December 9: ORD

Today is December 9th. It's the 344th day of the year. 22 days remain. It's week 50 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 36 and the normal low is 23. The 30-year averages are 36 and 23.

On the warm side, in 1987 the high was 59 a low of 40. In 2003 the high was 49 with a low of 41. A year later, in 2004, the high was 50 with a low of 37. Five years earlier, in 1999, the high was 53 with a low of 33. In 1990 the high was 55 with a low of 30. In 1993 the high was 51 with a low of 33. Another warm high was 48 in 1998. The record high of 62 was set way back in 1879. The record warmest low of 56 was set back in 1946. 24 of the 30 highs were 30s (12), 40s (7) and 50s (5). One high was a 0s high and one high was a 10s high.

In looking back through the years to the first December at O'Hare in 1958, the following instances were notable. In 1977 the high was 16 with a low of -5, a cold day. In 1971 the high was 48 with a low of 42, a six degree spread. In 1967 the high was 41 with a low of 36, a five degree spread. In 1966 the high was 38 with a low of 34, a four degree spread. In 1961 the high was 32 with a low of 27, a five degree spread. In 1958 the high was the near-record coldest high of 3 with a low which tied the record low of -14.

More recently, we had small spreads of five degrees in 1994 (33/28), five degrees in 1996 (31/26), and five degrees in 1997 (35/30). In 1980 the spread was six degrees (33/27) and seven degrees last year (29/22).

On the cold side, in 1995 the high was 5 with a low of -4, a very cold day. In 1978 the high was 13 with a cold low of -2. In 2000 the high was 30 with a cold low of 2. Other cold lows were 8 in 2002, 11 in 1982, 11 in 2005 and 12 in 1983. The record low of -14 and record coldest high of 2 were set way back 1876. 24 of the last 30 lows were 10s (7), 20s (11) and 30s (6). On the really cold side, two lows were -0s and two lows were 0s. On the warmer side, two lows were in the 40s.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 6:39 and sunrise is at 7:11. Chicago's twilight and sunrise times are four minutes earlier. Sunset is at 16:21 and twilight ends at 16:53. Chicago's sunset is a minute earlier and twilight ends two minutes earlier. There's a total of 9 hours, 10 minutes of daylight today and 10 hours, 14 minutes between twilights. Tomorrow twilight begins at 6:40 and sunrise is at 7:12. The moon is waxing gibbous. Illumination was 83% at midnight, will be 87% at noon and 91% at midnight tonight. Moonset was at 3:32 and moonrise is at 13:41. Moonset is at 4:51 tomorrow. Moonlight time is 13 hours, 51 minutes today.

A sister of mine, Regina, will celebrate a birthday in five days and Bill of Rights day is in six days. Christmas Eve is in 15 days and Christmas Day is in 16 days. -Bernie-