November 17: ORD

Today is November 17th. It's the 322nd day of the year. 44 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 46 and the normal low is 31. The 30-year averages are 48 and 31.

On the warm side, in 2004 the high was 63 with a low of 54. In 1979 the high was 69 with a low of 41. In 2001 the high was 66 with a low of 38. Other warm highs were 64 in 1987 and 58 in 1978. The record high of 74 was set in 1975 and the record warmest low of 60 was set in 1952. 20 of the 30 highs have been 40s (11) and 50s (9). Five highs have been 30s and four have been 60s. One high was 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 69 with a low of 49. In 1972 the high was 36 with a low of 31 (a five degree spread). In 1971 the high was 71 with a low of 50. In 1969 the high was 51 with a low of 46 (a five degree spread). In 1968 the high was 42 with a low of 39 (a three degree spread). In 1966 the high was 66 with a low of 45. In 1963 the high was 69 with a low of 45. In 1961 the high was 36 with a low of 31 (a five degree spread). In 1959 the high was 13 with a low of 2. 1959 was the record low/record coldest high year, but Midway was the official station of record where it was 14 & 3. In 1958 the high was 71 with a low of 54. So at O'Hare there were two days of 71 degrees, but neither was in 1975, the year of the official record high.

More recently, the spread was five degrees in 2000 (32/27). Two years had spreads of six degrees: 1995 (38/32) and two years ago (40/34).

On the cold side, in 2005 the high was 28 with a low of 15. In 1989 the high was 34 with a low of 15. In 1997 the high was 34 with a low of 17. Another cold high was 32 in 2000. The record low and record coldest highs were set in 1959 (3 and 14 degrees respectively). 16 of the 30 lows were 30s. Nine lows were 20s, three lows were 10s, one low was in the 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 6:16 and sunrise is at 6:47. Sunset is at 16:30 and twilight ends at 17:00. Twilight begins tomorrow at 6:18 and sunrise is at 6:48. Chicago's sunrise is four minutes earlier and sunset/end of twilight times are two minutes earlier. There's a total of 9 hours, 43 minutes of daylight today and 10 hours, 44 minutes between twilights. The moon is waning gibbous and heading towards last quarter in two days at 15:31. Illumination was 78% at midnight, will be 73% at noon and 68% at midnight tonight. Moonset is at 11:30 and moonrise is at 21:11 tonight. Moonlight time is 14 hours, 19 minutes today.

Thanksgiving is in ten days. A sister of mine, Regina, will celebrate a birthday in 27 days and Bill of Rights day is in four weeks. -Bernie-