January 19: ORD

Today is January 19th. It's the 19th day of the year. 346 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 12.

On the warm side, three years ago, in 2006, the high was 55 with a low of 27. In 1989 the high was 49 with a low of 25. Two years later, in 1991, the high was 44 with a low of 29. A decade earlier, in 1981, the high was 43 with a low of 28. Seven years later, in 1988, the high was 38 with a low of 33, a five degree spread. In 1995 the high was 36 with a low of 32, a four degree spread. Another warm low was 28 in 1986. The record high of 57 was set in 1933 and the record warmest low of 38 was set way back in 1880. 20 of the last 30 highs were: 20s (9) and 30s (11). On the warmer side, three highs were 40s and one high was in the 50s. On the colder side, three highs were in the 10s and three were in the single digits.

In looking back through the years to the first January at O'Hare in 1959, the following instances were notable. In 1974 the high was 36 with a low of 35, a single degree spread. In 1970 the high was 4 with a low of -7, cold day at Midway. In 1969 the high was 32 with a low of 26, a six degree spread. In 1968 the high was 36 with a low of 32, a four degree spread. In 1963 the high was 10 with a low of 3, a seven degree spread.

More recently, we had a spread of 38 degrees in 1992 as the high was 33 and the low was -5.

On the cold side, in 1994 the high was the record coldest high of 3 with a low of -19. In 1985 the high was 10 with the record low of -23, a 33 degree spread. A year earlier, in 1984, the high was 8 with a low of -13. Last year the high was 6 with a low of -3. A dozen years earlier, in 1996, the high was 13 with a low of 4. In 2004 the high was 18 with a low of 3. Other cold lows were -5 in 1992 and -1 in 1997. The lows are kind of interesting. Instead of having a majority of lows in two or three categories, they're kind of spread out. It begins with one in the negative 20s, two in the negative 10s, three in the negative single digits, five in the single digits, eight in the 10s and nine in the 20s.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 6:47 and sunrise is at 7:17. Sunset is at 16:51 and twilight ends at 17:22. There's a total of 9 hours, 34 minutes of daylight today and 10 hours, 35 minutes between twilights. Tomorrow twilight begins at 6:46 and sunrise is at 7:17. The moon is waning crescent. Illumination was 39% at midnight, will be 34% at noon and 30% at midnight tonight. Moonrise was at 1:55 and moonset is at 11:24. Moonrise is at 2:59 tomorrow. Moonlight time is 9 hours, 29 minutes.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is today. The Presidential inauguration is tomorrow. My brother will be celebrating a birthday in five days. -Bernie-