February 15: ORD

Today is February 15th. It's the 46th day of the year. 319 days remain. It's week 7 of the year.

Unless noted, the following data is based upon observations collected by the National Weather Service, Chicago, at O'Hare International Airport (ORD) between November 1978 and last year. Observations have been official at O'Hare since Thursday, January 17, 1980.

According to the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), the normal high is 35 and the normal low is 19. I've calculated the 30-year averages at 34 and 21.

On the warm side, in 1984 the high was 60 with a low of 33. Fifteen years later, in 1999, the high was 55 with a low of 34. A year earlier, in 1998, the high was 53 with a low of 32. In 1981 the high was 45 with a low of 33. In 2002 the high was 42 with a low of 35, a seven degree spread. Twenty years before that, in 1982, the high was 43 with a low of 34. Other warm lows were 33 in both 1992 and 2005 and 32 in 2006. The record high of 69 and record warmest low of 40 were set on the same day in 1954. 23 of the last 30 highs were 20s (6), 30s (10) and 40s (7). On the warmer side, two highs were 50s (2) and one was a 60. On the colder side, four highs were 10s (a.k.a. teens).

In looking back through the years to the first February at O'Hare in 1959, the following instances were notable: In 1976 the high was 65 with a low of 40, a bonus 60s high. In 1975 the high was 34 with a low of 27, a seven degree spread. In 1969 the high was 30 with a low of 25, a five degree spread. In 1967 the high was 49 with a low of 13, a 36 degree spread. In 1963 the high was 18 with a low of -9, a cold day. In 1962 the high was 34 with a low of 29, a five degree spread. In 1961 the high was 59 with a low of 28, a 31 degree spread.

More recently, there were small spreads of four degrees in 1992 (37/33), five degrees in 1990 (32/27), six degrees in both 1987 (26/20) and 2001 (32/26) and seven degrees in 1979 (27/20).

On the cold side, in 1985 the high was 12 with a low of 0. Six years later, in 1991, the high was 13 with a low of 3. Two years ago the high was 14 with a low of 2. In 1986 the high was 18 with a low of -1. Five years ago, in 2004, the high was 22 with a low of 6. The record low of -9 was set back in 1905 and the record coldest high of 5 was set back in 1920. 24 of the last 30 lows have been: 10s (a.k.a. teens) (7), 20s (8) and 30s (9). Even colder, five lows have been single digits and one was in the negative single digits.

Today is a major day in Chicago's snow history. In 1990, 1.4 inches fell. This was the second day of a two day, 9.7 inch storm known as the Valentine's Day Blizzard. This storm comprised 71% of the month's total of 13.6 inches.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight began at 6:21 and sunrise was at 6:49. Sunset was at 17:26 and twilight ended at 17:55. There's a total of 10 hours, 37 minutes of daylight today and 11 hours, 34 minutes between twilights. Tomorrow twilight begins at 6:19 and sunrise is at 6:48. The moon is waning gibbous. Illumination was 66% at midnight, will be 61% at noon and 56% at midnight tonight. Moonset was at 9:24. Moonrise is at 0:46 tomorrrow. Moonset is at 9:57 tomorrow. Moonlight time is 9 hours, 24 minutes which is 8 minutes longer than yesterday.

The Daytona 500 is today. President's Day is tomorrow. -Bernie-