Weather Records on 21 March 1979

656 weather records were set or tied worldwide on 21 March 1979. Highest significance: Puntilla, US.

Key Facts for 21 March 1979

On 21 March 1979, 656 weather records were set or tied at long-record stations worldwide.
187 were record highs and 81 were record lows, counting maximum and minimum temperature.
By timescale, 2 were all-time records, 16 monthly and 638 daily.
Puntilla set a monthly record daily precipitation of 63.5 mm (2.5 in) on 21 March 1979.
Across 157 earlier years (1797 to 2026) the same calendar date averaged 482 records.

Record Map

656 stations

656 station records on 21 March 1979 are marked on the map, coloured by record type. Dot size shows the significance score. Made with Natural Earth.

Weather records on 21 March 1979: highest significance records shown on the map
Station	Country	Type	Value	Significance
Puntilla	United States	Record daily precipitation	63.5 mm (2.5 in)	62 of 100 (Major)
Amistad 5 SSW	United States	Record daily precipitation	33.5 mm (1.3 in)	60 of 100 (Major)
Talkeetna AP	United States	Record daily precipitation	35.1 mm (1.4 in)	57 of 100 (Notable)
Dodge City	United States	Record daily precipitation	42.2 mm (1.7 in)	55 of 100 (Notable)
Boerne	United States	Record daily precipitation	86.9 mm (3.4 in)	54 of 100 (Notable)
Nogales	United States	Record daily precipitation	29.5 mm (1.2 in)	53 of 100 (Notable)
Hastings 4N	United States	Record daily precipitation	38.4 mm (1.5 in)	53 of 100 (Notable)
Matagorda #2	United States	Record daily precipitation	118.1 mm (4.6 in)	53 of 100 (Notable)
Ft Lewis	United States	Record daily precipitation	31.0 mm (1.2 in)	52 of 100 (Notable)
Telluride 4WNW	United States	Record daily precipitation	31.8 mm (1.3 in)	52 of 100 (Notable)
Franklin	United States	Record daily precipitation	74.9 mm (2.9 in)	52 of 100 (Notable)
Halsey 2 W	United States	Record daily precipitation	28.4 mm (1.1 in)	48 of 100 (Notable)
Rico	United States	Record daily snowfall	33.0 cm (13.0 in)	47 of 100 (Notable)
Beeville 5 NE	United States	Record daily precipitation	50.8 mm (2.0 in)	47 of 100 (Notable)
Lagoa da Canoa	Brazil	Record daily precipitation	37.4 mm (1.5 in)	46 of 100 (Notable)
Tacoma	United States	Record daily precipitation	41.4 mm (1.6 in)	46 of 100 (Notable)
Palacios Muni AP	United States	Record daily precipitation	84.8 mm (3.3 in)	46 of 100 (Notable)
Ames	United States	Record daily precipitation	34.0 mm (1.3 in)	45 of 100 (Notable)
Escalante	United States	Record daily snowfall	12.7 cm (5.0 in)	45 of 100 (Notable)
Besonderheid"Byzonderhd."	South Africa	Record daily precipitation	52.0 mm (2.0 in)	44 of 100 (Notable)
Springfield	United States	Record daily precipitation	38.9 mm (1.5 in)	44 of 100 (Notable)
Regnier	United States	Record daily precipitation	31.2 mm (1.2 in)	44 of 100 (Notable)
Sabinal	United States	Record daily precipitation	57.4 mm (2.3 in)	44 of 100 (Notable)
Brackettville	United States	Record daily precipitation	55.6 mm (2.2 in)	43 of 100 (Notable)
Port Lavaca 2	United States	Record daily precipitation	48.5 mm (1.9 in)	43 of 100 (Notable)
