November 26: ORD

Today is November 26th. It's the 331st day of the year. 35 days remain. It's week 48 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 42 and the normal low is 28. The 30-year averages are 47 and 30.

On the warm side, in 1984 the high was 64 with a low of 45. Two years ago the high was 62 with a low of 45. In 1990 the high was the record high of 67 with a low of 39. Two years before that, in 1988, the high was 59 with a low of 45. A decade later, in 1998, the high was 61 with a low of 39. In 1981 the high was 62 with a low of 33. The record warmest low of 57 was set way back in 1896. 13 of the last 30 highs were 40s. Six highs were 50s, five highs were 60s, four highs were 30s and two highs were 20s. The 60s highs are back today after disappearing yesterday.

In looking back through the years to the first November at O'Hare in 1958, the following instances were notable. 1977 was a very cold day. The high was only 19. It was also 19 at Midway, so that is the official record coldest high. The low was 2 degrees at O'Hare but not at Midway. 2 degrees is the official low, but set in the 19th century (see below). In 1972 the high was 33 with a low of 31, a two degree spread. In 1971 the high was 39 with a low of 35, a four degree spread. In 1965 the high was 64 with a low of 34, a 30 degree spread. In 1960 the high was 62 with a low of 45, one of the warmest days (same as two years ago). In 1959 the high was 30 with a low of 23, a seven degree spread.

More recently, the spread was four degrees in 2000 (41/37) and five degrees in 1987 (43/38).

On the cold side, in 1996 the high was 27 with a low of 14. In 1991 the high was 37 with a low of 8. In 2002 the high was 29 with a low of 20. Other cold lows were 17 in 1980, 18 in 2005 and 19 in 1993. The record low of 2 was set way back in 1898. The record coldest high of 19 was set in 1977. 14 of the last 30 lows were 30s. Eight lows were 20s, four were 10s, three were 40s and one low was in the 0s (8 in 1991).

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 6:26 and sunrise is at 6:57. Chicago's twilight and sunrise times are three minutes earlier. Sunset is at 16:24 and twilight ends at 16:55. Chicago's sunset and end of twilight times are two minutes earlier. There's a total of 9 hours, 27 minutes of daylight today and 10 hours, 29 minutes between twilights. Tomorrow twilight begins at 6:28 and sunrise is at 6:59. The moon is waning crescent and heading towards the new moon tomorrow, Thanksgiving Day at 10:55. Illumination was 2% at midnight, will be 1% at noon and 0% at midnight tonight. Moonrise was at 6:11. Moonset is at 15:23 and moonrise is at 7:13 tomorrow morning. Moonlight time is 9 hours, 12 minutes today.

Thanksgiving is tomorrow. A sister of mine, Regina, will celebrate a birthday in 18 days and Bill of Rights day is in 19 days. -Bernie-