November 22: ORD

Today is November 22nd. It's the 327th day of the year. 39 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 44 and the normal low is 29. The 30-year averages are 46 and 29.

On the warm side, in 1999 the high was 62 with a low of 46. In 2003 the high was 61 with a low of 44. In 1979 the high was 59 with a low of 40. In 1998 the high was 59 with a low of 38. In 2001 the high was 57 with a low of 39. Other warm highs were 59 in 1983, 56 in 1993, 55 in 1987, 54 in 1980, 54 in 1990 and 53 in 1991. The record high of 69 was set back in 1913 and the record warmest low of 51 was set back in 1931. 12 of the last 30 highs were in the 50s. Eight highs were 30s and seven were 40s. There were two 60s highs and one high in the 20s. I'm not going to mention the lack of 70s!

In looking back through the years to the first November at O'Hare in 1958, the following instances were notable. In 1973 the high was 61 with a low of 33. In 1970 the high was 50 with a low of 14 (a 33 degree spread). A cold front came through in 1970, because the low on the 23rd was 10 degrees. In 1967 the high was 38 with a low of 32 (a six degree spread). In 1964 the high was 30 with a low of 6 (a very cold low). In 1963 the high was 61 with a low of 38.

More recently, the spread was four degrees in 1992 (43/39).

On the cold side, in 1981 the high was 26 with a low of 13. In 2000, the high was 30 with a low of 14. In 1989 the high was 32 with a low of 20. Another cold low was 19 in 1995. The record low of 4 was set way back in 1880. The record coldest high of 21 was set back in 1929. 24 of the last 30 lows were 20s (13) and 30s (11). Three lows were 10s and three were 40s.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 6:22 and sunrise is at 6:53. Sunset is at 16:26 and twilight ends at 16:57. There's a total of 9 hours, 33 minutes of daylight today and 10 hours, 35 minutes between twilights. Tomorrow twilight begins at 6:23 and sunrise is at 6:54. The moon is waning crescent. Illumination was 26% at midnight, will be 22% at noon and 18% at midnight tonight. Moonrise was at 1:52. Moonset is at 13:37 and moonrise is at 2:58 tomorrow morning. Moonlight time is 11 hours, 45 minutes today.

Thanksgiving is in five days. A sister of mine, Regina, will celebrate a birthday in 22 days and Bill of Rights day is in 23 days. -Bernie-