March 7: ORD

Today is March 7th. It's the 66th day of the year. 299 days remain. It's week 10 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 42 and the normal low is 26. I've calculated the 31-year averages at 40 and 25.

On the warm side, in 2000 the high was the record high of 78 with the record warmest low of 53. In 1987 the high was 74 with a low of 45. In 1983 the high was 60 with a low of 44. In 1992 the high was 51 with a low of 44, a seven degree spread. Other warm highs were 57 in both 1988 and 2005. 23 of the last 31 highs were: 20s (6), 30s (9) and 40s (8) . On the warmer side, six highs were: 50s (3), 60s (1) and 70s (2). On the colder side, two highs were 10s (a.k.a. teens).

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 30 with a low of 25, a five degree spread. In 1975 the high was 38 with a low of 31, a seven degree spread. In 1974 the high was 52 with a warm low of 40, a warm day. In 1973 the high was 62 with a low of 44, a warm day. In 1971 the high was a cold 30 degrees. In 1968 the high was a warm 54 with a low of 19, a 35 degree spread. In 1967 the high was a cold 30 with a low of 15, a cold day. In 1965 the high was 34 with a low of 30, a four degree spread. In 1960 the high was 24 with a low of 3, a cold day.

More recently, we had small spreads of four degrees in 1979 (37/33), five degrees in 2002 (38/33), six degrees last year (45/39) and seven degrees three years ago (28/21). Large spreads were 30 degrees in 1997 (49/19) and 30 degrees in 2005 (57/27).

On the cold side, in 1996 the high was 17 with a low of 5. A decade earlier, in 1986, the high was 18 with a low of 7. Four years before that, in 1982, the high was 20 with a low of 6. Two years later, in 1984, the high was 25 with a low of 11. Two years ago the high was 26 with a low of 14. In 1999 the high was 26 with a low of 15. A decade before that, in 1989, the high was 28 with a low of 17. Another cold high was 28 three years ago. The record low of -2 and record coldest high of 14 were set on the same day in 1943. 12 of the last 31 lows were 30s. Nine lows were in the colder: 10s (a.k.a. teens) (6) and single digits (3). Ten lows were in the warmer: 30s (6), 40s (3) and 50s (1).

Today is a major day in Chicago's snow history. In 1999, 2.8 inches fell. This was the third of six days in which a total of 18.2 inches fell. Back in 1931 at the University of Chicago, where official stats for Chicago used to be kept, 10.9 inches fell.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight began at 5:51 and sunrise was at 6:19. Sunset is at 17:50 and twilight ends at 18:18. There's a total of 11 hours, 31 minutes of daylight today and 12 hours, 27 minutes between twilights. Tomorrow twilight begins at 5:49 and sunrise is at 6:17. The moon reached last quarter today at 9:42. Illumination was 54% at midnight, will be 49% at noon and 44% at midnight tonight. Moonrise was at 1:19 this morning. Moonset is at 10:12. Moonrise is at 2:12 tomorrow morning. Moonight time is 8 hours, 53 minutes which is 12 minutes shorter than yesterday.

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