Hatch	United States	Record daily snowfall	20.3 cm (8.0 in)	43 of 100 (Notable)
Ames	United States	Record daily snowfall	50.8 cm (20.0 in)	42 of 100 (Notable)
Camp Wood	United States	Record daily precipitation	38.9 mm (1.5 in)	42 of 100 (Notable)
Silverton	United States	Record daily precipitation	38.6 mm (1.5 in)	41 of 100 (Notable)
Armagh	United Kingdom	Record low minimum temperature	-4.9 C (23.2 F)	40 of 100 (Notable)
Bright Angel Rs	United States	Record daily precipitation	29.5 mm (1.2 in)	40 of 100 (Notable)
Floydada 9SE	United States	Record daily precipitation	39.4 mm (1.6 in)	40 of 100 (Notable)
Miami	United States	Record daily precipitation	33.0 mm (1.3 in)	39 of 100 (Notable)
Silverton	United States	Record daily snowfall	54.1 cm (21.3 in)	39 of 100 (Notable)
Blanding	United States	Record snow depth	10.2 cm (4.0 in)	38 of 100 (Notable)
Hill City Muni AP	United States	Record daily precipitation	50.3 mm (2.0 in)	38 of 100 (Notable)
Roosevelt 1 S	United States	Record daily precipitation	26.4 mm (1.0 in)	37 of 100 (Notable)
Vallecito Dam	United States	Record daily snowfall	27.9 cm (11.0 in)	37 of 100 (Notable)
Uvalde	United States	Record daily precipitation	49.5 mm (1.9 in)	37 of 100 (Notable)
Corpus Christi NAS	United States	Record daily precipitation	37.3 mm (1.5 in)	37 of 100 (Notable)
Ames	United States	Record snow depth	177.8 cm (70.0 in)	36 of 100 (Notable)
Tropic	United States	Record daily snowfall	10.2 cm (4.0 in)	36 of 100 (Notable)
Nordby (Fano)	Denmark	Record low minimum temperature	-7.9 C (17.8 F)	35 of 100 (Notable)
Dos Bocas	Puerto Rico [United States]	Record low maximum temperature	21.1 C (70.0 F)	35 of 100 (Notable)
McNary 2N	United States	Record daily snowfall	27.9 cm (11.0 in)	35 of 100 (Notable)
Geyser Rch	United States	Record daily snowfall	15.2 cm (6.0 in)	35 of 100 (Notable)
Bay City Wtr Wks	United States	Record daily precipitation	113.0 mm (4.4 in)	35 of 100 (Notable)
Roscoe	United States	Record daily precipitation	68.6 mm (2.7 in)	35 of 100 (Notable)
N Platte Rgnl AP	United States	Record daily precipitation	28.4 mm (1.1 in)	35 of 100 (Notable)
Ouray	United States	Record daily snowfall	23.4 cm (9.2 in)	34 of 100 (Routine)
Tacoma	United States	Record daily snowfall	76.2 cm (30.0 in)	34 of 100 (Routine)
Corpus Christi	United States	Record daily precipitation	35.1 mm (1.4 in)	34 of 100 (Routine)
Riomedina	United States	Record daily precipitation	53.3 mm (2.1 in)	34 of 100 (Routine)
Lake City	United States	Record daily snowfall	20.3 cm (8.0 in)	33 of 100 (Routine)
Mancos 1SW	United States	Record daily snowfall	11.7 cm (4.6 in)	33 of 100 (Routine)
Vallecito Dam	United States	Record daily precipitation	26.7 mm (1.1 in)	33 of 100 (Routine)
Danevang 1 W	United States	Record daily precipitation	106.4 mm (4.2 in)	33 of 100 (Routine)
Vicosa	Brazil	Record daily precipitation	54.0 mm (2.1 in)	31 of 100 (Routine)
Mistassini Post	Canada	Record high maximum temperature	12.2 C (54.0 F)	31 of 100 (Routine)
Langsloot	South Africa	Record daily precipitation	42.5 mm (1.7 in)	31 of 100 (Routine)

