December 2: ORD

Today is December 2nd. It's the 337th day of the year. 29 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 39 and the normal low is 26. The 30-year averages are 41 and 26.

On the warm side, in 1982 the high was the record high of 71 with the record warmest low of 58. In 1998 the high was 61 with a low of 49. A year later, in 1999, the high was 58 with a low of 41. Five years before, in 1994, the high was 54 with a low of 38. Other warm highs were 57 in 1995 and 52 in 2001. 22 of the last 30 highs were 30s (13) and 40s (9). Four highs were 50s, two highs were 20s, one high was in the 60s and one high was in the 70s.

In looking back through the years to the first December at O'Hare in 1958, the following instances were notable. In 1976 the high was 21 with a very cold low of 2. Ten of the first 13 days of 1976 had single-digit lows (77%) and the other three were in the 10s. In 1973 the high was 64 with a low of 36, one of those nice bonus 60s days. In 1972 the high was 49 with a low of 16, a 33 degree spread. In 1968 the high was 41 with a low of 35, a six degree spread. In 1967 the high was 38 with a low of 34, a four degree spread. In 1966 the high was 16 with a low of 2, a very cold day. In 1962 the high was 64 with a low of 25, a 39 degree spread but also one of the bonus 60s days.

More recently, the spread was 32 degrees in 1995 (57/25), five degrees in 1987 (33/28), seven degrees in 1986 (42/35), seven degrees in 1991 (34/27), and seven degrees in 1997 (40/33).

On the cold side, in 1985 the high was 22 with a low of 7. In 2005 the high was 24 with a low of 13. Two years ago the high was 30 with a low of 12. In 1979 the high was also 30 with a low of 12. Another cold low was 11 in 1980. The record low and record coldest highs were both set back in 1942 at -1 and 14 degrees respectively. 16 of the last 30 lows were 20s. Six lows were 10s, four lows were 30s and two lows were 40s. One low was in the 0s and one was in the 50s.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 6:33 and sunrise is at 7:04. 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 two minutes earlier. There's a total of 9 hours, 18 minutes of daylight today and 10 hours, 20 minutes between twilights. Tomorrow twilight begins at 6:34 and sunrise is at 7:05. The moon is waxing crescent and will reach first quarter in three days at 15:26. Illumination was 17% at midnight, will be 21% at noon and 25% at midnight tonight. Moonrise is at 10:51 and moonset is at 20:45. Moonlight time is 9 hours, 54 minutes.

Pearl Harbor Day is in five days. A sister of mine, Regina, will celebrate a birthday in 12 days and Bill of Rights day is in 13 days. -Bernie-