March 9: ORD

Today is March 9th. It's the 68th day of the year. 297 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 43 and the normal low is 26. I've calculated the 31-year averages at 42 and 23.

On the warm side, in 1986 the high was 62 with a low of 38. In 2006 the high was 58 with a low of 38. Other warm highs were 63 in both 1992 and 2000, 62 in 2002 and 56 three years ago. Another warm low was 39 in 1990. 13 of the last 31 highs were 30s . On the warmer side, 14 highs were: 40s (6), 50s (4) and 60s (4). On the colder side, four highs were: 20s (3) and 10s (a.k.a. teens) (1).

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 37 with a low of 9, a cold day. In 1977 the high was 68 with a low of 50, a warm day. In 1975 the high was 32 with a low of 15, a cold day. In 1974 the high was 68 with a low of 39, a warm day and year of the record high. In 1973 the high was 40 with a low of 37, a three degree spread. In 1968 the high was 51 with a warm low of 42, a warm day. In 1964 the high was 36 with a low of 32, a four degree spread. In 1962 the high was 36 with a low of 33, a three degree spread. In 1960 the high was a cold 25 with a low of 22, a three degree spread. In 1959 the high was 32 with a low of 28, a four degree spread.

More recently, we had a small spread of four degrees in 1999 (31/27). There were three days of large spreads: 35 degrees in 2000 (63/28), 40 degrees in 1992 (63/23) and 41 degrees in 2002 (62/21).

On the cold side, in 2003 the high was the record coldest high of 13 with a low of 6, a seven degree spread. In 1984 the high was 25 with the record low of 5. A couple years earlier, in 1982, the high was 27 with a low of 7. In 1996 the high was 26 with a low of 9. Another cold low was 13 in 1995. Other cold highs were 30 in 2005 and 31 in 1999. 19 of the last 31 lows were 20s. On the colder side, seven lows were: single digits (4) and 10s (a.k.a. teens) (3). Five lows were in the warmer 30s.

Today is a major day in Chicago's snow history. In 1999, 5.0 inches fell. This was the fifth of six days in which a total of 18.2 inches fell. In 1998, 10.9 inches fell at Midway and 7.0 inches fell at O'Hare.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight began at 5:48 and sunrise was at 6:15. Sunset is at 17:53 and twilight ends at 18:21. There's a total of 11 hours, 38 minutes of daylight today and 12 hours, 33 minutes between twilights. Tomorrow twilight begins at 5:46 and sunrise is at 6:14. The moon reached last quarter two days ago at 9:42 and is now waning crescent. Illumination was 35% at midnight, will be 30% at noon and 26% at midnight tonight. Moonrise was at 2:57 this morning. Moonset is at 12:05. Moonrise is at 3:34 tomorrow morning. Moonight time is 9 hours, 8 minutes which is 14 minutes longer than yesterday.

A sister of mine, Christina, celebrates a birthday tomorrow. St. Patrick's Day is in eight days. -Bernie-