November 14: ORD

Today is November 14th. It's the 319th day of the year. 47 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 48 and the normal low is 32. The 30-year averages are 49 and 32.

On the warm side, in 2001 the high was 62 with a low of 51. 12 years earlier, in 1989, the high was 62 with a low of 46. A year later, in 1990, the high was 66 with a low of 35. Other 60s highs were 62 in 1994, 61 in 1981, 60 in 1987 and 60 in 1999. Another warm low was 43 in 1993, a day in which the spread was only three degrees as the high was 46. The tally of highs over the last 30 years is quite interesting. On the cold side, there have been seven 30s highs and nine 40s highs. On the warmer side, there were seven 50s highs and seven 60s highs. The records were set at Midway. The record high is 78 in 1971 and record warmest low of 59 was set in 1958.

In looking back through the years to the first November at O'Hare in 1958, the following instances were notable. In 1974 the high was 30 with a low of 23 (a seven degree spread). In 1973 the high was 65 with a low of 39. In 1971 the high was the unofficial record high of 77 with a low of 48. In 1964 the high was 70 with a low of 37 (a 33 degree spread). In 1962 the high was 61 with a low of 27 (a 34 degree spread). In 1960 the high was 69 with a low of 48. In 1959 the high was 26 (two degrees higher than the record coldest high) and low of 13 (a degree below the record low, but not official). In 1958 the high was 71 with a low of 57 (the unofficial record warmest low).

More recently, in 1981 the spread was 35 degrees (61/26). In 1999 the spread was 31 degrees (60/29). In 1997 the spread was a mere five degrees (38/33).

On the cold side, in 1986 the high was 34 with the near-record low of 15. The record low of 14 was set in 1916. The record coldest high of 24 was also set in 1916. In 1996 the high was 33 with a low of 17. In 1982 the high was 30 with a low of 20. In 1995 the high was 37 with a low of 18. In 1992 the high was 35 with a low of 20. Another cold high was 36 in 2000. 22 of the 30 lows were 20s (10) and 30s (12). Three lows were 10s, four lows were 40s and one low was in the 50s.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 6:13 and sunrise is at 6:43. Sunset is at 16:32 and twilight ends at 17:02. Twilight begins tomorrow at 6:14 and sunrise is at 6:44. There's a total of 9 hours, 49 minutes of daylight today and 10 hours, 49 minutes between twilights. The moon is waning gibbous. The full Beaver moon was yesterday morning at 0:17. Illumination was 98% at midnight, will be 97% at noon and 94% at midnight tonight. Moonset is at 8:42. Moonrise is at 17:30 this afternoon and moonset is at 9:51 tomorrow morning. Moonlight time is 15 hours, 12 minutes today.

My sister-in-law celebrates a birthday today. Thanksgiving is in 13 days. -Bernie-