February 28: ORD

Today is February 28th. It's the 59th day of the year. 306 days remain. It's week 9 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 39 and the normal low is 23. I've calculated the 32-year averages at 38 and 22.

On the warm side, in 2000 the high was 55 with a low of 30. In 1983 the high was 56 with a low of 28. Another warm high 55 in 2004. Another warm low was 37 in 1987. The record high of 61 and record warmest low of 46 were both set on the same warm day way back in 1895. 28 of the last 32 highs (88%) were in the: 20s (7), 30s (10) and 40s (11). Our most recent 40s high was 40 in 2003, eight years ago. On the warmer side, four highs were in the 50s.

In looking back through the years to the first February at O'Hare in 1959, the following instances were notable: In 1976 the high was a warm 55 with a low of 34, a warm day. In 1974 the high was a warm 54 degrees. In 1967 the high was 28 with a cold low of 11, a cold day. In 1966 the high was 38 with a low of 34, a four degree spread. In 1965 the high was a warm 57 with a low of 21, a 36 degree spread. In 1963 the high was 30 with a cold low of 4 degrees, a cold day. In 1962 the high was 23 with a low of 0, a cold day. In 1960 the high was a cold 26 degrees. In 1959 the high was 39 with a low of 32, a seven degree spread.

More recently, we had small spreads of five degrees in 1984 (28/23), six degrees in 1987 (43/37), six degrees in 1999 (40/34), six degrees last year (38/32), seven degrees in 2007 (35/28) and seven degrees two years ago (27/20). The lone large spread was 30 degrees in 2004 (55/25).

On the cold side, in 1986 the high was 25 with a low of 8. Three years ago, in 2008, the high was 26 with a low of 8. In 2001 the high was 28 with a low of 11. Another cold low was 9 in 1993. Other cold highs were 26 in 1996 and 27 two years ago in 2009. The record low of 0 was set way back in 1884 and the record coldest high of 14 occurred way back in 1891. 29 of the last 32 lows (91%) were in the: 10s (a.k.a. teens) (10), 20s (11) and 30s (8). Our most recent 10s (or teens) low was 13 in 2003. Three lows were in the cold single digits.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 6:02 and sunrise is at 6:31. Sunset is at 17:42 and twilight ends at 18:10. There's a total of 11 hours, 11 minutes of daylight today and 12 hours, 8 minutes between twilights. We gained two minutes of daylight from yesterday. Tomorrow twilight begins at 6:01 and sunrise is at 6:29. The moon is waning crescent. Illumination was 19% at midnight, will be 15% at noon and 12% at midnight tonight. Moonrise is at 4:07 this morning. Moonset is at 13:54 this afternoon. Moonrise is at 4:40 tomorrow morning. Moonlight time is 9 hours, 47 minutes which is 23 minutes longer than yesterday.

Mardi Gras is in eight days. Ash Wednesday is in nine days. The cool part of Spring (Cool Spring) begins in 12 days on March 12. Cool Spring runs for 32 days, through April 12. High temperatures in this period are usually in the 30s, 40s and 50s. Warmer 60s and 70s occur infrequently. -Bernie-