Weather Records on 15 August 1981

588 weather records were set or tied worldwide on 15 August 1981. Highest significance: Walnut, US.

Key Facts for 15 August 1981

On 15 August 1981, 588 weather records were set or tied at long-record stations worldwide.
203 were record highs and 74 were record lows, counting maximum and minimum temperature.
By timescale, 2 were all-time records, 10 monthly and 576 daily.
Walnut set a daily record precipitation of 108.5 mm (4.3 in) on 15 August 1981.
Across 168 earlier years (1793 to 2026) the same calendar date averaged 454 records.

Record Map

588 stations

588 station records on 15 August 1981 are marked on the map, coloured by record type. Dot size shows the significance score. Made with Natural Earth.

Weather records on 15 August 1981: highest significance records shown on the map
Station	Country	Type	Value	Significance
Walnut	United States	Record daily precipitation	108.5 mm (4.3 in)	69 of 100 (Major)
Mattoon	United States	Record daily precipitation	78.2 mm (3.1 in)	63 of 100 (Major)
Manchester	United States	Record daily precipitation	50.8 mm (2.0 in)	62 of 100 (Major)
Belleville	Canada	Record daily precipitation	39.5 mm (1.6 in)	60 of 100 (Major)
Yan An	China	Record daily precipitation	139.9 mm (5.5 in)	60 of 100 (Major)
Winona	United States	Record daily precipitation	56.1 mm (2.2 in)	59 of 100 (Notable)
Decatur Wtp	United States	Record daily precipitation	56.6 mm (2.2 in)	58 of 100 (Notable)
Morrison	United States	Record daily precipitation	106.7 mm (4.2 in)	57 of 100 (Notable)
Clinton 2	United States	Record daily precipitation	104.1 mm (4.1 in)	56 of 100 (Notable)
Dixon Wwtp	United States	Record daily precipitation	103.6 mm (4.1 in)	53 of 100 (Notable)
Minonk	United States	Record daily precipitation	87.6 mm (3.4 in)	50 of 100 (Notable)
Anchieta (Dnos)	Brazil	Record daily precipitation	82.0 mm (3.2 in)	48 of 100 (Notable)
Pontiac	United States	Record daily precipitation	92.2 mm (3.6 in)	48 of 100 (Notable)
Paw Paw 2S	United States	Record daily precipitation	71.6 mm (2.8 in)	47 of 100 (Notable)
Bellevue L/D 12	United States	Record daily precipitation	71.9 mm (2.8 in)	45 of 100 (Notable)
Nizhnyj Tagil	Russia	Record daily precipitation	30.0 mm (1.2 in)	44 of 100 (Notable)
Ogdensburg 4 NE	United States	Record daily precipitation	43.4 mm (1.7 in)	43 of 100 (Notable)
Matiwa (B0S)	South Africa	Record daily precipitation	60.0 mm (2.4 in)	42 of 100 (Notable)
Charleston	United States	Record daily precipitation	57.4 mm (2.3 in)	42 of 100 (Notable)
Maquoketa	United States	Record daily precipitation	63.8 mm (2.5 in)	42 of 100 (Notable)
Orono	Canada	Record daily precipitation	41.0 mm (1.6 in)	41 of 100 (Notable)
Krasnojarsk	Russia	Record daily precipitation	37.9 mm (1.5 in)	41 of 100 (Notable)
Edina	United States	Record daily precipitation	76.2 mm (3.0 in)	41 of 100 (Notable)
Clinton Wwtp	United States	Record daily precipitation	88.9 mm (3.5 in)	41 of 100 (Notable)
Caiana	Brazil	Record daily precipitation	42.6 mm (1.7 in)	39 of 100 (Notable)
