October 10: ORD

Today is October 10th. It's the 284th day of the year. 82 days remain. It's week 41 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. Observations have been official at O'Hare since Thursday, January 17, 1980.

According to the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), the normal high is 65 and the normal low is 44. The 29-year averages are 62 and 42.

On the warm side, in 1999 the high was 79 with a low of 53. In 2003 the high was 77 with a low of 50. In 2002 the high was 73 with a low of 51. Another warm high was 71 in 1995. Other warm lows were 56 in 1984 and 55 in 2001. There are no 80s highs from 1979-2007. What year produced one? Well, you have to go back to 1973 when the high was 81 and the low was 65, nearly the same as the previous day in 1973 (81/63). That low of 65 was also the missing 60s low. In 1963 the high was 82 with a low of 50. In 1962 it was 87 and 43. Stop and think. Almost 90 degrees in 1962. Wow! In 1961 it was 80 & 60 and in 1960 it fell a degree short at 79 degrees. The official record high is 86, set in 1962 (not 87 because the official station of record for Chicago in 1962 was Midway Airport). The record warmest low of 68 was set way back in 1879. 22 of the 29 highs have been in the 50s (8) and 60s (14). Just four highs have been in the 70s and three in the 40s.

No large spreads so far for October 10th. The small spreads were 8 degrees in both 1984 (64/56) and 1985 (47/39). Last year the spread was 7 degrees (54/47). Two years ago the spread was 6 degrees (58/52).

On the cool side, in 1996 the high was 50 with a low of 31. In 1990 the high was 48 with a low of 34. In 1993 the high was 53 with a low of 30. In 1987 the high was 48 with a low of 37. In 1985 the high was 47 with a low of 39. In 1979 the high was 56 with a low of 34. The record low of 27 was set in 1964 and the record coolest high of 39 was set in 1906. 23 of the 29 lows were in the 30s (11) and 40s (12).

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 6:33 and sunrise is at 7:01. Sunset is at 18:19 and twilight ends at 18:47. Twilight begins tomorrow at 6:34 and sunrise is at 7:02. There's a total of 11 hours, 18 minutes of daylight today and 12 hours, 14 minutes between twilights. The moon is waxing gibbous. Illumination was 77% at midnight, will be 81% at noon and 85% at midnight tonight. Moonset was at 2:12 this morning. Moonrise is at 16:15 this afternoon and moonset is at 3:19 tomorrow morning. Moonlight time is 9 hours, 57 minutes today.

The following events are all three days away on October 13th: Columbus Day, my parents' 46th wedding anniversary and a brother-in-law, Buddy, will be turning 33. -Bernie-