Weather Records on 21 May 2016

567 weather records were set or tied worldwide on 21 May 2016. Highest significance: Cairns Post Office, AU.

Key Facts for 21 May 2016

On 21 May 2016, 567 weather records were set or tied at long-record stations worldwide.
231 were record highs and 138 were record lows, counting maximum and minimum temperature.
By timescale, 0 were all-time records, 13 monthly and 554 daily.
Cairns Post Office set a daily record precipitation of 118.1 mm (4.6 in) on 21 May 2016.
Across 156 earlier years (1793 to 2026) the same calendar date averaged 460 records.

Record Map

567 stations

567 station records on 21 May 2016 are marked on the map, coloured by record type. Dot size shows the significance score. Made with Natural Earth.

Weather records on 21 May 2016: highest significance records shown on the map
Station	Country	Type	Value	Significance
Cairns Post Office	Australia	Record daily precipitation	118.1 mm (4.6 in)	74 of 100 (Major)
Puri	India	Record daily precipitation	87.1 mm (3.4 in)	64 of 100 (Major)
Velikie Luki	Russia	Record daily precipitation	39.9 mm (1.6 in)	64 of 100 (Major)
Grizzly	United States	Record daily precipitation	61.0 mm (2.4 in)	64 of 100 (Major)
Fairmont	United States	Record daily precipitation	44.2 mm (1.7 in)	60 of 100 (Major)
Summer Lake 1 S	United States	Record daily precipitation	31.8 mm (1.3 in)	53 of 100 (Notable)
Happy Valley	Australia	Record daily precipitation	149.0 mm (5.9 in)	48 of 100 (Notable)
Messina	Italy	Record daily precipitation	36.1 mm (1.4 in)	46 of 100 (Notable)
Lenoir	United States	Record low maximum temperature	13.9 C (57.0 F)	46 of 100 (Notable)
Lower Chittering	Australia	Record daily precipitation	36.4 mm (1.4 in)	45 of 100 (Notable)
Scottsville	United States	Record daily precipitation	51.8 mm (2.0 in)	44 of 100 (Notable)
Marion	United States	Record low maximum temperature	19.4 C (66.9 F)	43 of 100 (Notable)
Concord 4 SSW	United States	Record daily precipitation	43.2 mm (1.7 in)	43 of 100 (Notable)
Ndjamena	Chad	Record low maximum temperature	32.3 C (90.1 F)	42 of 100 (Notable)
Hart Mtn Refuge	United States	Record daily snowfall	15.2 cm (6.0 in)	42 of 100 (Notable)
Muresk Agric.College	Australia	Record daily precipitation	27.0 mm (1.1 in)	41 of 100 (Notable)
Vladivostok	Russia	Record high maximum temperature	26.1 C (79.0 F)	41 of 100 (Notable)
Ft Bidwell	United States	Record low maximum temperature	8.3 C (46.9 F)	41 of 100 (Notable)
Elberton 2 N	United States	Record low maximum temperature	16.7 C (62.1 F)	41 of 100 (Notable)
Marion	United States	Record low maximum temperature	13.3 C (55.9 F)	41 of 100 (Notable)
Batesburg	United States	Record low maximum temperature	17.2 C (63.0 F)	41 of 100 (Notable)
Princess Anne	United States	Record daily precipitation	44.5 mm (1.8 in)	40 of 100 (Notable)
Archerfield Airport	Australia	Record high maximum temperature	28.2 C (82.8 F)	39 of 100 (Notable)
Dno	Russia	Record daily precipitation	31.0 mm (1.2 in)	38 of 100 (Notable)
Bahraich	India	Record daily precipitation	39.1 mm (1.5 in)	37 of 100 (Notable)
