February 29: ORD

Today is February 29th. It's the xxth day of the year. xxx days remain. It's week x of the year. There is no February 29th this year, so I'm doing this for 2012.

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 8-year averages at 40 and 22.

On the warm side, in 2000 the high was 64 with the record warmest low of 44. In 2004 the high was 61 with a low of 32. The record high of 65 was set in 1972. Three of the last eight highs were 30s. On the warmer side, two highs were 60s and one highs was in the 40s. On the colder side, one high was a 10s (a.k.a. teens) high and one high was in the 20s.

In looking back through the years to the first leap day at O'Hare in 1960, the following instances were notable: In 1976 the high was 58 with a low of 35, a bonus 50s day. In 1972 the high was 62 with a low of 36, a bonus 60s day. In 1964 the high was 50 with a low of 28, another bonus 50s day.

More recently, there were no large or small spreads.

On the cold side, in 1980 the high was the record coldest high of 17 with a low of 0. In 1996 the high was 24 with a low of 10. The record low of -3 was set way back in 1884. Six of the last eight lows have been: 10s (a.k.a. teens) (2), 20s (2) and 30s (2). One low was in the colder single digits and one low was in the warmer 40s.

Today is not a major day in Chicago's snow history.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight began at 6:xx and sunrise was at 6:xx. Sunset is at 17:xx and twilight ends at 18:xx. There's a total of 11 hours, xx minutes of daylight today and 12 hours, x minutes between twilights. Tomorrow twilight begins at 6:xx and sunrise is at 6:xx. The moon is xxxxx xxxxxx. Illumination was xx% at midnight, will be xx% at noon and xx% at midnight tonight. Moonrise was at yy:yy and moonset is at yy:yy. Moonrise is at yy:yy tomorrow. Moonlight time is yy hours, yy minutes which is yy minutes longer/shorter than yesterday.

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