November 15: ORD

Today is November 15th. It's the 320th day of the year. 46 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 47 and the normal low is 32. The 30-year averages are 47 and 33.

On the warm side, in 1990 the high was the near-record high of 70 (the record is 71, set in 1971) with a low of 52. 11 years later, in 2001, the high was 68 with a low of 54. 13 years earlier, in 1988, the high was 65 with a low of 47. Other warm highs were 63 in 1987, 62 in 1981 and 57 in 1991. The record warmest low of 60 was set in 1960. 15 of the 30 highs have been 40s, five each in the 30s and 50s. Four highs were 60s and just one in the 70s.

In looking back through the years to the first November at O'Hare in 1958, the following instances were notable. In 1977 the high was 60 with a low of 42. In 1972 the high was 38 with a low of 32 (a six degree spread). In 1971 the high was 68 with a low of 41. In 1968 the high was 46 with a low of 43 (a three degree spread). In 1964 the high was 62 with a low of 53. In 1960 the high was 65 with a low of 55. In 1958 the high was 61 with a low of 46.

More recently, three years had spreads of four degrees: 2002 (40/36), 2003 (42/38) and two years ago (47/43). In 1993 the spread was six degrees (44/38). Three years had spreads of seven degrees: 1979 (47/40), 1985 (42/35) and 1998 (46/39).

On the cold side, in 1982 the high was 34 with a low of 13. In 1995 the high was 34 with a low of 20. Three years earlier, in 1992, the high was 36 with a low of 21. Five years later, in 1997, the high was 34 with a low of 24. Another cold low was 22 in 2000. Another cold high was 39 in 2000. The record low and record coldest highs were both set in 1933: 10 and 18. 17 of the 30 lows were 30s. Seven lows were 20s, three lows were 40s, two were 50s and one low was in the 10s.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 6:14 and sunrise is at 6:44. Sunset is at 16:31 and twilight ends at 17:01. Twilight begins tomorrow at 6:15 and sunrise is at 6:46. There's a total of 9 hours, 47 minutes of daylight today and 10 hours, 47 minutes between twilights. The moon is waning gibbous. The full Beaver moon was two mornings ago at 0:17. Illumination was 94% at midnight, will be 91% at noon and 87% at midnight tonight. Moonset is at 9:51. Moonrise is at 18:37 tonight and moonset is at 10:47 tomorrow morning. Moonlight time is 15 hours, 14 minutes today.

Thanksgiving is in 12 days. -Bernie-