February 21: ORD

Today is February 21st. It's the 52nd day of the year. 313 days remain. It's week 8 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 37 and the normal low is 21. I've calculated the 31-year averages at 39 and 24.

On the warm side, in 1991 the high was 58 with a low of 34. In 1980 the high was 46 with a low of 36. Other warm highs were 50 in 2003 and 49 in 1983. Other warm lows were 37 in 1985 and 33 in 2005. The record high of 67 and the record warmest low of 47 were set on the same day back in 1930. 26 of the last 31 highs were: 30s (13) and 40s (13). On the warmer side, two highs were 50s. On the colder side, three highs were 20s.

In looking back through the years to the first February at O'Hare in 1959, the following instances were notable: In 1978 the high was 25 with a low of 7, a cold day. In 1976 the low was a warm 33. In 1975 the high was a warm 49. In 1974 the high was 51 with a low of 36, a warm day. In 1968 the high was 22 with a low of -1, a cold day. In 1967 the high was 25 with a low of 3, a cold day. In 1966 the high was 26 with a low of -1, another cold day. In 1965 the low was a cold 7. In 1963 the high was 4 with a low of -8, another very cold day. 1963 was the year of the record coldest high (3 at Midway). In 1961 the high was a warm 54 with a low of 21, a 33 degree spread.

More recently, there were small spreads of three degrees in 2005 (36/33), five degrees in 2002 (34/29), six degrees in 1985 (43/37) and seven degrees in 1996 (35/28).

On the cold side, in 2001 the high was 21 with a low of 9. Two years ago the high was 23 with a low of 8. Two decades earlier, in 1988, the high was 32 with a low of 1, a 31 degree spread. The record low of -11 was set way back in 1873 and the record coldest high of 3 was set in 1963. 18 of the last 31 lows have been 20s. Six lows were colder: three in the 10s (a.k.a. teens) (3) and single digits (3). Seven lows were in the warmer 30s.

Today is a 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 6:13 and sunrise was at 6:41. Sunset is at 17:33 and twilight ends at 18:02. There's a total of 10 hours, 52 minutes of daylight today and 11 hours, 49 minutes between twilights. Tomorrow twilight begins at 6:11 and sunrise is at 6:39. The moon reaches first quarter today at 18:42. Illumination was 42% at midnight, will be 47% at noon and 53% at midnight tonight. Moonset was at 37 minutes past midnight. Moonrise is at 9:55. Moonset is at 1:43 tomorrow. Moonlight time is 14 hours, 42 minutes which is two minutes shorter than yesterday.

Washington's Birthday is tomorrow. My birthday is in two weeks and a sister of mine, Christina, celebrates a birthday in 17 days. -Bernie-