Gagetown 2	Canada	Record daily precipitation	52.0 mm (2.0 in)	39 of 100 (Notable)
Keshan	China	Record daily precipitation	61.0 mm (2.4 in)	39 of 100 (Notable)
Marseilles Lock/Dam	United States	Record daily precipitation	66.0 mm (2.6 in)	39 of 100 (Notable)
Burlington Wwtp	United States	Record daily precipitation	65.5 mm (2.6 in)	39 of 100 (Notable)
Cornwall	Canada	Record daily precipitation	43.3 mm (1.7 in)	38 of 100 (Notable)
Port Hope	Canada	Record daily precipitation	28.6 mm (1.1 in)	38 of 100 (Notable)
De Hoek (Bos)	South Africa	Record daily precipitation	38.0 mm (1.5 in)	38 of 100 (Notable)
Saint Helena	United States	Record high minimum temperature	18.9 C (66.0 F)	38 of 100 (Notable)
Arzgir	Russia	Record daily precipitation	56.8 mm (2.2 in)	36 of 100 (Notable)
Fulton L&D #13	United States	Record daily precipitation	76.2 mm (3.0 in)	36 of 100 (Notable)
Imperial	United States	Record daily precipitation	51.8 mm (2.0 in)	36 of 100 (Notable)
Dannemora	United States	Record daily precipitation	29.5 mm (1.2 in)	36 of 100 (Notable)
New England	United States	Record daily precipitation	43.2 mm (1.7 in)	36 of 100 (Notable)
Racine Wwtp	United States	Record daily precipitation	39.1 mm (1.5 in)	36 of 100 (Notable)
Davenport L&D 15	United States	Record daily precipitation	40.1 mm (1.6 in)	36 of 100 (Notable)
Utuado	Puerto Rico [United States]	Record daily precipitation	88.4 mm (3.5 in)	35 of 100 (Notable)
Casey	United States	Record daily precipitation	39.4 mm (1.6 in)	35 of 100 (Notable)
Chazy	United States	Record daily precipitation	29.2 mm (1.1 in)	35 of 100 (Notable)
Montpelier AP	United States	Record daily precipitation	40.4 mm (1.6 in)	35 of 100 (Notable)
Banff	Canada	Record high maximum temperature	29.5 C (85.1 F)	34 of 100 (Routine)
Sussex	Canada	Record daily precipitation	63.2 mm (2.5 in)	34 of 100 (Routine)
Entabeni (Bos)	South Africa	Record daily precipitation	38.5 mm (1.5 in)	34 of 100 (Routine)
Whitewater Wwtp	United States	Record daily precipitation	50.8 mm (2.0 in)	34 of 100 (Routine)
Canton	United States	Record daily precipitation	40.6 mm (1.6 in)	33 of 100 (Routine)
Sebewaing	United States	Record daily precipitation	39.4 mm (1.6 in)	33 of 100 (Routine)
Natchez	United States	Record high minimum temperature	25.6 C (78.1 F)	33 of 100 (Routine)
Moncton	Canada	Record daily precipitation	47.0 mm (1.9 in)	32 of 100 (Routine)
Pingliang	China	Record daily precipitation	57.8 mm (2.3 in)	32 of 100 (Routine)
Streator 2SE	United States	Record low maximum temperature	22.8 C (73.0 F)	32 of 100 (Routine)
Stoughton Wwtp	United States	Record daily precipitation	63.5 mm (2.5 in)	32 of 100 (Routine)
Ft Myers Page Fld AP	United States	Record high minimum temperature	26.1 C (79.0 F)	32 of 100 (Routine)
Glen Mervyn	Australia	Record daily precipitation	35.4 mm (1.4 in)	31 of 100 (Routine)
Bloomfield	Canada	Record daily precipitation	28.0 mm (1.1 in)	31 of 100 (Routine)
Nikolskoye/Beringa Ostrov	Russia	Record high minimum temperature	12.1 C (53.8 F)	31 of 100 (Routine)
Tepelmeme de Morelos	Mexico	Record high maximum temperature	31.7 C (89.1 F)	30 of 100 (Routine)

