October 15: ORD

Today is October 15th. It's the 289th day of the year. 77 days remain. It's week 42 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 63 and the normal low is 42. The 29-year averages are 64 and 44.

On the warm side, in 1989 the high was 83 with a low of 60. In 1988 the high was 76 with a low of 55. In 1996 the high was 78 with a low of 50. In 1999 the high was 79 with a low of 48 (a 31 degree spread). In 1987 the high was 75 with a low of 50. Last year the high was 74 with a low of 51. Another warm high was 73 in 1983. Other warm lows were 54 in 1984 and 53 in 1993. Other pre-1979 warm days at O'Hare were in 1968 (84/67), 1963 (84/35) and 1962 (87/64). The record high of 88 was set back in 1947 and the record warmest low of 69 was set way back in 1897. 27 of the 29 highs have been in the 50s (8), 60s (11) and 70s (8). The two exceptions were 49 on our coolest day (see "cool side" below) and 83 on our warmest day (1989).

The other large spread was 38 degrees in 1983 (73/35). The small spreads were 2 degrees in 1992 (51/49), 8 degrees in 1980 (53/45) and 9 degrees in 2004 (53/44).

On the cool side, in 1991 the high was 49 with a low of 32. Two years ago the high was 52 with a low of 31. In 1986 the high was 53 with a low of 32. In 1997 the high was 55 with a low of 31. Other cool highs were 51 in 1992 and 52 in 2001. The record low of 28 was set way back in 1876 and the record coolest high of 44 was set back in 1943. 28 of the 29 lows have been 30s (11), 40s (10) and 50s (7). The lone exception was the low of 60 on our warmest day (see above, "warm side").

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 6:38 and sunrise is at 7:07. Sunset is at 18:11 and twilight ends at 18:39. Twilight begins tomorrow at 6:39 and sunrise is at 7:08. There's a total of 11 hours, 4 minutes of daylight today and 12 hours, 1 minute between twilights. The moon is waning gibbous and was full yesterday at 15:02 (the full Hunter's moon). Illumination was 100% at midnight, will be 99% at noon and 97% at midnight tonight. Moonset is at 8:12 this morning. Moonrise is at 18:19 tonight. Moonset is at 9:31 tomorrow. Moonlight time is 13 hours, 53 minutes today.

United Nations Day is in nine days. My oldest sister, Mary Ann, will celebrate a birthday in 11 days. Halloween is in 16 days. -Bernie-