Weather Records on 2 January 1981

989 weather records were set or tied worldwide on 2 January 1981. Highest significance: Kilkivan Post Office, AU.

Key Facts for 2 January 1981

On 2 January 1981, 989 weather records were set or tied at long-record stations worldwide.
453 were record highs and 108 were record lows, counting maximum and minimum temperature.
By timescale, 1 were all-time records, 25 monthly and 963 daily.
Kilkivan Post Office set a daily record precipitation of 103.3 mm (4.1 in) on 2 January 1981.
Across 166 earlier years (1794 to 2026) the same calendar date averaged 475 records.

Record Map

989 stations

989 station records on 2 January 1981 are marked on the map, coloured by record type. Dot size shows the significance score. Made with Natural Earth.

Weather records on 2 January 1981: highest significance records shown on the map
Station	Country	Type	Value	Significance
Kilkivan Post Office	Australia	Record daily precipitation	103.3 mm (4.1 in)	62 of 100 (Major)
Telemon Station	Australia	Record daily precipitation	127.5 mm (5.0 in)	54 of 100 (Notable)
Modautal-Neunkirchen	Germany	Record daily precipitation	43.8 mm (1.7 in)	53 of 100 (Notable)
Nandowrie	Australia	Record daily precipitation	86.2 mm (3.4 in)	52 of 100 (Notable)
Parsberg/Oberpfalz-Eglwang	Germany	Record daily precipitation	26.4 mm (1.0 in)	52 of 100 (Notable)
Anakie Richardson St	Australia	Record daily precipitation	103.0 mm (4.1 in)	51 of 100 (Notable)
Bustard Head Lighthouse	Australia	Record daily precipitation	103.6 mm (4.1 in)	49 of 100 (Notable)
Waterloo	Australia	Record daily precipitation	258.0 mm (10.2 in)	49 of 100 (Notable)
Upper Stewiacke	Canada	Record daily snowfall	31.0 cm (12.2 in)	49 of 100 (Notable)
Duckinwilla Creek	Australia	Record daily precipitation	144.8 mm (5.7 in)	48 of 100 (Notable)
Winfield	Australia	Record daily precipitation	162.8 mm (6.4 in)	47 of 100 (Notable)
Hakodate	Japan	Record daily precipitation	46.0 mm (1.8 in)	47 of 100 (Notable)
Boona-Choppa	Australia	Record daily precipitation	145.0 mm (5.7 in)	46 of 100 (Notable)
Doongul State Forest	Australia	Record daily precipitation	126.4 mm (5.0 in)	46 of 100 (Notable)
Dallarnil Telephone Exch	Australia	Record daily precipitation	100.6 mm (4.0 in)	46 of 100 (Notable)
Spring Bluff Railway STN	Australia	Record daily precipitation	107.0 mm (4.2 in)	45 of 100 (Notable)
Esashi	Japan	Record daily precipitation	58.0 mm (2.3 in)	45 of 100 (Notable)
Langsloot	South Africa	Record daily precipitation	80.0 mm (3.1 in)	45 of 100 (Notable)
Byfield Childs Road	Australia	Record daily precipitation	220.0 mm (8.7 in)	43 of 100 (Notable)
Michelstadt	Germany	Record daily precipitation	34.2 mm (1.3 in)	41 of 100 (Notable)
Bischbrunn	Germany	Record daily precipitation	38.3 mm (1.5 in)	41 of 100 (Notable)
Nuland	Netherlands	Record daily precipitation	25.6 mm (1.0 in)	41 of 100 (Notable)
Murrhardt	Germany	Record daily precipitation	52.4 mm (2.1 in)	40 of 100 (Notable)
Cape Capricorn Lighthouse	Australia	Record daily precipitation	106.2 mm (4.2 in)	39 of 100 (Notable)
Maryborough	Australia	Record daily precipitation	42.0 mm (1.7 in)	39 of 100 (Notable)
