November 12: ORD

Today is November 12th. It's the 317th day of the year. 49 days remain. It's week 46 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 49 and the normal low is 33. The 30-year averages are 48 and 31.

On the warm side, last year the high was 66 with a low of 44. Three years ago the high was 65 with a low of 43. Another warm high was 61 in 2003. Another warm low was 44 in 1978. 13 of the 30 highs were 40s. Seven highs were 50s, five highs were 30s, four highs were 60s and one high was in the 20s. The record high of 70 was set in 1949 and also occurred in 1938 and 1902. The record warmest low of 62 was set in 1905.

In looking back through the years to the first November at O'Hare in 1958, the following instances were notable. In 1972 the high was 46 with a low of 41 (a five degree spread). In 1971 the high was 61 with a low of 42. In 1964 the high was 67 with a low of 45.

More recently, in 1982 the large spread was 35 degrees (60/25). The small spreads were three degrees in 1978 (47/44), four degrees in 1991 (37/33), seven degrees in 2000 (48/41) and seven degrees in 2002 (43/36).

On the cold side, in 1986 the high was 30 with the record low of 8. In 1995 the high was the record coldest high of 28 with a low of 14. A year later, in 1996, the high was 30 with a low of 17. A year after that, in 1997, the high was 34 with a low of 19. In 1983 the high was 39 with a low of 19. Another cold low was 22 in 1984. Another cold high was 37 in 1991. 14 of the 30 lows were 30s. Six lows were 40s, five lows were 20s, four lows were 10s and one low was in the 0s.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 6:11 and sunrise is at 6:41. Sunset is at 16:34 and twilight ends at 17:04. Chicago's sunrise is four minutes earlier. Chicago's sunset and end of twilight times are each two minutes earlier. Twilight begins tomorrow at 6:12 and sunrise is at 6:42. There's a total of 9 hours, 53 minutes of daylight today and 10 hours, 53 minutes between twilights. The moon is waxing gibbous. The full Beaver moon is tomorrow at 0:17. Illumination was 98% at midnight, will be 99% at noon and 100% at midnight tonight. Moonset is at 6:02. Moonrise is at 15:49 this afternoon and moonset is at 7:24 tomorrow morning. Moonlight time is 14 hours, 13 minutes today.

My sister-in-law celebrates a birthday in two days. Thanksgiving is in 15 days. -Bernie-