Lead Hill	United States	Record low maximum temperature	16.1 C (61.0 F)	37 of 100 (Notable)
Sosunovo	Russia	Record high minimum temperature	9.2 C (48.6 F)	36 of 100 (Notable)
Busby	United States	Record high minimum temperature	13.3 C (55.9 F)	36 of 100 (Notable)
The Poplars	United States	Record daily precipitation	43.2 mm (1.7 in)	36 of 100 (Notable)
Bhubaneswar	India	Record daily precipitation	32.0 mm (1.3 in)	35 of 100 (Notable)
Nogliki	Russia	Record high maximum temperature	30.6 C (87.1 F)	35 of 100 (Notable)
Bowman Dam	United States	Record low maximum temperature	3.3 C (37.9 F)	35 of 100 (Notable)
Sutur	Russia	Record high minimum temperature	14.5 C (58.1 F)	34 of 100 (Routine)
Ossora	Russia	Record high maximum temperature	15.1 C (59.2 F)	34 of 100 (Routine)
Bowling Green	United States	Record daily precipitation	32.5 mm (1.3 in)	34 of 100 (Routine)
Rocksprings	United States	Record high minimum temperature	21.1 C (70.0 F)	34 of 100 (Routine)
Jartai	China	Record low maximum temperature	11.2 C (52.2 F)	33 of 100 (Routine)
Salekhard	Russia	Record high minimum temperature	7.5 C (45.5 F)	33 of 100 (Routine)
Tarko-Sale	Russia	Record high minimum temperature	10.1 C (50.2 F)	33 of 100 (Routine)
High Pt	United States	Record daily precipitation	47.2 mm (1.9 in)	33 of 100 (Routine)
Dismal Swamp	United States	Record daily precipitation	43.2 mm (1.7 in)	33 of 100 (Routine)
Lynchburg Rgnl AP	United States	Record daily precipitation	33.8 mm (1.3 in)	33 of 100 (Routine)
Tarko-Sale	Russia	Record high maximum temperature	23.5 C (74.3 F)	32 of 100 (Routine)
Mys Krilon	Russia	Record high minimum temperature	9.5 C (49.1 F)	32 of 100 (Routine)
Buckhorn	United States	Record daily precipitation	57.4 mm (2.3 in)	32 of 100 (Routine)
Cairo 1SW	United States	Record low maximum temperature	22.2 C (72.0 F)	32 of 100 (Routine)
Russellville	United States	Record daily precipitation	38.6 mm (1.5 in)	32 of 100 (Routine)
Suttsu	Japan	Record high maximum temperature	26.7 C (80.1 F)	31 of 100 (Routine)
Berezovo	Russia	Record high minimum temperature	11.4 C (52.5 F)	31 of 100 (Routine)
Morehead City 2 WNW	United States	Record daily precipitation	48.5 mm (1.9 in)	31 of 100 (Routine)
Appomattox	United States	Record daily precipitation	36.8 mm (1.4 in)	31 of 100 (Routine)
Daly Waters AWS	Australia	Record high maximum temperature	36.3 C (97.3 F)	30 of 100 (Routine)
Amberley AMO	Australia	Record high maximum temperature	28.0 C (82.4 F)	30 of 100 (Routine)
Xiamen	China	Record daily precipitation	72.1 mm (2.8 in)	30 of 100 (Routine)
Kosrae	Federated States of Micronesia	Record high minimum temperature	26.1 C (79.0 F)	30 of 100 (Routine)
Chandbali	India	Record daily precipitation	81.0 mm (3.2 in)	30 of 100 (Routine)
Saran-Paul	Russia	Record high maximum temperature	27.4 C (81.3 F)	30 of 100 (Routine)
Smolensk	Russia	Record daily precipitation	26.9 mm (1.1 in)	30 of 100 (Routine)
Shepherdsville 5NE	United States	Record daily precipitation	35.1 mm (1.4 in)	30 of 100 (Routine)
Donegal 2 NW	United States	Record daily precipitation	30.5 mm (1.2 in)	30 of 100 (Routine)

