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 31-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 (the former record high along with 1932) with a low of 45. Last year the high was 53 with a low of 32. Another warm high was 58 in 1988 and another warm low was 38 in 1996. 16 of the last 31 highs were 30s. On the warmer side, 11 highs were: 40s (7), 50s (2) 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 1978 the high was 25 with a low of 11, a cold day. In 1976 the high was 61 with a low of 37, a warm day. In 1973 the high was 33 with a low of 28, a five degree spread. In 1972 the low was a cold 9 degrees. In 1971 the high was 56 with a low of 40, a warm 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 1965 the high was 22 with a low of 2, a cold day. In 1964 the low was a cold 10 degrees. In 1963 the high was 15 with a low of -8, a cold day and year of the record low of -1 at Midway. In 1960 the high was 26 with a low of 21, a five degree spread and cold.

More recently, we had a spread of four degrees in 1997 (38/34), four degrees three 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 31 lows have been: 10s (a.k.a. teens) (8) and 20s (12). Three lows were in the colder single digits. Eight lows were warmer: 30s (6) and 40s (2).

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 6:05 and sunrise was at 6:33. Sunset is at 17:40 and twilight ends at 18:08. There's a total of 11 hours, 7 minutes of daylight today and 12 hours, 3 minutes between twilights. Tomorrow twilight begins at 6:04 and sunrise is at 6:32. The moon is waxing gibbous, heading towards full in two days. Illumination was 91% at midnight, will be 94% at noon and 97% at midnight tonight. Moonset was at 5:06. Moonrise is at 15:29. Moonset is at 5:39 tomorrow. Moonlight time is 13 hours, 37 minutes which is 41 minutes shorter than yesterday.

My birthday is in nine days and a sister of mine, Christina, celebrates a birthday in 12 days. -Bernie-