October 3: ORD

Today is October 3rd. It's the 277th day of the year. 89 days remain. It's week 40 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 68 and the normal low is 47. The 29-year averages are 68 and 47.

On the warm side, in 2005 the high was 85 with the record warmest low of 70 (old was 69 in 1922). In 1997 the high was 87 with a low of 60. In 1983 the high was 80 with a low of 61. Other warm highs were 82 in both 1992 and two years ago. It was 81 in 1990. Another warm low was 61 in 1986. The record high of 91 was set in 1954. 27 of the 29 highs have been in the 50s (5), 60s (6), 70s (10) and 80s (6).

The large spreads were 38 degrees in 1993 (71/33), 34 degrees in 2004 (70/36), 32 degrees in 1981 (61/29), 32 degrees in 1984 (75/43), 31 degrees in 1985 (68/37), 31 degrees in 1992 (82/51), 30 degrees in 1982 (75/45) and 30 degrees in 1990 (81/51). The small spreads were 5 degrees in 2002 (63/58), 6 degrees in 1999 (47/41) and 7 degrees in 1998 (58/51).

On the cool side, in 1987 the high was 54 with a low of 31. In 1980 the high was 49 with a low of 37. In 1989 the high was 53 with a low of 35. In 1999, the high was the record coolest high of 47 with a low of 41. In 1981 the high was 61 with the record low of 29. In 1996 the high was 55 with a low of 38. Other cool highs were 53 in 2003 and 58 in 1998. Other cool lows were 33 in 1993, 36 in 2004 and 37 in 1985. 24 of the 29 lows have been in the 30s (7), 40s (7) and 50s (10).

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 6:25 and sunrise is at 6:53. Sunset is at 18:31 and twilight ends at 18:58. Twilight begins tomorrow at 6:26 and sunrise is at 6:54. There's a total of 11 hours, 38 minutes of daylight today and 12 hours, 33 minutes between twilights. The moon is waxing crescent. Illumination was 15% at midnight, will be 18% at noon and 22% at midnight tonight. Moonrise is at 11:33 this morning and moonset is at 20:24 tonight. Moonrise is at 12:33 tomorrow afternoon. Moonlight time is 8 hours, 51 minutes today.

The following events are all 10 days away on October 13th: Columbus Day, my parents' 46th wedding anniversary and a brother-in-law, Buddy, will be turning 33. -Bernie-