March 14: ORD

Today is March 14th. It's the 73rd day of the year. 292 days remain. It's week 11 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 45 and the normal low is 28. I've calculated the 32-year averages at 47 and 29.

On the warm side, in 1990 the high was 69 with the record warmest low of 60. Five years later, in 1995, the high was the record high of 77 with a low of 43, a 34 degree spread. In 2002 the high was 63 with a low of 37. Other warm highs were: 62 in 1989, 61 in 2007, 60 in 1996, 58 in 2000 and 57 three years ago in 2008. Another warm low was 40 last year. 29 of the last 32 highs (91%) were in the: 30s (8), 40s (8), 50s (8) and 60s (5). On the warmer side, one high was in the 70s. On the cold side, two highs were in the 20s.

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 38 with a low of 34, a four degree spread. In 1977 the high was 66 with a low of 46, a warm day. In 1973 the high was 70 with a low of 49, a warm day. In 1971 the high was 63 with a low of 50, a warm day. In 1967 the high was 37 with a low of 34, a three degree spread. In 1964 the high was a warm 59 degrees. In 1962 the high was a cold 29 with a low of 23, a six degree spread. In 1960 the high was 32 with a low of 10, a cold day.

More recently, we had other large spreads were 32 degrees in 2003 (55/23) and 30 degrees in 1989 (62/32).

On the cold side, in 1993 the high was 23 with the record low of 7. The record low of 7 also occurred way back in 1891. In 1988 the high was 28 with a low of 20. In 1979 the high was 32 with a low of 18. Other cold highs were 33 in 1997 and 1998. The record coldest high of 18 occurred way back in 1895. 27 of the last 32 lows (84%) were in the: 20s (16) and 30s (11). Two lows were in the cold: single digits (1) and 10s (a.k.a. teens) (1). On the warmer side, three lows were in the: 40s (2) and 60s (1). There haven't been any lows in the 50s in the last 32 years. A low of 50 occurred in 1971.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 6:40 and sunrise is at 7:07. Sunset is at 18:58 and twilight ends at 19:26. There's a total of 11 hours, 51 minutes of daylight today and 12 hours, 46 minutes between twilights. We gained three minutes of daylight from yesterday. Tomorrow twilight begins at 6:38 and sunrise is at 7:06. The moon is waxing gibbous and reached first quarter two days ago at 17:45. Illumination was 63% at midnight, will be 68% at noon and 73% at midnight tonight. Moonset was at 3:35 this morning. Moonrise is at 13:10 this afternoon. Moonset is at 4:17 tomorrow morning. Moonlight time is 14 hours, 25 minutes which is 18 minutes shorter than yesterday.

St. Patrick's Day is in three days. The warm part of Spring (Warm Spring) begins in 30 days on April 13. Warm Spring runs for 52 days, through June 3. High temperatures in this period are usually in the 50s, 60s and 70s. Warmer 80s and 90s occur infrequently. -Bernie-