Counts by Type and Timescale

656 records

Records set or tied on 21 March 1979 by type: Highest daily maximum 81, Lowest daily maximum 62, Highest daily minimum 106, Lowest daily minimum 19, Heaviest daily rainfall 316, Heaviest daily snowfall 42, Deepest snow cover 30.

Records on 21 March 1979 by type
Record type	Records
Highest daily maximum	81
Lowest daily maximum	62
Highest daily minimum	106
Lowest daily minimum	19
Heaviest daily rainfall	316
Heaviest daily snowfall	42
Deepest snow cover	30

Records on 21 March 1979 by timescale: all-time 2, monthly 16, daily 638.

How Much Records Were Beaten By

561 broken records

Margins by which the 561 broken records beat the old ones, in degrees Celsius for temperature and millimetres for precipitation and snow; the largest margin was 559.0. Ties are not counted.

Top 20 by Significance

21 March 1979

Top 20 records on 21 March 1979 by significance
Date	Station	Record	Value	Beat old record by	Old record stood	Significance
21 March 1979	Puntilla, US	monthly rain	63.5 mm (2.5 in)	27.2 mm (1.1 in)	30 years	62 of 100 (Major)
21 March 1979	Amistad 5 SSW, US	daily rain	33.5 mm (1.3 in)	25.9 mm (1.0 in)	52 years	60 of 100 (Major)
21 March 1979	Talkeetna AP, US	daily rain	35.1 mm (1.4 in)	22.9 mm (0.9 in)	42 years	57 of 100 (Notable)
21 March 1979	Dodge City, US	daily rain	42.2 mm (1.7 in)	32.5 mm (1.3 in)	29 years	55 of 100 (Notable)
21 March 1979	Boerne, US	daily rain	86.9 mm (3.4 in)	48.5 mm (1.9 in)	21 years	54 of 100 (Notable)
21 March 1979	Nogales, US	daily rain	29.5 mm (1.2 in)	16.3 mm (0.6 in)	78 years	53 of 100 (Notable)
21 March 1979	Hastings 4N, US	daily rain	38.4 mm (1.5 in)	29.5 mm (1.2 in)	25 years	53 of 100 (Notable)
21 March 1979	Matagorda #2, US	daily rain	118.1 mm (4.6 in)	97.3 mm (3.8 in)	21 years	53 of 100 (Notable)
21 March 1979	Ft Lewis, US	daily rain	31.0 mm (1.2 in)	19.6 mm (0.8 in)	54 years	52 of 100 (Notable)
21 March 1979	Telluride 4WNW, US	daily rain	31.8 mm (1.3 in)	14.8 mm (0.6 in)	60 years	52 of 100 (Notable)
21 March 1979	Franklin, US	monthly rain	74.9 mm (2.9 in)	13.9 mm (0.5 in)	55 years	52 of 100 (Notable)
21 March 1979	Halsey 2 W, US	daily rain	28.4 mm (1.1 in)	18.5 mm (0.7 in)	56 years	48 of 100 (Notable)
21 March 1979	Rico, US	daily snowfall	33.0 cm (13.0 in)	10.9 cm (4.3 in)	85 years	47 of 100 (Notable)
21 March 1979	Beeville 5 NE, US	daily rain	50.8 mm (2.0 in)	33.3 mm (1.3 in)	52 years	47 of 100 (Notable)
21 March 1979	Lagoa da Canoa, BR	daily rain	37.4 mm (1.5 in)	25.4 mm (1.0 in)	53 years	46 of 100 (Notable)
21 March 1979	Tacoma, US	daily rain	41.4 mm (1.6 in)	15.2 mm (0.6 in)	54 years	46 of 100 (Notable)
21 March 1979	Palacios Muni AP, US	daily rain	84.8 mm (3.3 in)	53.8 mm (2.1 in)	10 years	46 of 100 (Notable)
21 March 1979	Ames, US	daily rain	34.0 mm (1.3 in)	11.1 mm (0.4 in)	60 years	45 of 100 (Notable)
21 March 1979	Escalante, US	daily snowfall	12.7 cm (5.0 in)	12.7 cm (5.0 in)	76 years	45 of 100 (Notable)
21 March 1979	Besonderheid"Byzonderhd.", ZA	daily rain	52.0 mm (2.0 in)	33.2 mm (1.3 in)	41 years	44 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

1797 to 1979

Records set or tied on this calendar date in each year from 1797 to 1979. 1979 had 656 records.

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

Records on 03-21 in each year
Year	Records
1797	2
1805	1
1806	1
1822	1
1830	1
1836	1
1837	1
1845	1
1846	1
1850	1
1852	2
1857	1
1865	7
1874	1
1877	1
1880	1
1881	1
1883	2
1884	1
1885	5
1886	2
1888	1
1890	3
1892	1
1893	1
1894	1
1895	1
1896	2
1897	2
1898	3
1899	4
1900	4
1901	9
1902	18
1903	23
1904	17
1905	6
1906	3
1907	14
1908	3
1909	11
1910	10
1911	10
1912	36
1913	97
1914	71
1915	27
1916	44
1917	43
1918	43
1919	29
1920	90
1921	96
1922	50
1923	72
1924	96
1925	141
1926	282
1927	179
1928	293
1929	104
1930	99
1931	638
1932	305
1933	235
1934	114
1935	675
1936	225
1937	172
1938	783
1939	280
1940	366
1941	311
1942	330
1943	217
1944	556
1945	294
1946	570
1947	192
1948	948
1949	330
1950	398
1951	779
1952	689
1953	342
1954	211
1955	1,124
1956	686
1957	373
1958	619
1959	230
1960	892
1961	268
1962	548
1963	298
1964	333
1965	1,961
1966	464
1967	487
1968	798
1969	219
1970	612
1971	358
1972	519
1973	385
1974	1,097
1975	751
1976	710
1977	376
1978	838
1979	656
1980	775
1981	676
1982	850
1983	1,673
1984	835
1985	503
1986	1,170
1987	948
1988	1,155
1989	1,396
1990	1,380
1991	1,446
1992	877
1993	687
1994	684
1995	1,141
1996	1,119
1997	1,670
1998	935
1999	1,044
2000	802
2001	1,342
2002	1,593
2003	1,073
2004	1,511
2005	649
2006	1,417
2007	1,220
2008	734
2009	558
2010	1,134
2011	1,451
2012	2,854
2013	727
2014	639
2015	568
2016	553
2017	1,117
2018	809
2019	649
2020	445
2021	489
2022	615
2023	815
2024	432
2025	845
2026	2,614

Download the Data

Data for records on 1979-03-21: 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 2026-10-13 (13 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	542
100 to 200	17
200 to 300	1
300 to 400	0
400 to 500	0
500 to 600	1