
1924	232
1925	111
1926	148
1927	103
1928	201
1929	300
1930	243
1931	192
1932	807
1933	424
1934	381
1935	540
1936	226
1937	508
1938	324
1939	296
1940	400
1941	528
1942	422
1943	650
1944	638
1945	572
1946	545
1947	473
1948	367
1949	409
1950	662
1951	910
1952	388
1953	1,054
1954	633
1955	539
1956	734
1957	317
1958	417
1959	496
1960	366
1961	625
1962	432
1963	415
1964	591
1965	886
1966	830
1967	952
1968	562
1969	474
1970	558
1971	326
1972	287
1973	793
1974	587
1975	658
1976	732
1977	621
1978	891
1979	400
1980	701
1981	692
1982	586
1983	788
1984	866
1985	854
1986	1,218
1987	836
1988	570
1989	622
1990	966
1991	848
1992	1,274
1993	1,286
1994	1,139
1995	1,077
1996	1,451
1997	943
1998	1,163
1999	988
2000	1,545
2001	944
2002	852
2003	1,232
2004	963
2005	1,782
2006	1,147
2007	1,110
2008	870
2009	1,224
2010	1,490
2011	994
2012	932
2013	771
2014	458
2015	1,074
2016	599
2017	596
2018	366
2019	781
2020	737
2021	553
2022	1,191
2023	600
2024	766
2025	307
2026	595

Download the Data

Data for records on 1978-08-31: 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 10	608
10 to 20	70
20 to 30	38
30 to 40	14
40 to 50	5
50 to 60	2
60 to 70	3