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 32-year averages at 42 and 23.

On the warm side, in 1986 the high was 62 with a low of 38. Two decades later, 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 in 2007. Another warm low was 39 in 1990. 13 of the last 32 highs (41%) were in the 30s . On the warmer side, 15 highs (47%) were in the: 40s (6), 50s (5) and 60s (4). On the cold side, four highs (12%) were in the: 10s (a.k.a. teens) (1) and 20s (3).

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. The former record coldest high of 17 occurred in 1932. In 1984 the high was 25 with the record low of 5. The record low of 5 originally occurred in 1932. So March 9, 1932 was a very cold day. 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 32 lows (59%) were in the 20s. On the cold side, seven lows (22%) were in the: single digits (4) and 10s (a.k.a. teens) (3). Six lows (19%) were in the warmer 30s.

Today is a major day in Chicago's snow history. In 1999, 5 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 inches fell at O'Hare. The 1998 storm occurred during the morning rush hour. O'Hare was shut down from 6:30 to 10:30 A.M. Hundreds of cars and trucks were stuck in the snow on highways in Indiana. 325,000 customers were without electricity around the Chicago area and in Northwest Indiana.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 5:48 and sunrise is at 6:16. Sunset is at 17:53 and twilight ends at 18:21. There's a total of 11 hours, 37 minutes of daylight today and 12 hours, 33 minutes between twilights. We gained four minutes of daylight from yesterday. Tomorrow twilight begins at 5:46 and sunrise is at 6:14. The moon is waxing crescent. Illumination was 17% at midnight, will be 20% at noon and 24% at midnight tonight. Moonrise is at 8:01 this morning. Moonset is at 22:57 tonight. Moonrise is at 8:36 tomorrow morning. Moonlight time is 14 hours, 56 minutes which is 32 minutes longer than yesterday.

Ash Wednesday is today. St. Patrick's Day is in eight days. The cool part of Spring (Cool Spring) begins in three 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-