St. Patricks Day Climate Information for Chicago

St. Patrick's Day Weather for Northern Illinois: Statistics for Chicago and Rockford

Chicago:
The following statistics comprises 136 years of data. However snowfall data started in 1885 so it comprises 124 years. Data collection began at the University of Chicago, then at Midway, and currently at O'Hare which is now the official station for Chicago..

High Temperatures in Chicago on St. Patricks Day

Frequency distribution of high temperatures for Chicago. This dataset shows that the most frequent range of high temperatures on St. Patrick’s Day is in the 30 to 49 degree range. The normal high temperature at Chicago is 47 degrees, which falls in that range. The record high temperature on St. Patrick’s Day is 74 degrees set in 1894. The record lowest high temperature on St. Patrick’s Day is 11 degrees, which occurred in 1941. Last year, the high temperature was 39.

Low Temperatures in Chicago on St Patricks Day

Frequency distribution of low temperatures for Chicago. This dataset shows that the most frequent range of low temperatures on St. Patrick’s Day is in the 30 to 39 degree range. The normal low temperature at Chicago is 29 degrees which falls just below that range. The record low temperature for Chicago on St. Patrick’s Day is -1, which was set in 1900. The record highest low on St. Patrick’s Day is 49 in 1894. The low temperature last year was 30 degrees.

Precipitation in Chicago on St. Patricks Day

Frequency distribution of precipitation for Chicago. This dataset shows that the most frequent amount of precipitation recorded on St. Patrick’s Day is 0.00”, which accounts for 44% of the days in the dataset. The next most frequent range is a Trace closely followed by the 0.02” to 0.25” range. The highest amount of precipitation on St. Patrick’s Day occurred in 1965 when 1.42” of precipitation fell. This is the only instance of over an inch of precipitation on St. Patrick’s Day. There was 0.02" of precipitation last year.

Frequency distribution of snowfall for Chicago. This dataset shows that the most frequent amount of snowfall recorded on St. Patrick’s Day is 0.0”, which accounts for 65% of the days in the dataset. The next most frequent range is a Trace, followed by 0.1” to 0.9”. The highest amount of snowfall recorded on St. Patrick’s Day occurred in 1984 when 4.1” of snow fell. Last year, a trace of snow fell.

ADDITIONAL ST. PATRICK'S DAY CLIMATE DATA ( * MEANS LAST OCCURRENCE)

MAX TEMP WARMEST	MIN TEMP WARMEST	PCPN WETTEST	SNOW MOST
74 1894	49 1894	1.42 1965	4.1 1984
73 1966, 2003	44 1927	0.82 1919	3.7 1904, 1965
68 1945	43 1945	0.59 1991	2.7 1993
67 1969	42 1874, 1946	0.51 1904
64 1874, 1968	41 1999	0.49 1998
63 1940	40 1966, 2003	0.47 1946
62 1886, 1905 1950, 2000	39 1919	0.45 1980
60 1927	38 1889, 1918	0.37 1930
59 1930, 1934 1953, 1999	37 * 1942	0.35 1973
44 1875, 1939	36 * 1997	0.32 1989

MAX TEMP COLDEST	MIN TEMP COLDEST	PCPN DRIEST	SNOW LEAST
11 1941	0 1900	0.00 * 2007	0.0 * 2007
15 1902	1 1941	T *2002	T * 2008
23 1939	3 1902	0.01 * 1970	0.1 1892, 1930 1988, 1996
24 1875, 1885 1892	6 1885	0.02 * 2008
25 1967	9 1875	0.03 1921, 1922, 1938
26 1900	11 1939	0.04 1874
27 1906	12 1906, 1993	0.05 1903, 1979, 1986
28 1876, 1916	13 1967	0.06 1960, 2005
29 1959, 1993	14 1909	0.07 2004
30 1887, 1893 1960	15 1876, 1877	0.11 1882

TJH and ACS 3/2/2009

National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office