January 22: ORD

Today is January 22nd. It's the 22nd day of the year. 343 days remain. It's week 4 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 30 and the normal low is 14. The 30-year averages are 34 and 19.

On the warm side, in 2002 the high was 55 with a low of 32. Three years earlier, in 1999, the high was 46 with a low of 38. A decade earlier, in 1989, the high was 50 with a low of 30. In 1996 the high was 43 with a low of 31. In 1990 the high was 42 with a low of 31. In 1981 the high was 47 with a low of 24. In 1992 the high was 41 with a low of 30. Five years later, in 1997, the high was 46 with a low of 25. In 1983 the high was 35 with a low of 32, a three degree spread. A decade later, in 1993, the high was 39 with a low of 28. Another warm low was 31 in 1998. The record high of 59 and record warmest low of 51 were set on the same day back in 1909, a century ago! 26 of the last 30 highs were: 20s (11), 30s (9) and 40s (6). On the warmer side, two highs were 50s. On the colder side, two highs were in the 10s (a.k.a. teens).

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 34, a two degree spread. In 1967 the high was 58 with a low of 36, a bonus 50s day. In 1964 the high was 55 with a low of 37, another bonus 50s day. In 1959 the high was 8 with a low of -5, a cold day.

More recently, we had small spreads of two degrees in 1998 (33/31), four degrees in 1988 (29/25), six degrees in 1995 (22/16) and six degrees in 2007 (31/25).

On the cold side, in 2003 the high was 14 with a low of 3. Another cold low was -3 in 1991. The record low of -17 was set back in 1936 and the record coldest high of -4 was set way back in 1883. 29 of the last 30 lows have been: single digits (6), 10s (a.k.a. teens)(8), 20s (7) and 30s (8). On the colder side, one low was in the negative single digits.

Today is a major day in O'Hare's snow history. In 2005, 6.2 inches fell. This was the third day of a four day, 12.7 inch period of snow. Along with the 9.8 inches that fell earlier on January 4-6, this comprised 22.5 inches or 81% of the month's total of 27.8 inches.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 6:45 and sunrise is at 7:15. Sunset is at 16:55 and twilight ends at 17:26. Chicago's sunset is a minute earlier and twilight ends two minutes earlier. There's a total of 9 hours, 40 minutes of daylight today and 10 hours, 41 minutes between twilights. Tomorrow twilight begins at 6:44 and sunrise is at 7:14. The moon is waning crescent. Illumination was 14% at midnight, will be 11% at noon and 8% at midnight tonight. Moonrise was at 4:54 and moonset is at 13:29. Moonrise is at 5:42 tomorrow. Moonlight time is 8 hours, 35 minutes.

My brother will be celebrating a birthday in two days. -Bernie-