March 29: ORD

Today is March 29th. It's the 88th day of the year. 277 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 51 and the normal low is 32. I've calculated the 32-year averages at 53 and 34.

On the warm side, in 1986 the high was the record high of 88 with a low of 54, a 34 degree spread. In 1998 the high was 79 with a low of 44, a 35 degree spread. In 1981 the high was 63 with a low of 55. Other warm highs were 71 in 2005 and 64 in 1993. Another warm low was 46 in 2007. The record warmest low of 63 was set way back in 1910. 14 of the last 32 highs (44%) were in the 40s. On the warmer side, 16 highs (50%) were in the: 50s (6), 60s (7), 70s (2) and 80s (1). On the cold side, two highs (6%) 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 1977 the high was 68 with a low of 51, a warm day. In 1976 the high was 60 with a warm low of 50, a warm day. In 1975 the high was a cold 35 with a low of 26, a cold day. In 1973 the high was 46 with a low of 42, a four degree spread. In 1972 the high was a cold 38 with a low of 31, a seven degree spread. In 1970 the high was 32 with a low of 19, a cold day. In 1969 the high was 28 with a low of 16, another cold day. In 1968 the high was a warm 66 degrees. In 1965 the high was a cold 37 with a low of 21, a cold day. In 1964 the high was 28 with a low of 14, another cold day. What made 1964 even more notable was that 7.4 inches of snow fell as well. In 1963 the high was was a warm 80 with a low of 39, a warm day and a spread of 41 degrees. In 1962 the high was a warm 64 degrees. In 1960 the high was a warm 71 with a low of 40, a 31 degree spread and warm day.

More recently, we had small spreads of six degrees in 1990 (44/38), six degrees in 1995 (43/37) and seven degrees in 1992 (43/36). There were large spreads of 34 degrees in 1982 (60/26) and 38 degrees in 2005 (71/33).

On the cold side, in 1991 the high was 37 with a low of 24. In 2003 the high was 38 with a low of 26. The record low of 9 and record coldest high of 24 were set on the same cold day way back in 1887. 26 of the last 32 lows (81%) were in the 20s (9) and 30s (17). Six lows (19%) were in the warmer: 40s (4) and 50s (2).

Today is a major day in Chicago's snow history. In 1972 at O'Hare, 5.9 inches fell. At Midway, 6.5 inches fell. But Rockford takes the cake as 10.4 inches fell there.

Two years ago (in 2009) in Crystal Lake we had somewhere between 5 and 6 and a half inches. The big event at my house was that our evergreen tree was uprooted by the storm and was draped across our driveway. Other amounts were: 6.8 inches at Bull Valley (close to Crystal Lake), 7.2 inches in Cary which is also close to Crystal Lake, 5.4 inches in St. Charles, 5 inches in DeKalb, 4.8 inches in Schaumburg, 3.8 inches in Elgin, 3 inches in Barrington, 2 inches in Harvard, 1.5 inches in Streamwood, 0.4 inches at Midway, 0.1 inches in Rockford and just a trace at O'Hare. Kind of unique that all three major regional airports (O'Hare, Midway and Rockford) hardly had any snow. So it seems that conditions were just right that a very specific area got hit.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 6:13 and sunrise is at 6:42. Sunset is at 19:15 and twilight ends at 19:44. There's a total of 12 hours, 33 minutes of daylight today and 13 hours, 31 minutes between twilights. We gained two minutes of daylight from yesterday. Tomorrow twilight begins at 6:12 and sunrise is at 6:40. The moon reached last quarter three mornings ago at 7:07 and is waning crescent. Illumination was 24% at midnight, will be 20% at noon and 16% at midnight tonight. Moonrise is at 4:12 this morning. Moonset is at 14:52 this afternoon. Moonrise is at 4:38 tomorrow morning. Moonlight time is 10 hours, 40 minutes which is 32 minutes longer than yesterday.

April Fool's Day is three days. The warm part of Spring (Warm Spring) begins in 15 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-