Events

Yesterday's temperature at O'Hare did tie the previous O'Hare records of 16.1°C. Midway also broke a record, topping off at he same temperature. And the official low temperature also tied the warmest for the date, 6.1°C, set in 1886. That said, while Midway was (1930s to 1958) and O'Hare now is (since 1958) the official weather station for Chicago, neither matched the 17.1°C record set in 1876—at a weather station that doesn't even exist any more. Whatever. Yesterday's weather was just fine anyway. We...

It turns out, I only got half the story about today's weather. The 13.3°C figure is only the high maximum record for O'Hare, whose records only go back to November 1958. But the official record for Chicago goes back to 1871. The offical record high maximum was 17.1°C, set in 1876. O'Hare didn't break that record today, but Midway—where our official weather station was from the 1930s until 1958—might have tied it. We might, however, get the high minimum temperature tonight. That record, 6.1°C, has lasted...

I should have mentioned, 15.6°C is our normal daily maximum for April 17th.

I didn't have a chance to watch it, so I'm reading the transcript. Skip the content for now, isn't it wonderful and refreshing to have a President who answers hard questions thoughtfully and coherently?

Quick note, via the Chicago Tribune Daywatch, the Wall Street Journal today has a mildly-interesting article on why you can usually donate frequent-flier miles but not actual tickets. Hint: the miles don't have your name on them: As much as $2 billion worth of nonrefundable airline tickets expire every year without being used, but those who want to give them to charities rather than throw them away are grounded with only good intentions. Most airlines make their tickets "nontransferable" to protect...

Forecasters predicted that Chicago would break its old record high (technically "high maximum") temperature of 13.3°C today. Well, we just hit that temperature, so let's see how high it goes. For what it's worth, I walked from class to my client today. In many parts of the world that's not extraordinary. In February in Chicago, though... Update, 11:10 CT: 11 am temperature officially 14.4°C, new record. How high will it fly? (Sorry...) Update, 12:05 CT: now 15°C, another new record. Update, 13:00 CT...

The President will visit Chicago Friday for the first time since taking office. As I've speculated before, he brings with him a temporary flight restriction (TFR) affecting the second-busiest airspace in the world: ALL AIRCRAFT OPERATIONS WITHIN THE 10 NMR AREA LISTED ABOVE, KNOWN AS THE INNER CORE, ARE PROHIBITED EXCEPT FOR: APPROVED LAW ENFORCEMENT, MILITARY AIRCRAFT DIRECTLY SUPPORTING THE UNITED STATES SECRET SERVICE (USSS) AND THE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, APPROVED AIR AMBULANCE...

The numbers yesterday turned out to be correct, but there was one aspect of the thaw I forgot to mention. We've had snow on the ground in Chicago since just before New Year's Eve. Just 36 hours ago, O'Hare had 27 cm of the stuff, and all of it melted by dinner time yesterday. Welcome to Chicago's fifth season: Mud.

The official score won't be in until past midnight, but it looks like the temperature at O'Hare today topped 13°C—about 33°C warmer than Thursday morning's -20°C. It's quite a relief. And almost all the snow is gone. In celebration, Parker and I will now take our second long walk of the day.

Now that Illinois has started the long process of removing our ex-governor's name from tollway signs, this essay from the New York Times' Freakonomics blog extolling the virtues of congestion tolling is worth a read: [I]t can be hard to convey this because the theory behind tolling is somewhat complex and counterintuitive. This is too bad, because variable tolling is an excellent public policy. Here's why: the basic economic theory is that when you give out something valuable — in this case, road space...