March 29: ORD

Today is March 29th. It's the 88th day of the year. 277 days remain. It's week 13 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 51 and the normal low is 32. I've calculated the 31-year averages at 53 and 35.

On the warm side, in 1986 the high was the record high of 88 with a low of 54, a 34 degree spread. In 1998 the high was 79 with a low of 44, a 35 degree spread. In 1981 the high was 63 with a low of 55. Other warm highs were 71 in 2005 and 64 in 1993. Another warm low was 46 three years ago. The record warmest low of 63 was set way back in 1910. 13 of the last 31 highs were 40s. On the warmer side, 16 highs were: 50s (6), 60s (7), 70s (2) and 80s (1). On the colder side, two 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 1977 the high was 68 with a low of 51, a warm day. In 1976 the high was 60 with a warm low of 50, a warm day. In 1975 the high was a cold 35 with a low of 26, a cold day. In 1973 the high was 46 with a warm low of 42, a four degree spread. In 1972 the high was a cold 38 with a low of 31, a seven degree spread. In 1970 the high was 32 with a low of 19, a cold day. In 1969 the high was 28 with a low of 16, another cold day. In 1968 the high was a warm 66. In 1965 the high was a cold 37 with a low of 21, a cold day. In 1964 the high was 28 with a low of 14, another cold day. What made 1964 even more notable was that 7.4 inches of snow fell as well. In 1963 the high was was a warm 80 with a low of 39, a warm day with a spread of 41 degrees. In 1962 the high was a warm 64. In 1960 the high was 71 with a low of 40, a 31 degree spread and warm day.

More recently, we had small spreads of six degrees in 1990 (44/38), six degrees in 1995 (43/37) and seven degrees in 1992 (43/36). There were large spreads of 34 degrees in 1982 (60/26) and 38 degrees in 2005 (71/33).

On the cold side, in 1991 the high was 37 with a low of 24. Another cold high was 38 in 2003. The record low of 9 and record coldest high of 24 were set on the same day way back in 1887. 16 of the last 31 lows were 30s. Nine lows were in the colder 20s. Six lows were in the warmer: 40s (4) and 50s (2). Once again, we've shed the lows in the 10s (a.k.a. teens). That is very nice.

Today is a major day in Chicago's snow history. In 1972 at O'Hare, 5.9 inches fell. At Midway, 6.5 inches fell. But Rockford takes the cake as 10.4 inches fell there.

Last year in Crystal Lake we had somewhere between 5 and 6 and a half inches. The big event at my house was that our evergreen tree was uprooted by the storm and was draped across our driveway. Other amounts were: 6.8 inches at Bull Valley (close to Crystal Lake), 7.2 inches in Cary which is also close to Crystal Lake, 5.4 inches in St. Charles, 5 inches in DeKalb, 4.8 inches in Schaumburg, 3.8 inches in Elgin, 3 inches in Barrington, 2 inches in Harvard, 1.5 inches in Streamwood, 0.4 inches at Midway, 0.1 inches in Rockford and just a trace at O'Hare. Kind of unique that all three major regional airports (O'Hare, Midway and Rockford) hardly had any snow. So it seems that conditions were just right that a very specific area got hit.

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 19:16 and twilight ends at 19:44. There's a total of 12 hours, 35 minutes of daylight today and 13 hours, 31 minutes between twilights. Tomorrow twilight begins at 6:11 and sunrise is at 6:39. The moon reaches the full Worm moon today at 21:25. Illumination was 99% at midnight, will be 100% at noon and 100% at midnight tonight. Moonset was at 6:01 this morning. Moonrise is at 19:14. Moonset is at 6:30 tomorrow morning. Moonlight time is 10 hours, 47 minutes which is 49 minutes shorter than yesterday.

April Fool's Day is in three days. Good Friday is in four days. Easter is in six days. -Bernie-