March 7: ORD

Today is March 7th. It's the 66th day of the year. 299 days remain. It's week 10 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 42 and the normal low is 26. I've calculated the 30-year averages at 40 and 25.

On the warm side, in 2000 the high was the record high of 78 with the record warmest low of 53. In 1987 the high was 74 with a low of 45. In 1983 the high was 60 with a low of 44. In 1992 the high was 51 with a low of 44, a seven degree spread. Other warm highs were 57 in both 1988 and 2005. 22 of the last 30 highs were: 20s (6), 30s (9) and 40s (7) . On the warmer side, six highs were: 50s (3), 60s (1) and 70s (2). On the colder side, two highs were 10s (a.k.a. teens). A note about yesterday: it was just the 7th high of 60 degrees or more in O'Hare's history and also the 3rd warmest of the last 31 years. Highs were 65 at O'Hare (at 15:18), 64 at Rockford (at 14:27), 67 at Northerly Island, 67 at Midway, 65 at the NWS in Romeoville and 66 in West Chicago.

In looking back through the years to the first March at O'Hare in 1959, the following instances were notable: In 1978 the high was 30 with a low of 25, a five degree spread. In 1975 the high was 38 with a low of 31, a seven degree spread. In 1973 the high was 62 with a low of 44, a bonus 60s day. In 1968 the high was 54 with a low of 19, a 35 degree spread. In 1965 the high was 34 with a low of 30, a four degree spread. In 1960 the high was 24 with a low of 3, a cold day.

More recently, we had small spreads of four degrees in 1979 (37/33), five degrees in 2002 (38/33) and seven degrees two years ago (28/21). Large spreads were 30 degrees in 1997 (49/19) and 30 degrees in 2005 (57/27).

On the cold side, in 1996 the high was 17 with a low of 5. A decade earlier, in 1986, the high was 18 with a low of 7. Four years before that, in 1982, the high was 20 with a low of 6. Two years later, in 1984, the high was 25 with a low of 11. Last year the high was 26 with a low of 14. In 1999 the high was 26 with a low of 15. A decade before that, in 1989, the high was 28 with a low of 17. Another cold high was 28 two years ago. The record low of -2 and record coldest high of 14 were set on the same day in 1943. 12 of the last 30 lows were 30s. Nine lows were in the colder: 10s (a.k.a. teens) (6) and single digits (3). Nine lows were in the warmer: 30s (5), 40s (3) and 50s (1).

Today is a major day in Chicago's snow history. In 1999, 2.8 inches fell. This was the third of six days in which a total of 18.2 inches fell. Back in 1931 at the University of Chicago, where official stats for Chicago used to be kept, 10.9 inches fell.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight began at 5:50 and sunrise was at 6:18. Sunset is at 17:51 and twilight ends at 18:19. There's a total of 11 hours, 33 minutes of daylight today and 12 hours, 29 minutes between twilights. Tomorrow twilight begins at 6:49 and sunrise is at 7:17. The moon is waxing gibbous. Illumination was 81% at midnight, will be 86% at noon and 90% at midnight tonight. Moonset was at 4:17. Moonrise is at 14:01 and moonset is at 5:51 tomorrow. Moonlight time is 14 hours, 16 minutes which is 34 minutes longer than yesterday.

My birthday is today. Daylight Saving Time begins tomorrow. A sister of mine, Christina, has a birthday in three days. St. Patrick's Day is in a week and three days. -Bernie-