December 1: ORD

Today is December 1st. It's the 336rd day of the year. 30 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 40 and 26.

On the warm side, in 1982 the high was 63 with a low of 49. In 1998 the high was 57 with a low of 33. Another warm high was 52 in 1994. The record high of 68 was set in 1970. The record warmest low of 52 was set in 1914. 22 of the last 30 highs were 30s (11) and 40s (11). Four highs were 20s, three highs were 50s and one high was in the 60s.

In looking back through the years to the first December at O'Hare in 1958, the following instances were notable. In 1974 the high was 38 with a low of 32, a six degree spread. In 1970 the high was the record high of 67 (officially warmer at Midway) with a low of 46. In 1968 the high was 37 with a low of 32, a five degree spread. In 1967 the high was 34 with a low of 27, a seven degree spread. In 1962 the high was 64 with a low of 25, a 39 degree spread. 1962 was also one of those few 60s gems, defiant against Winter which is sure to invade.

More recently, the spread was four degrees in 1992 (34/30), five degrees in 1987 (34/29), five degrees in 2000 (36/31), seven degrees in 1986 (42/35), seven degrees in 1997 (41/34) and seven degrees in 2004 (32/25). 1985 is what I call a dual day. The spread was the largest one for December 1st. It was 39 degrees. The high was 50 (one of the warmest) with a low of 11 (the coldest low of the past 30 years, though not the record low). Therefore, the warmth of the high and cold of the low, all in the same day, makes it both (a dual day) one of the warmest and one of the coldest.

On the cold side, in 1983 the high was 25 with a low of 18, a seven degree spread. Other cold lows were 13 in 2002, 18 two years ago and 19 a year ago. Other cold highs were 28 in 1988, 29 in 1979 and 29 three years ago. The record low and record coldest highs were both set way back in 1893 at -6 and 2 degrees respectively. 24 of the last 30 lows were 20s (14) and 30s (10). Five lows were 10s and one low was in the 40s.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 6:32 and sunrise is at 7:03. Chicago's twilight and sunrise times are four minutes earlier. Sunset is at 16:22 and twilight ends at 16:53. Chicago's sunset and end of twilight times are a minute earlier. There's a total of 9 hours, 19 minutes of daylight today and 10 hours, 21 minutes between twilights. Tomorrow twilight begins at 6:33 and sunrise is at 7:04. The moon is waxing crescent. Illumination was 11% at midnight, will be 14% at noon and 17% at midnight tonight. Moonrise is at 10:21 and moonset is at 19:42. Moonlight time is 9 hours, 21 minutes.

Today was a major snow day for areas north and west of Chicago in 2006. At Rockford, 10.7 inches of snow fell while at O'Hare, a much lesser 5.8 inches fell.

Pearl Harbor Day is in six days. A sister of mine, Regina, will celebrate a birthday in 13 days and Bill of Rights day is in two weeks. -Bernie-