October 6: ORD

Today is October 6th. It's the 280th day of the year. 86 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 67 and 45.

On the warm side, last year the high was 87 with the near record warmest low of 69 (record is 70 in 1879). In 1982 the high was 87 with a low of 61. In 1990 the high was 84 with a low of 60. In 1997 the high was 84 with a low of 56. The record high of 94 was set in 1963. 24 of the 29 highs have been in the 50s (9), 60s (7) and 70s (8).

The large spreads were 34 degrees in 1993 (78/44), 34 degrees in 1992 (70/36) and 33 degrees in 1980 (70/37). The small spread was 8 degrees in 1995 (61/53).

On the cool side, in 2001 the high was 50 with a low of 30. In 2000 the high was 48 with a low of 34. In 1988 the high was 56 with a low of 30. In 1991 the high was 53 with a low of 35. In 1985 the high was 58 with a low of 32. In 1987 the high was 54 with a low of 37. In 1986 the high was 56 with a low of 37. Another cool high was 56 in 1979. Other cool lows were 35 in 2003 and 36 in 1992. The cool records were both set in 1952: the record low of 28 and the record coolest high of 46. The tally of lows is 11 in the 30s, nine in the 40s, six in the 50s and three in the 60s.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 6:28 and sunrise is at 6:56. Sunset is at 18:25 and twilight ends at 18:53. Twilight begins tomorrow at 6:29 and sunrise is at 6:57. There's a total of 11 hours, 29 minutes of daylight today and 12 hours, 25 minutes between twilights. The moon is waxing crescent and will reach first quarter tomorrow morning at 4:04. Illumination was 40% at midnight, will be 44% at noon and 49% at midnight tonight. Moonrise is at 14:12 this afternoon and moonset is at 22:57 tonight. Moonlight time is 8 hours, 45 minutes today.

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