November 4: ORD

Today is November 4th. It's the 309th day of the year. 57 days remain. It's week 45 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 54 and the normal low is 35. The 30-year averages are 53 and 37.

On the warm side, in 1981 the high was 71 with a low of 54. In 1978 the high was the record high of 74 with a low of 45. In 2005 the high was 70 with a low of 49. In 1994 the high was 65 with a low of 52. In 2003 the high was 70 with a low of 47. In 1987 the high was 68 with a low of 46. Another warm high was 65 in 1999. 1999 was part of a dual day which means that both the high (65) and low (26) are notable as one of the warmest and coolest respectively. The record warmest low of 59 was set in 1975. 17 of the 30 highs have been 40s (8) and 50s (9). Five highs have been 60s, four highs have been 70s, three highs have been 30s and 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 1974 the high was 45 with a low of 40 (a five degree spread). In 1972 the high was 44 with a low of 39 (a five degree spread). In 1969 the high was 42 with a low of 36 (a six degree spread). In 1964 the high was 71 with a low of 45. In 1963 the high was 50 with a low of 45 (a five degree spread). In 1962 the high was 39 with a low of 33 (a six degree spread).

More recently, in 1999 the large spread was 39 degrees as the high was 65 with a low of 26. In 1997 the spread was four degrees (41/37), five degrees in 1992 (38/33) and six degrees in 1985 (43/37).

On the cool side, in 1991 the high was the near-record coolest high of 25 (the record coolest remains 24 in 1951) with the record low of 11. In 1995 the high was 33 with a low of 20. In 1982 the high was 31 with a low of 25. Other cool highs were 38 in 1992 and 41 in back-to-back years (1997 and 1998). 15 of the 30 lows have been in the 30s. Seven lows have been in the 40s, five in the 20s, two in the 50s and one in the 10s (the record low of 11).

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 6:01 and sunrise is at 6:31. Sunset is at 16:43 and twilight ends at 17:12. Twilight begins tomorrow at 6:03 and sunrise is at 6:32. There's a total of 10 hours, 12 minutes of daylight today and 11 hours, 11 minutes between twilights. The moon is waxing crescent. Illumination was 32% at midnight, will be 37% at noon and 41% at midnight tonight. Moonrise is at 12:21 this afternoon. Moonset is at 21:51 tonight. Moonlight time is 9 hours, 30 minutes today.

Election day is today. Veteran's Day is in a week. My sister-in-law celebrates a birthday in 10 days. -Bernie-