Gore Bay	Canada	Record low maximum temperature	-23.0 C (-9.4 F)	38 of 100 (Notable)
Goshen	United States	Record daily snowfall	5.1 cm (2.0 in)	38 of 100 (Notable)
Madison 3NNW	United States	Record daily snowfall	5.1 cm (2.0 in)	38 of 100 (Notable)
Mungar Junction	Australia	Record daily precipitation	93.0 mm (3.7 in)	37 of 100 (Notable)
Grosser Falkenstein	Germany	Record daily precipitation	43.7 mm (1.7 in)	37 of 100 (Notable)
Pommelsbrunn	Germany	Record daily precipitation	26.9 mm (1.1 in)	37 of 100 (Notable)
Willowvale (Tnk)	South Africa	Record daily precipitation	32.0 mm (1.3 in)	37 of 100 (Notable)
Doornplaat	South Africa	Record daily precipitation	30.5 mm (1.2 in)	37 of 100 (Notable)
Imperial	United States	Record high maximum temperature	28.3 C (82.9 F)	37 of 100 (Notable)
Bowling Green Wwtp	United States	Record snow depth	20.3 cm (8.0 in)	37 of 100 (Notable)
Richfield Radio Ksvc	United States	Record high maximum temperature	17.2 C (63.0 F)	37 of 100 (Notable)
Fairymead Sugar Mill	Australia	Record daily precipitation	59.6 mm (2.3 in)	36 of 100 (Notable)
Engelskirchen	Germany	Record daily precipitation	47.2 mm (1.9 in)	36 of 100 (Notable)
Ft Ross	United States	Record high maximum temperature	19.4 C (66.9 F)	36 of 100 (Notable)
Walden	United States	Record high maximum temperature	9.4 C (48.9 F)	36 of 100 (Notable)
Glen Harding	Australia	Record daily precipitation	78.0 mm (3.1 in)	35 of 100 (Notable)
Trafalgar	Canada	Record daily snowfall	21.0 cm (8.3 in)	35 of 100 (Notable)
Forest Grove	United States	Record high maximum temperature	15.6 C (60.1 F)	35 of 100 (Notable)
Kirov	Russia	Record high minimum temperature	-0.3 C (31.5 F)	34 of 100 (Routine)
Kazan	Russia	Record high minimum temperature	0.4 C (32.7 F)	34 of 100 (Routine)
Snowflake	United States	Record high maximum temperature	19.4 C (66.9 F)	34 of 100 (Routine)
Tempe	United States	Record high maximum temperature	28.3 C (82.9 F)	34 of 100 (Routine)
Middleboro	United States	Record daily snowfall	17.3 cm (6.8 in)	34 of 100 (Routine)
Calliope Post Office	Australia	Record daily precipitation	78.0 mm (3.1 in)	33 of 100 (Routine)
Bauple	Australia	Record daily precipitation	76.2 mm (3.0 in)	33 of 100 (Routine)
Fazenda Porto Alegre	Brazil	Record daily precipitation	79.2 mm (3.1 in)	33 of 100 (Routine)
Mutsu	Japan	Record daily precipitation	79.0 mm (3.1 in)	33 of 100 (Routine)
Martinsdale 3 NNW	United States	Record high maximum temperature	11.1 C (52.0 F)	33 of 100 (Routine)
Headworks Portland Wtr B	United States	Record high maximum temperature	13.9 C (57.0 F)	33 of 100 (Routine)
Zion Np	United States	Record high maximum temperature	20.0 C (68.0 F)	33 of 100 (Routine)
Elkins- Randolph Co AP	United States	Record daily snowfall	13.5 cm (5.3 in)	33 of 100 (Routine)
Ely AP	United States	Record high maximum temperature	12.2 C (54.0 F)	33 of 100 (Routine)
Alderley	Australia	Record daily precipitation	49.2 mm (1.9 in)	32 of 100 (Routine)
Baden-Baden-Geroldsau	Germany	Record daily precipitation	29.0 mm (1.1 in)	32 of 100 (Routine)
Kootwijk	Netherlands	Record daily precipitation	25.2 mm (1.0 in)	32 of 100 (Routine)