Counts by Type and Timescale

588 records

Records set or tied on 15 August 1981 by type: Highest daily maximum 63, Lowest daily maximum 47, Highest daily minimum 140, Lowest daily minimum 27, Heaviest daily rainfall 311.

Records on 15 August 1981 by type
Record type	Records
Highest daily maximum	63
Lowest daily maximum	47
Highest daily minimum	140
Lowest daily minimum	27
Heaviest daily rainfall	311
Heaviest daily snowfall	0
Deepest snow cover	0

Records on 15 August 1981 by timescale: all-time 2, monthly 10, daily 576.

How Much Records Were Beaten By

480 broken records

Margins by which the 480 broken records beat the old ones, in degrees Celsius for temperature and millimetres for precipitation and snow; the largest margin was 79.5. Ties are not counted.

Top 20 by Significance

15 August 1981

Top 20 records on 15 August 1981 by significance
Date	Station	Record	Value	Beat old record by	Old record stood	Significance
15 August 1981	Walnut, US	daily rain	108.5 mm (4.3 in)	64.3 mm (2.5 in)	72 years	69 of 100 (Major)
15 August 1981	Mattoon, US	daily rain	78.2 mm (3.1 in)	40.6 mm (1.6 in)	80 years	63 of 100 (Major)
15 August 1981	Manchester, US	daily rain	50.8 mm (2.0 in)	37.1 mm (1.5 in)	80 years	62 of 100 (Major)
15 August 1981	Belleville, CA	daily rain	39.5 mm (1.6 in)	24.0 mm (0.9 in)	111 years	60 of 100 (Major)
15 August 1981	Yan An, CN	all-time rain	139.9 mm (5.5 in)	41.8 mm (1.6 in)	23 years	60 of 100 (Major)
15 August 1981	Winona, US	daily rain	56.1 mm (2.2 in)	33.2 mm (1.3 in)	87 years	59 of 100 (Notable)
15 August 1981	Decatur Wtp, US	daily rain	56.6 mm (2.2 in)	38.1 mm (1.5 in)	80 years	58 of 100 (Notable)
15 August 1981	Morrison, US	daily rain	106.7 mm (4.2 in)	79.5 mm (3.1 in)	30 years	57 of 100 (Notable)
15 August 1981	Clinton 2, US	daily rain	104.1 mm (4.1 in)	66.3 mm (2.6 in)	30 years	56 of 100 (Notable)
15 August 1981	Dixon Wwtp, US	daily rain	103.6 mm (4.1 in)	31.2 mm (1.2 in)	74 years	53 of 100 (Notable)
15 August 1981	Minonk, US	daily rain	87.6 mm (3.4 in)	26.6 mm (1.0 in)	80 years	50 of 100 (Notable)
15 August 1981	Anchieta (Dnos), BR	monthly rain	82.0 mm (3.2 in)	26.0 mm (1.0 in)	26 years	48 of 100 (Notable)
15 August 1981	Pontiac, US	daily rain	92.2 mm (3.6 in)	43.7 mm (1.7 in)	32 years	48 of 100 (Notable)
15 August 1981	Paw Paw 2S, US	daily rain	71.6 mm (2.8 in)	49.2 mm (1.9 in)	23 years	47 of 100 (Notable)
15 August 1981	Bellevue L/D 12, US	daily rain	71.9 mm (2.8 in)	46.0 mm (1.8 in)	30 years	45 of 100 (Notable)
15 August 1981	Nizhnyj Tagil, RU	daily rain	30.0 mm (1.2 in)	21.5 mm (0.8 in)	26 years	44 of 100 (Notable)
15 August 1981	Ogdensburg 4 NE, US	daily rain	43.4 mm (1.7 in)	11.6 mm (0.5 in)	80 years	43 of 100 (Notable)
15 August 1981	Matiwa (B0S), ZA	daily rain	60.0 mm (2.4 in)	36.1 mm (1.4 in)	32 years	42 of 100 (Notable)
15 August 1981	Charleston, US	daily rain	57.4 mm (2.3 in)	16.0 mm (0.6 in)	78 years	42 of 100 (Notable)
15 August 1981	Maquoketa, US	daily rain	63.8 mm (2.5 in)	31.5 mm (1.2 in)	43 years	42 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 1981

Records set or tied on this calendar date in each year from 1793 to 1981. 1981 had 588 records.

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

Records on 08-15 in each year
Year	Records
1793	2
1802	1
1805	1
1812	1
1821	1
1838	2
1839	1
1841	1
1844	1
1845	3
1852	1
1854	1
1856	1
1858	1
1861	3
1867	1
1868	2
1869	1
1873	2
1875	1
1876	2
1877	1
1878	1
1879	1
1880	3
1881	2
1882	2
1883	1
1884	2
1885	3
1886	1
1887	1
1888	3
1890	2
1891	2
1892	3
1893	3
1895	1
1896	9
1897	3
1898	1
1899	2
1900	6
1901	5
1902	10
1903	5
1904	17
1905	26
1906	8
1907	14
1908	15
1909	30
1910	16
1911	26
1912	34
1913	42
1914	11
1915	26
1916	223
1917	32
1918	23
1919	22
1920	59
1921	55
1922	86
1923	116
1924	220
1925	91
1926	115
1927	223
1928	271
1929	586
1930	274
1931	351
1932	368
1933	268
1934	992
1935	414
1936	867
1937	574
1938	681
1939	450
1940	372
1941	289
1942	377
1943	426
1944	610
1945	433
1946	285
1947	559
1948	366
1949	559
1950	317
1951	597
1952	596
1953	449
1954	481
1955	539
1956	390
1957	355
1958	1,092
1959	515
1960	417
1961	704
1962	1,052
1963	972
1964	1,185
1965	535
1966	340
1967	687
1968	1,002
1969	583
1970	382
1971	899
1972	613
1973	499
1974	512
1975	490
1976	1,345
1977	550
1978	841
1979	1,788
1980	745
1981	588
1982	479
1983	955
1984	622
1985	915
1986	1,283
1987	1,098
1988	1,479
1989	495
1990	758
1991	778
1992	1,638
1993	831
1994	1,073
1995	1,298
1996	929
1997	927
1998	861
1999	956
2000	932
2001	1,254
2002	1,307
2003	1,248
2004	1,424
2005	1,067
2006	923
2007	1,317
2008	964
2009	1,038
2010	1,622
2011	770
2012	654
2013	711
2014	583
2015	759
2016	707
2017	532
2018	328
2019	435
2020	1,327
2021	900
2022	692
2023	1,414
2024	729
2025	772
2026	975

Download the Data

Data for records on 1981-08-15: 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 2026-10-15 (15 October 2026). Records are computed by this site and are not official.

Data as of 2026-10-15. Last revised 15 October 2026 (2026-10-15).

Margin	Records
0 to 10	378
10 to 20	46
20 to 30	30
30 to 40	15
40 to 50	8
50 to 60	0
60 to 70	2
70 to 80	1