January 15: ORD

Today is January 15th. It's the 15th day of the year. 350 days remain. It's week 3 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 29 and 13.

On the warm side, in 1990 the high was 53 with a low of 27. A decade earlier, in 1980, the high was 47 with a low of 32. In 2006 the high was 45 with a low of 27. Six years earlier, in 2000, the high was 42 with a low of 26. Five years before that, in 1995, the high was 36 with a low of 30, a six degree spread. Six years after that, in 2001, the high was 35 with a low of 31, a four degree spread. Other warm lows were 30 in 2002 and 27 in 1987. The record high of 60 was set in 1949 and the record warmest low of 40 was set way back in 1894. 20 of the last 30 highs were 20s (9) and 30s (11). On the warmer side, four highs were: 40s (3) and 50s (1). On the colder side, five highs were in the 10s and one negative single digit. There have been no single digit highs so far.

In looking back through the years to the first January at O'Hare in 1959, the following instances were notable. In 1976 the high was 37 with a low of 7, a 30 degree spread. In 1973 the high was 36 with a low of 33, a three degree spread. In 1972 the high was -9 with a low of -17, a very cold day. In 1965 the high was 21 with a low of 15, a six degree spread. In 1963 the high was 0 with a low of -19, another very cold day. That low of -19 at O'Hare equals the record low of -19 set at Midway Airport in 1979. In 1961 the high was 34 with a low of 30, a four degree spread. In 1959 the high was 34 with a low of 1, a 33 degree spread.

More recently, we had small spreads of four degrees in 2002 (34/30) and seven degrees in 1998 (31/24). In 1986 the spread was 33 degrees (37/4).

On the cold side, in 1994 the high was -4 with a low of -17. Fifteen years earlier, in 1979, the high was 11 with a low of -17. Three years later, in 1982, the high was 14 with a low of -9. Another three years later, in 1985, the high was 13 with a low of -4. In 1992 the high was 20 with a low of -10. In 1984 the high was 17 with a low of 0. 21 years later, in 2005, the high was 15 with a low of 4. The record low of -19 was set at Midway in 1979. The record coldest high of -5 was set in 1972. Other lows in 1979 were -17 at O'Hare, -20 at Barrington and Wheaton, -21 at NIU in DeKalb, -22 west of Crystal Lake at Marengo and -24 at Rockford and Elgin. 21 of the last 30 lows were: single digits (5), 10s (6) and 20s (10). Five lows were colder: negative 10s (3) and negative single digits (2). Four lows were in the warmer 30s. The Weather Channel is predicting that today's high will be only -2 and it's -13 in Crystal Lake now, so this will go down as one of the coldest January 15th's.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 6:48 and sunrise is at 7:19. Chicago's start of twilight and sunrise times are three minutes earlier. Sunset is at 16:47 and twilight ends at 17:18. Chicago's sunset and end of twilight times are two minutes earlier. There's a total of 9 hours, 28 minutes of daylight today and 10 hours, 30 minutes between twilights. Tomorrow twilight begins at 6:48 and sunrise is at 7:19. The moon is waning gibbous and heading towards the last quarter in two days at 20:46. Illumination was 78% at midnight, will be 74% at noon and 69% at midnight tonight. Moonset is at 9:44 and moonrise is at 22:36. Moonlight time is 11 hours, 8 minutes.

Today is a major day in O'Hare's snow history. In 1979, 1.6 inches fell. This was the fifth day of a 21.7 inch, seven day stretch of snow. This storm changed Chicago politics. The slow response that the city had to cleaning up after the storm was blamed on Mayor Michael Bilandic and his administration. This caused him to lose in the primary election to the eventual new mayor, Jayne Byrne. At O'Hare on the 13th, 15.3 inches fell while at Midway, 16.5 inches fell. This blizzard closed down the city for several days.

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