October 4: ORD

Today is October 4th. It's the 278th day of the year. 88 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 67 and the normal low is 47. The 29-year averages are 65 and 45.

On the warm side, in 2005 the high was 87 with the record warmest low of 71 (old was 69 in 1922). This low of 71 tied October 1, 1971 as the warmest October low ever. Last year the high was 82 with a low of 51 (a 31 degree spread). In 1997 the high was 78 with a low of 54. Two years ago the high was 76 with a low of 55. Another warm high was 77 in 1982. The record high of 90 was set in 1951. 14 of the 29 highs have been in the 60s. Eight highs were in the 50s.

Other large spreads were 36 degrees in 1982 (77/41), 33 degrees in 1987 (69/36), 32 degrees in 1984 (70/38), and 31 degrees in 1993 (65/34). The small spreads were 8 degrees in 1998 (64/56) and 9 degrees in 2000 (61/52).

On the cool side, in 1980 the high was 51 with a low of 32. In 1988 the high was 52 with a low of 36. In 1999 the high was 54 with a low of 39. In 1996, the high was 58 with a low of 35. In 1989 the high was 61 with the record low of 32. In 2004 the high was 58 with a low of 36. Other cool lows were 34 in 1993 and 36 in 1987. 28 of the 29 lows have been in the 30s (10), 40s (8) and 50s (10).

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 6:26 and sunrise is at 6:54. Sunset is at 18:29 and twilight ends at 18:57. Twilight begins tomorrow at 6:27 and sunrise is at 6:55. There's a total of 11 hours, 35 minutes of daylight today and 12 hours, 31 minutes between twilights. The moon is waxing crescent. Illumination was 22% at midnight, will be 26% at noon and 31% at midnight tonight. Moonrise is at 12:33 this afternoon and moonset is at 21:08 tonight. Moonlight time is 8 hours, 35 minutes today.

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