March 23: ORD

Today is March 23rd. It's the 82nd day of the year. 283 days remain. It's week 12 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 49 and the normal low is 31. I've calculated the 31-year averages at 52 and 32.

On the warm side, in 1994 the high was 74 with a low of 49. Six years earlier, in 1988, the high was 68 with a low of 45. in 1979 the high was 62 with the record warmest low of 50. The record warmest low of 50 also occurred in 1936. In 1987 the high was 67 with a low of 40. In 2003 the high was 63 with a low of 41. Another warm high was 62 in 2000. Another warm low was 44 in 2007. The record high of 80 was set way back in 1907. 27 of the last 31 highs were: 40s (9), 50s (10) and 60s (8). On the warmer side, one high was in the 70s. On the colder side, three highs were in the 30s.

In looking back through the years to the first March at O'Hare in 1959, the following instances were notable: In 1976 the high was a warm 61. In 1974 the high was 25 with a low of 12, a cold day. In 1972 the high was a cold 36. In 1971 the high was a cold 31 with a low of 20, a cold day. In 1969 the high was 66 with a low of 43, a warm day. In 1966 the high was 60 with a low of 27, a 33 degree spread. In 1965 the high was 28 with a low of 8, the coldest March 23 day ever at O'Hare. In 1963 the high was a warm 72 with a low of 30, a 42 degree spread. In 1961 the high was 43 with a low of 36, a seven degree spread. In 1960 the high was 30 with a low of 15, cold day. In 1959 the high was a warm 65 with a low of 32, a 33 degree spread.

More recently, we had small spreads of six degrees in 1985 (44/38) and six degrees in 1993 (42/36). There were large spreads of 37 degrees in 1981 (60/23) and 31 degrees in 1999 (53/22).

On the cold side, in 1983 the high was 32 with a low of 13. Another cold low sas 17 in 1992. The record low of 9 and record coldest high of 21 were set on the same day back in 1940. 23 of the last 31 lows were: 20s (12) and 30s (11). Two lows were in the colder 10s (a.k.a. teens). Six lows were in the warmer: 40s (5) and 50s (1).

Today is a major day in Chicago's snow history. At O'Hare in 1965, this was the fourth of seven days in which a total of 10.2 inches fell. Today 4.9 inches fell.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight began at 6:23 and sunrise was at 6:51. Sunset is at 19:09 and twilight ends at 19:37. There's a total of 12 hours, 18 minutes of daylight today and 13 hours, 14 minutes between twilights. Tomorrow twilight begins at 6:22 and sunrise is at 6:50. The moon reached first quarter today at 6:00. Illumination was 48% at midnight, will be 53% at noon and 59% at midnight tonight. Moonset was at 2:33 this morning. Moonrise is at 11:39. Moonset is at 3:21 tomorrow morning. Moonlight time is 14 hours, 54 minutes which is 8 minutes shorter than yesterday.

Palm Sunday is in five days. April Fool's Day is in nine days. -Bernie-