January 13: ORD

Today is January 13th. It's the 13th day of the year. 352 days remain. It's week 2 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 29 and the normal low is 14. The 30-year averages are 32 and 18.

On the warm side, three years ago the high was 49 with a low of 32. In 1995 the high was 38 with a low of 33, a five degree spread. In 1987 the high was 44 with a low of 24. In 2001 the high was 36 with a low of 32, a four degree spread. In 1980 the high was 39 with a low of 28. In 2002 the high was 42 with a low of 24. In 1996 the high was 44 with a low of 21. Another warm high was 47 in 2005. Other warm lows were 29 two years ago and 27 last year. The record high of 58 and record warmest low of 44 were both set back in 1932. 16 of the last 30 highs were 30s. On the warmer side, five highs were 40s. On the colder side, seven highs were 20s and two highs were 10s.

In looking back through the years to the first January at O'Hare in 1959, the following instances were notable. In 1971 the high was 33 with a low of 28, a five degree spread. In 1961 the high was 52 with a low of 29, a rare 50s high.

More recently, we had a small spread of four degrees two years ago (33/29). In 2005 the spread was 32 degrees (47/15).

On the cold side, in 1997 the high was 10 with a low of -4. A year later, in 1998, the high was 15 with a low of -1. Another cold low was 1 in 1994. The record low of -9 was set back in 1929. The record coldest high of -2 was set way back in 1893. 21 of the last 30 lows were: 10s (12) and 20s (9). Six lows were colder: negative single digits (2) and single digits (4). Three lows were in the warmer 30s.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 6:49 and sunrise is at 7:20. Chicago's start of twilight and sunrise times are three minutes earlier. Sunset is at 16:44 and twilight ends at 17:15. Chicago's sunset and end of twilight times are a minute earlier. There's a total of 9 hours, 24 minutes of daylight today and 10 hours, 26 minutes between twilights. Tomorrow twilight begins at 6:49 and sunrise is at 7:20. The moon is waning gibbous. Illumination was 94% at midnight, will be 90% at noon and 87% at midnight tonight. Moonset was at 8:57 and moonrise is at 20:14. Moonset is at 9:21 tomorrow. Moonlight time is 12 hours, 43 minutes.

Today is a major day in O'Hare's snow history. In 1979, 15.3 inches fell. This was the third day of a 21.7 inch, seven day storm. Midway had 16.5 inches on this same day.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is in six days. The Presidential inauguration is in a week. My brother will be celebrating a birthday in a week and four days. -Bernie-