November 16: ORD

Today is November 16th. It's the 321st day of the year. 45 days remain. It's week 47 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 31. The 30-year averages are 46 and 32.

On the warm side, in 1987 the high was 61 with a low of 50. In 2004 the high was 56 with a low of 46. Three years earlier, in 2001, the high was 60 with a low of 40. Other warm highs were 64 in 1988 and 58 in 1990. The record high of 73 was set in 1952 and the record warmest low of 53 was set in 1931. 14 of the 30 highs have been 40s, seven have been 50s and five have been 30s. Three highs were 60s and just one in the 20s.

In looking back through the years to the first November at O'Hare in 1958, the following instances were notable. In 1975 the high was 65 with a low of 36. In 1971 the high was 68 with a low of 40. In 1969 the high was 51 with a low of 20 (a 31 degree spread). In 1968 the high was 46 with a low of 42 (a four degree spread). In 1966 the high was 62 with a low of 49. In 1963 the high was 62 with a low of 42. In 1962 the high was 48 with a low of 43 (a five degree spread). In 1959 the high was 36 with the record low of 6 (a 30 degree spread). In 1958 the high was 63 with a low of 48.

More recently, three years had spreads of five degrees: 1993 (43/38), 2002 (36/31) and 2003 (47/42). Two years ago the spread was six degrees (43/37). In 1988 the spread was 32 degrees (64/32).

On the cold side, in 1997 the high was 27 with a low of 17. In 1989 the high was 34 with a low of 18. Other cold lows were 21 in 2005 and 22 in 1984. Another cold high was 36 in 2002. The record low of 6 was set in 1959 and the record coldest high of 21 was set in 1933. 22 of the 30 lows were 20s (9) and 30s (13). Five lows were 40s, two lows were 10s 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 6:15 and sunrise is at 6:46. Sunset is at 16:30 and twilight ends at 17:01. Twilight begins tomorrow at 6:16 and sunrise is at 6:47. There's a total of 9 hours, 44 minutes of daylight today and 10 hours, 46 minutes between twilights. The moon is waning gibbous. The full Beaver moon was three mornings ago at 0:17. Illumination was 87% at midnight, will be 83% at noon and 78% at midnight tonight. Moonset is at 10:47. Moonrise is at 19:53 tonight and moonset is at 11:30 tomorrow morning. Moonlight time is 14 hours, 54 minutes today.

Thanksgiving is in 11 days. -Bernie-