November 28: ORD

Today is November 28th. It's the 333rd day of the year. 33 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 41 and the normal low is 27. The 30-year averages are 42 and 29.

On the warm side, two years the high was 61 with the new record warmest low of 54 (a seven degree spread). The former record warmest low of 48 occurred back in 1916. In 1998 the high was 67 (our warmest) with a low of 41. Three years ago the high was 61 with a low of 39. In 1997 the high was 56 with a low of 43. Ten years earlier, in 1987, the high was 51 with a low of 42. 23 of the last 30 highs were 30s (13) and 40s (10). Three highs were 50s and three highs were 60s. A lone high was in the 20s (see cold side below).

In looking back through the years to the first November at O'Hare in 1958, the following instances were notable. In 1976 the high was 16 with a low of 6 (a very cold day). In 1970 the high was 42 with a low of 40 (a two degree spread). In 1968 the high was 42 with a low of 35 (a seven degree spread). In 1966 the high was 35 with a low of 30 (a five degree spread). In 1964 the high was 54 with a low of 18 (a 36 degree spread). In 1960 the high was 63 with a low of 28, one of the bonus days in the 60s. In 1960 from the 28th to the 29th, there was a 42 degree drop from that high of 63 to a low of 21 on the 29th.

More recently, the spread was three degrees in 1980 (35/32), six degrees in 1991 (38/32), seven degrees in 1982 (41/34), seven degrees in 1994 (40/33) and seven degrees in 2001 (42/35).

On the cold side, in 1995 the high was 29 with a low of 13. In 2002 the high was 33 with a low of 15. In 1981 the high was 33 with a low of 19. In 1978 the high was 34 with a low of 18. Another cold low was 18 in 1989. The record low of 0 was set way back in 1887 and record coldest high of 13 was set way back in 1891. 21 of the last 30 lows were 20s (12) and 30s (9). Five lows were 10s, three lows were 40s and one low was in the 50s (see warm side above).

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 6:29 and sunrise is at 7:00. Sunset is at 16:23 and twilight ends at 16:54. There's a total of 9 hours, 23 minutes of daylight today and 10 hours, 25 minutes between twilights. Tomorrow twilight begins at 6:30 and sunrise is at 7:01. The moon reached new yesterday at 10:55. Illumination was 0% at midnight, will be 1% at noon and 2% at midnight tonight. Moonrise is at 8:11. Moonset is at 16:48 and moonrise is at 9:02 tomorrow morning. Moonlight time is 8 hours, 37 minutes today.

Thanksgiving was yesterday. Pearl Harbor Day is in nine days. A sister of mine, Regina, will celebrate a birthday in 16 days and Bill of Rights day is in 17 days. -Bernie-