February 26: ORD

Today is February 26th. It's the 57th day of the year. 308 days remain. It's week 9 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. ORD has been the official site of record for Chicago since Thursday, January 17, 1980.

According to the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), the normal high is 39 and the normal low is 23. I've calculated the 30-year averages at 38 and 23.

On the warm side, in 2000 the high was the record high of 64 with the record warmest low of 48. Two years earlier, in 1998, the high was 63 (former record high with 1932) with a low of 45. Another warm high was 58 in 1988 and another warm low was 38 in 1996. 16 of the last 30 highs were 30s. On the warmer side, ten highs were: 40s (7), 50s (1) and 60s (2). On the colder side, four highs were 20s.

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 61 with a low of 37, a bonus 60s day. In 1973 the high was 33 with a low of 28, a five degree spread. In 1971 the high was 56 with a low of 40, a bonus 50s day. In 1969 the high was 37 with a low of 30, a seven degree spread. In 1967 the high was 34 with a low of -1, a 35 degree spread and indeed cold. In 1963 the high was 15 with a low of -8, a cold day. In 1960 the high was 26 with a low of 21, a five degree spread.

More recently, we had a spread of four degrees in 1997 (38/34), four degrees two years ago (34/30), five degrees in 1995 (33/28), six degrees in 1981 (36/30), six degrees in 1996 (44/38) and a lone large spread of 36 degrees in 1988 (58/22).

On the cold side, in 1994 the high was 20 with a low of 2. In 1980, the high was 26 with a low of 2. In 2003, the high was 30 with a low of 5. In 1991, the high was 27 with a low of 12. The record low of -1 was set in 1963 and the record coldest high of 10 was set way back in 1888. 20 of the last 30 lows have been: 10s (a.k.a. teens) (8) and 20s (12). Three lows were in the colder single digits. Seven lows were warmer: five 30s and two 40s.

Today is not a major day in Chicago's snow history. But since we are supposed to get lots of rain, the record for precipitation today is 0.92 inches in 1899.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 6:05 and sunrise is at 6:33. Sunset is at 17:40 and twilight ends at 18:08. Chicago's sunset is at 17:38 and twilight ends at 18:06. There's a total of 11 hours, 7 minutes of daylight today and 12 hours, 3 minutes between twilights. Tomorrow twilight begins at 6:03 and sunrise is at 6:31. The moon is waxing crescent and reached new two nights ago at 19:35. Illumination was 2% at midnight, will be 3% at noon and 5% at midnight tonight. Moonrise is at 6:59 and moonset is at 19:44. Moonrise is at 7:21 tomorrow. Moonlight time is 12 hours, 45 minutes which is 46 minutes longer than yesterday.

My birthday is in a week and two days. A sister of mine, Christina, has a birthday in two days short of two weeks. -Bernie-