Counts by Type and Timescale

567 records

Records set or tied on 21 May 2016 by type: Highest daily maximum 116, Lowest daily maximum 116, Highest daily minimum 115, Lowest daily minimum 22, Heaviest daily rainfall 194, Heaviest daily snowfall 2, Deepest snow cover 2.

Records on 21 May 2016 by type
Record type	Records
Highest daily maximum	116
Lowest daily maximum	116
Highest daily minimum	115
Lowest daily minimum	22
Heaviest daily rainfall	194
Heaviest daily snowfall	2
Deepest snow cover	2

Records on 21 May 2016 by timescale: all-time 0, monthly 13, daily 554.

How Much Records Were Beaten By

493 broken records

Margins by which the 493 broken records beat the old ones, in degrees Celsius for temperature and millimetres for precipitation and snow; the largest margin was 127.0. Ties are not counted.

Top 20 by Significance

21 May 2016

Top 20 records on 21 May 2016 by significance
Date	Station	Record	Value	Beat old record by	Old record stood	Significance
21 May 2016	Cairns Post Office, AU	daily rain	118.1 mm (4.6 in)	81.5 mm (3.2 in)	82 years	74 of 100 (Major)
21 May 2016	Puri, IN	daily rain	87.1 mm (3.4 in)	45.2 mm (1.8 in)	98 years	64 of 100 (Major)
21 May 2016	Velikie Luki, RU	daily rain	39.9 mm (1.6 in)	12.5 mm (0.5 in)	130 years	64 of 100 (Major)
21 May 2016	Grizzly, US	monthly rain	61.0 mm (2.4 in)	17.8 mm (0.7 in)	59 years	64 of 100 (Major)
21 May 2016	Fairmont, US	daily rain	44.2 mm (1.7 in)	19.3 mm (0.8 in)	97 years	60 of 100 (Major)
21 May 2016	Summer Lake 1 S, US	daily rain	31.8 mm (1.3 in)	16.8 mm (0.7 in)	30 years	53 of 100 (Notable)
21 May 2016	Happy Valley, AU	daily rain	149.0 mm (5.9 in)	75.1 mm (3.0 in)	52 years	48 of 100 (Notable)
21 May 2016	Messina, IT	daily rain	36.1 mm (1.4 in)	20.1 mm (0.8 in)	49 years	46 of 100 (Notable)
21 May 2016	Lenoir, US	daily low max	13.9 C (57.0 F)	2.8 C (5.0 F)	107 years	46 of 100 (Notable)
21 May 2016	Lower Chittering, AU	daily rain	36.4 mm (1.4 in)	8.5 mm (0.33 in)	91 years	45 of 100 (Notable)
21 May 2016	Scottsville, US	daily rain	51.8 mm (2.0 in)	28.7 mm (1.1 in)	61 years	44 of 100 (Notable)
21 May 2016	Marion, US	daily low max	19.4 C (66.9 F)	2.8 C (5.0 F)	87 years	43 of 100 (Notable)
21 May 2016	Concord 4 SSW, US	daily rain	43.2 mm (1.7 in)	24.7 mm (1.0 in)	62 years	43 of 100 (Notable)
21 May 2016	Ndjamena, TD	daily low max	32.3 C (90.1 F)	4.7 C (8.5 F)	61 years	42 of 100 (Notable)
21 May 2016	Hart Mtn Refuge, US	daily snowfall	15.2 cm (6.0 in)	12.7 cm (5.0 in)	63 years	42 of 100 (Notable)
21 May 2016	Muresk Agric.College, AU	daily rain	27.0 mm (1.1 in)	13.0 mm (0.5 in)	56 years	41 of 100 (Notable)
21 May 2016	Vladivostok, RU	daily high max	26.1 C (79.0 F)	0.6 C (1.1 F)	103 years	41 of 100 (Notable)
21 May 2016	Ft Bidwell, US	daily low max	8.3 C (46.9 F)	0.6 C (1.1 F)	142 years	41 of 100 (Notable)
21 May 2016	Elberton 2 N, US	daily low max	16.7 C (62.1 F)	0.5 C (0.9 F)	121 years	41 of 100 (Notable)
21 May 2016	Marion, US	daily low max	13.3 C (55.9 F)	0.6 C (1.1 F)	121 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

1793 to 2016

Records set or tied on this calendar date in each year from 1793 to 2016. 2016 had 567 records.

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

Records on 05-21 in each year
Year	Records
1793	1
1795	1
1811	1
1837	2
1842	1
1847	2
1854	1
1857	1
1858	1
1865	1
1866	1
1870	2
1875	1
1876	1
1880	2
1882	1
1885	1
1886	2
1887	3
1889	5
1890	3
1891	6
1892	1
1893	1
1894	4
1895	4
1896	5
1897	2
1898	1
1899	5
1900	1
1901	3
1902	4
1903	26
1904	8
1905	7
1906	12
1907	36
1908	13
1909	13
1910	14
1911	87
1912	24
1913	13
1914	26
1915	24
1916	13
1917	76
1918	51
1919	170
1920	39
1921	158
1922	39
1923	125
1924	148
1925	250
1926	221
1927	207
1928	173
1929	247
1930	133
1931	488
1932	343
1933	290
1934	590
1935	190
1936	328
1937	227
1938	348
1939	355
1940	456
1941	525
1942	482
1943	463
1944	310
1945	515
1946	324
1947	485
1948	312
1949	593
1950	403
1951	271
1952	385
1953	501
1954	961
1955	507
1956	409
1957	709
1958	511
1959	684
1960	615
1961	306
1962	553
1963	598
1964	788
1965	238
1966	296
1967	1,022
1968	549
1969	832
1970	449
1971	536
1972	557
1973	493
1974	847
1975	1,160
1976	393
1977	756
1978	575
1979	787
1980	857
1981	1,550
1982	599
1983	1,106
1984	950
1985	610
1986	908
1987	1,242
1988	819
1989	671
1990	947
1991	1,065
1992	1,143
1993	1,197
1994	656
1995	749
1996	1,461
1997	953
1998	1,200
1999	544
2000	897
2001	1,187
2002	2,048
2003	807
2004	898
2005	1,020
2006	810
2007	894
2008	740
2009	1,315
2010	962
2011	959
2012	848
2013	884
2014	522
2015	956
2016	567
2017	780
2018	525
2019	1,668
2020	707
2021	1,131
2022	1,512
2023	794
2024	751
2025	776
2026	356

Download the Data

Data for records on 2016-05-21: 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 2026-10-13. Last revised 13 October 2026 (2026-10-13).

Margin	Records
0 to 20	477
20 to 40	10
40 to 60	2
60 to 80	1
80 to 100	1
100 to 120	1
120 to 140	1