March 30: ORD

Today is March 30th. It's the 89th day of the year. 276 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 52 and the normal low is 32. I've calculated the 31-year averages at 53 and 36.

On the warm side, in 1998 the high was the co-record high of 79 with the record warmest low of 66. In 2005 the high was 77 with a low of 54. In 1986 the high was the co-record high of 79 with a low of 51. Four years earlier, in 1982, the high was 63 with a low of 48. In 1999 the high was 72 with a low of 38, a 34 degree spread. Two decades earlier, in 1979, the high was 66 with a low of 43. Other warm highs were 70 in 2006 and 66 in 1993. Another warm low was 46 three years ago. 14 of the last 31 highs were 40s. On the warmer side, 15 highs were: 50s (6), 60s (4) and 70s (5). 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 1978 the high was 57 with a low of 27, a 30 degree spread. In 1977 the high was 65 with a low of 42, a warm day. In 1975 the high was a cold 30 with a low of 21, a cold day. In 1972 the high was a cold 37 with a low of 23, a cold day. In 1969 the high was 27 with a low of 12, a cold day, year of the record low and record coldest high. In 1968 the high was a warm 76 with a low of 34, a 42 degree spread and warm day. In 1967 the high was the co-record high of 79 with a low of 53, another warm day. In 1965 the high was 36 with a low of 20, a cold day. In 1964 the high was 31 with a low of 2, another cold day. That low of 2 was colder than the record low. And of course, it isn't the record because O'Hare was not the official station of record for Chicago in 1964. In 1963 the high was a warm 75 with a low of 41, a 34 degree spread and warm day. In 1961 the low was a cold 20.

More recently, we had small spreads of six degrees in 1985 (38/32) and six degrees two years ago (42/36). There were large spreads of 32 degrees in 1993 (66/34) and 35 degrees in 2006 (70/35).

On the cold side, in 1987 the high was 34 with a low of 23. Another cold low was 22 in 1991. Another cold high was 38 in 1985. The record low of 12 and record coldest high of 27 were set on the same day in 1969. 17 of the last 31 lows were 30s. Seven lows were in the colder 20s. Seven lows were in the warmer: 40s (4), 50s (2) and 60s (1).

Today is a major day in Chicago's snow history. Today and tomorrow, back in 1926 at the University of Chicago, 8.7 inches fell. Rockford today had 2.5 of it's 16 inch total back in 1926.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight began at 6:11 and sunrise was at 6:39. Sunset is at 19:17 and twilight ends at 19:45. There's a total of 12 hours, 38 minutes of daylight today and 13 hours, 34 minutes between twilights. Tomorrow twilight begins at 6:09 and sunrise is at 6:38. The moon is waning gibbous, having reached full yesterday at 21:25. Illumination was 100% at midnight, 99% at noon and 98% at midnight tonight. Moonset was at 6:30 this morning. Moonrise is at 20:31. Moonset is at 7:00 tomorrow morning. Moonlight time is 9 hours, 59 minutes which is 48 minutes shorter than yesterday.

April Fool's Day is in two days. Good Friday is in three days. Easter is in five days. -Bernie-