Chicago in March
In March, Chicago has 62.2 mm (2.45 in) of rain, a daily high of 8.3 °C (46.9 °F) and a daily low of -0.6 °C (30.9 °F), as 1991-2020 means; figures in brackets are converted.
Last updated : what the month is like; shorter source notes.
Best time to visit Chicago: March misses our rule: days are 7.7 °C under our 16 °C and nights are 8.6 °C under our 8 °C. Expect days that grow by 1 h 24 min.
What March is like in Chicago
- Bands and dance troupes march south on Western Avenue for the South Side Irish Parade in mid-March. It comes the day after the downtown parade. Source: Choose Chicago (official tourism site), checked .
- Powder flies through the air at the free Holi party at Navy Pier in March, beside the lake. Source: Choose Chicago (official tourism site), checked .
- Spring flower shows fill the Lincoln Park and Garfield Park conservatories through March. The plants turn from young green to bright color as the weeks go by. Source: Chicago Park District, checked .
Key figures
Weather in March, 1991-2020 means
- Daily high
- 8.3 °C (46.9 °F)
- Daily low
- -0.6 °C (30.9 °F)
- Rain
- 62.2 mm (2.45 in) in the month
- Sunshine
- no data
U.S. Climate Normals 1991-2020, NOAA. Checked .
Measured at Chicago O'Hare International Airport, 28 km north-west of the city centre point.
How we define and convert these figures
Notes. Daily high and low: changed: source gives °F; converted to °C, rounded to 0.1. Rain: changed: source gives inches; converted to mm (x 25.4), rounded to 0.1. Sunshine: the NOAA U.S. monthly normals have no sunshine measure.
Daylight on 15 March 2026
- Sunrise
- 07:02 local time
- Sunset
- 18:57 local time
- Day length
- 11 h 55 min
Day length 1-31 March: 11 h 16 min to 12 h 40 min, +1 h 24 min.
Source: NOAA Solar Calculator equations, checked .
Clocks go forward one hour on Sunday 8 March 2026 at 02:00 (UTC-6 to UTC-5); in 2027 on 14 March.
Source: tz database 2026d, checked .
Month by month
Each month: daily high in °C, then rain in mm, 1991-2020 means.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals 1991-2020, as above, checked .
This month against the year
| Measure | March | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Daily high | 8.3 °C | 4th coldest |
| Daily low | -0.6 °C | 4th coldest |
| Rain | 62.2 mm | 5th driest |
| Sunshine | no data | no data |
| Day length | 11 h 55 min | 6th shortest |
Equal values share a rank. How we rank months
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals 1991-2020, as above, checked .
Day length: NOAA solar equations, checked .
Public holidays this month
March 2026: none.
March 2027: none.
Typed from the official list and re-checked, .
Source: Official public holiday list (cms.illinois.gov), checked .
Same month in 20 cities
Chicago is the coolest of our 20 cities in March by mean daily high. How we rank cities
Closest high and low in March: Prague (1.3 °C apart), Berlin (1.4), Munich (2.1).
| City | Gap from Chicago, °C | High, °C | Low, °C | Rain, mm | Sunshine, hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago (this page) | — | 8.3 | -0.6 | 62.2 | no data |
| Prague (closest) | 1.3 | 9.3 | 0.9 | 31.0 | 126.9 |
| Berlin (closest) | 1.4 | 9.0 | 1.4 | 40.5 | 123.7 |
| Munich (closest) | 2.1 | 10.1 | 1.7 | 61.2 | 145.3 |
| New York | 2.2 | 9.9 | 2.1 | 109.0 | no data |
| Amsterdam | 2.6 | 10.1 | 2.8 | 51.8 | 146.0 |
| Vienna | 2.8 | 10.7 | 2.6 | 51.6 | 155.1 |
| London | 4.7 | 11.9 | 5.1 | 37.0 | no data |
| Paris | 5.4 | 12.8 | 5.6 | 45.2 | 134.0 |
| Tokyo | 5.8 | 14.2 | 5.0 | 116.0 | 175.3 |
| Hiroshima | 6.0 | 14.5 | 5.1 | 118.3 | 176.7 |
| Osaka | 6.3 | 14.2 | 6.0 | 103.1 | 172.2 |
| Rome | 7.0 | 15.8 | 5.9 | no data | no data |
| Madrid | 7.5 | 16.4 | 6.3 | 35.3 | no data |
| Barcelona | 9.0 | 16.8 | 8.8 | 41.7 | 194.9 |
| Seville | 11.7 | 21.5 | 9.5 | 46.9 | 246.3 |
| Los Angeles | 12.4 | 21.1 | 11.3 | 56.6 | no data |
| Hong Kong | 15.9 | 21.9 | 17.6 | 75.3 | 100.0 |
| Buenos Aires | 18.5 | 27.0 | 17.7 | 120.0 | 215.5 |
| Singapore | 24.7 | 32.2 | 24.9 | 151.7 | no data |
Sources (1991-2020): WMO climate normals and NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, checked , ; Hong Kong: our 1991-2020 mean of the Hong Kong Observatory daily climate series on DATA.GOV.HK; Singapore: our 1991-2020 mean of the National Environment Agency monthly climate series on data.gov.sg; both checked . Each city's page names its station. All sources in full on Methodology.
Hong Kong figures: The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the Hong Kong Observatory own the intellectual property rights in the data; attribution to them and DATA.GOV.HK. Licence: Terms and Conditions of Use of DATA.GOV.HK, version 1.2.
Singapore figures: Contains information from the National Environment Agency on data.gov.sg, made available under the terms of the Singapore Open Data Licence version 1.0 (https://data.gov.sg/open-data-licence). The Agency does not endorse our means.
Sources
- Attribution: Palecki, Michael; Durre, Imke; Applequist, Scott; Arguez, Anthony; Lawrimore, Jay (2021). U.S. Climate Normals 2020: U.S. Monthly Climate Normals (1991-2020). Station files named in each record. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. Dataset. https://doi.org/10.25921/wck8-er13. Accessed on the check date shown. Licence: No licence stated; citation requested. Checked .
- NOAA Solar Calculator equations, computed locally, NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory (method); City by Month (computation). Attribution: Computed with the NOAA Solar Calculator method (no NOAA endorsement implied). Licence: Method, not data. Checked .
- IANA Time Zone Database, read through the PyPI tzdata package. Attribution: IANA Time Zone Database. Licence: Public-domain data. Checked .
Official sources
Cite this page: City by Month. "Chicago in March: weather, daylight, holidays". https://citybymonth.com/cities/united-states/chicago/march/. Last updated 5 November 2026.