November 30: ORD

Today is November 30th. It's the 335rd day of the year. 31 days remain. It's week 49 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 40 and the normal low is 26. The 30-year averages are 42 and 28.

On the warm side, ten years ago the high was the near record high of 65 with a low of 39. The record high of 66 was set in 1962. Remember that yesterday the high was the record high of 68 with the record warmest low of 57, both in 1998. In 1982 the high was 56 with a low of 40. In 2003 the high was 54 with a low of 38. In 2001 the high was 48 with a low of 41, a seven degree spread. In 1991 the high was 61 with a low of 25, a 36 degree spread. Another warm high was 51 in 1980. Another warm low was 37 in 1997. The record warmest low of 44 was set in 1941. 13 of the last 30 highs were 40s. Eight highs were 30s, four highs were 20s, three highs were 50s and two highs were 60s.

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 62 with a low of 20 (a 42 degree spread). In 1974 the high was 39 with a low of 34 (a five degree spread). In 1964 the high was 20 with a low of 6 (a very cold day). In 1962 the high was 64 with a low of 26 (a 38 degree spread). This was the day of the record high. It was even warmer at Midway, the official station. 1962 was the start of three consecutive 60s highs as it was 64 on December 1st and also 64 on the 2nd. 1958 was another very cold day as the high was 21 with the near-record low of 1.

More recently, the spread was four degrees in 2000 (36/32), five degrees in 1979 (29/24), seven degrees in 1987 (40/33) and seven degrees in 1992 (37/30).

On the cold side, in 1978 the high was 26 with a low of 11. In 1983 the high was 24 with a low of 18, a six degree spread. Three years ago the high was 27 with a low of 20, a seven degree spread. Another cold high was 29 in 1979. The record low of -1 was set back in 1947 and record coldest high of 14 was set way back in 1896. 23 of the last 30 lows were 20s (10) and 30s (13). Five lows were 10s and two lows were 40s.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 6:31 and sunrise is at 7:02. Sunset is at 16:22 and twilight ends at 16:53. There's a total of 9 hours, 20 minutes of daylight today and 10 hours, 22 minutes between twilights. Tomorrow twilight begins at 6:32 and sunrise is at 7:03. The moon is waxing crescent. Illumination was 6% at midnight, will be 8% at noon and 11% at midnight tonight. Moonrise is at 9:45. Moonset is at 18:40 and moonrise is at 10:21 tomorrow morning. Moonlight time is 8 hours, 55 minutes today.

Pearl Harbor Day is in a week. A sister of mine, Regina, will celebrate a birthday in two weeks and Bill of Rights day is in 15 days. -Bernie-