October 5: ORD

Today is October 5th. It's the 279th day of the year. 87 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 67 and the normal low is 46. The 29-year averages are 65 and 44.

On the warm side, in 2005 the high was 84 with the record warmest low of 69 (old was 68 in 1922). Last year the high was 84 with a low of 62. In 1982 the high was 86 with a low of 54 (a 32 degree spread). In 1997 the high was the record high of 88 with a low of 52 (a 36 degree spread). In 1990 the high was 85 with a low of 51 (a 34 degree spread). 22 of the 29 highs have been in the 50s (8) and 60s (14).

Another large spread was 30 degrees in 1993 (64/34). The small spread was 4 degrees in 1995 (60/56).

On the cool side, in 1980 the high was 54 with the record low of 28. In 1988 the high was 54 with a low of 32. In 2004 the high was 60 with a low of 31. In 2001, the high was 51 with a low of 41. In 2003 the high was 57 with a low of 37. Other cool lows were 34 in 1993 and 36 in 1999. 20 of the 29 lows have been in the 30s (9) and 40s (11).

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 6:27 and sunrise is at 6:55. Sunset is at 18:27 and twilight ends at 18:55. Twilight begins tomorrow at 6:28 and sunrise is at 6:56. There's a total of 11 hours, 32 minutes of daylight today and 12 hours, 28 minutes between twilights. The moon is waxing crescent. Illumination was 31% at midnight, will be 35% at noon and 40% at midnight tonight. Moonrise is at 13:26 this afternoon and moonset is at 21:59 tonight. Moonlight time is 8 hours, 33 minutes today.

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