Counts by Type and Timescale

989 records

Records set or tied on 2 January 1981 by type: Highest daily maximum 318, Lowest daily maximum 56, Highest daily minimum 135, Lowest daily minimum 52, Heaviest daily rainfall 335, Heaviest daily snowfall 58, Deepest snow cover 35.

Records on 2 January 1981 by type
Record type	Records
Highest daily maximum	318
Lowest daily maximum	56
Highest daily minimum	135
Lowest daily minimum	52
Heaviest daily rainfall	335
Heaviest daily snowfall	58
Deepest snow cover	35

Records on 2 January 1981 by timescale: all-time 1, monthly 25, daily 963.

How Much Records Were Beaten By

840 broken records

Margins by which the 840 broken records beat the old ones, in degrees Celsius for temperature and millimetres for precipitation and snow; the largest margin was 240.0. Ties are not counted.

Top 20 by Significance

2 January 1981

Top 20 records on 2 January 1981 by significance
Date	Station	Record	Value	Beat old record by	Old record stood	Significance
2 January 1981	Kilkivan Post Office, AU	daily rain	103.3 mm (4.1 in)	71.8 mm (2.8 in)	66 years	62 of 100 (Major)
2 January 1981	Telemon Station, AU	daily rain	127.5 mm (5.0 in)	93.2 mm (3.7 in)	18 years	54 of 100 (Notable)
2 January 1981	Modautal-Neunkirchen, DE	daily rain	43.8 mm (1.7 in)	24.6 mm (1.0 in)	33 years	53 of 100 (Notable)
2 January 1981	Nandowrie, AU	daily rain	86.2 mm (3.4 in)	71.0 mm (2.8 in)	30 years	52 of 100 (Notable)
2 January 1981	Parsberg/Oberpfalz-Eglwang, DE	daily rain	26.4 mm (1.0 in)	17.9 mm (0.7 in)	31 years	52 of 100 (Notable)
2 January 1981	Anakie Richardson St, AU	daily rain	103.0 mm (4.1 in)	67.4 mm (2.7 in)	27 years	51 of 100 (Notable)
2 January 1981	Bustard Head Lighthouse, AU	daily rain	103.6 mm (4.1 in)	67.3 mm (2.6 in)	58 years	49 of 100 (Notable)
2 January 1981	Waterloo, AU	daily rain	258.0 mm (10.2 in)	189.6 mm (7.5 in)	7 years	49 of 100 (Notable)
2 January 1981	Upper Stewiacke, CA	daily snowfall	31.0 cm (12.2 in)	15.8 cm (6.2 in)	55 years	49 of 100 (Notable)
2 January 1981	Duckinwilla Creek, AU	daily rain	144.8 mm (5.7 in)	117.1 mm (4.6 in)	18 years	48 of 100 (Notable)
2 January 1981	Winfield, AU	daily rain	162.8 mm (6.4 in)	117.0 mm (4.6 in)	7 years	47 of 100 (Notable)
2 January 1981	Hakodate, JP	daily rain	46.0 mm (1.8 in)	36.3 mm (1.4 in)	16 years	47 of 100 (Notable)
2 January 1981	Boona-Choppa, AU	daily rain	145.0 mm (5.7 in)	98.0 mm (3.9 in)	14 years	46 of 100 (Notable)
2 January 1981	Doongul State Forest, AU	daily rain	126.4 mm (5.0 in)	85.3 mm (3.4 in)	15 years	46 of 100 (Notable)
2 January 1981	Dallarnil Telephone Exch, AU	daily rain	100.6 mm (4.0 in)	74.9 mm (2.9 in)	15 years	46 of 100 (Notable)
2 January 1981	Spring Bluff Railway STN, AU	daily rain	107.0 mm (4.2 in)	68.4 mm (2.7 in)	11 years	45 of 100 (Notable)
2 January 1981	Esashi, JP	daily rain	58.0 mm (2.3 in)	42.0 mm (1.7 in)	8 years	45 of 100 (Notable)
2 January 1981	Langsloot, ZA	daily rain	80.0 mm (3.1 in)	43.0 mm (1.7 in)	26 years	45 of 100 (Notable)
2 January 1981	Byfield Childs Road, AU	daily rain	220.0 mm (8.7 in)	127.8 mm (5.0 in)	23 years	43 of 100 (Notable)
2 January 1981	Michelstadt, DE	daily rain	34.2 mm (1.3 in)	19.8 mm (0.8 in)	5 years	41 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

1794 to 1981

Records set or tied on this calendar date in each year from 1794 to 1981. 1981 had 989 records.

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

Records on 01-02 in each year
Year	Records
1794	2
1797	1
1800	1
1810	1
1823	1
1825	2
1830	2
1834	1
1840	1
1854	1
1855	1
1860	4
1861	4
1868	1
1869	1
1870	1
1871	4
1873	3
1874	1
1875	3
1876	4
1877	1
1879	3
1880	1
1882	1
1883	4
1886	1
1887	2
1888	1
1889	4
1890	2
1891	2
1892	1
1893	3
1894	2
1895	1
1896	7
1897	1
1898	2
1899	8
1900	7
1901	9
1902	5
1903	6
1904	22
1905	14
1906	8
1907	18
1908	6
1909	26
1910	17
1911	22
1912	53
1913	19
1914	27
1915	22
1916	43
1917	86
1918	114
1919	49
1920	48
1921	265
1922	77
1923	46
1924	165
1925	146
1926	190
1927	241
1928	744
1929	42
1930	264
1931	296
1932	148
1933	107
1934	242
1935	283
1936	460
1937	634
1938	111
1939	633
1940	403
1941	518
1942	619
1943	440
1944	355
1945	327
1946	157
1947	776
1948	967
1949	338
1950	1,253
1951	622
1952	823
1953	281
1954	309
1955	407
1956	179
1957	199
1958	240
1959	391
1960	630
1961	638
1962	582
1963	508
1964	955
1965	638
1966	964
1967	265
1968	807
1969	623
1970	947
1971	624
1972	407
1973	524
1974	1,495
1975	622
1976	653
1977	664
1978	689
1979	3,391
1980	360
1981	989
1982	1,102
1983	690
1984	1,221
1985	860
1986	641
1987	1,083
1988	1,279
1989	584
1990	425
1991	689
1992	947
1993	893
1994	576
1995	570
1996	1,425
1997	3,370
1998	1,108
1999	1,607
2000	1,340
2001	1,410
2002	1,021
2003	1,363
2004	1,212
2005	1,205
2006	1,658
2007	941
2008	843
2009	826
2010	1,304
2011	866
2012	805
2013	548
2014	684
2015	778
2016	603
2017	771
2018	2,183
2019	481
2020	645
2021	495
2022	1,905
2023	1,497
2024	635
2025	566
2026	770

Download the Data

Data for records on 1981-01-02: 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 2026-10-16 (16 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	789
50 to 100	37
100 to 150	6
150 to 200	4
200 to 250	4