October 19: ORD

Today is October 19th. It's the 293rd day of the year. 73 days remain. It's week 43 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 61 and the normal low is 41. The 29-year averages are 59 and 41.

On the warm side, in 1979 the high was 74 with the record warmest low of 65 (a nine degree spread). In 1994 the high was 74 a low of 55. In 1995 the high was 79 with a low of 49 (a 30 degree spread). In 2000 the high was 76 with a low of 47. Pre-1979 warm days at O'Hare were in 1971 (83/64) and in 1965 (77/50). The record high of 84 was set in 1953. 21 of the 29 highs have been in the 50s (10) and 60s (11). Four highs have been in the 40s and four have been in the 70s.

Another large spread was 33 degrees in 1997 (66/33). Other small spreads were three degrees in 2004 (52/49), five degrees two years ago (44/39), eight degrees last year (60/52), nine degrees in 1983 (55/46) and nine degrees in 1993 (60/51).

On the cool side, in 1992 the high was 46 with the record low of 21. In 1989 the high was 40 with a low of 33 (a seven degree spread). In 1991 the high was 47 with a low of 29. Other cool lows were 28 degrees in both 1981 and 1990. Another cool high of 44 occurred two years ago. The record coolest high of 36 was set back in 1930. 20 of the 29 lows have been 30s (8) and 40s (12). Four lows have been each in the 20s and in the 50s. The lone 50s low not mentioned was 50 in 1985. See "warm side" for the lone 60s low.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 6:43 and sunrise is at 7:11. Sunset is at 18:04 and twilight ends at 18:33. Twilight begins tomorrow at 6:44 and sunrise is at 7:12. There's a total of 10 hours, 53 minutes of daylight today and 11 hours, 50 minutes between twilights. The moon is waning gibbous. Illumination was 75% at midnight, will be 70% at noon and 64% at midnight tonight. Moonset is at 13:04 this afternoon. Moonrise is at 21:53 tonight. Moonlight time is 15 hours, 11 minutes today.

United Nations Day is in five days. My oldest sister, Mary Ann, will celebrate a birthday in a week. Halloween is in 12 days. -Bernie-