January 23: ORD

Today is January 23rd. It's the 23rd day of the year. 342 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 32 and 18.

On the warm side, in 1989 the high was 50 with a low of 33. In 2002 the high was 48 with a low of 35. A dozen years earlier, in 1990, the high was 50 with a low of 28. In 1999 the high was 44 with a low of 33. In 1981 the high was 46 with a low of 27. A dozen years later, in 1993, the high was 45 with a low of 28. The next year, 1994, the high was 40 with a low of 33, a seven degree spread. Other warm lows were 32 in 1983 and 29 in 1996. The record high of 65 and record warmest low of 56 were set on the same day back in 1909, a century ago! 24 of the last 30 highs were: 20s (6), 30s (12) and 40s (6). On the warmer side, two highs were 50s. On the colder side, three highs were in the 10s (a.k.a. teens) and one was 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 35 with a low of 30, a five degree spread. in 1969 the high was 52 with a low of 19, a 33 degree spread and a bonus 50s day. In 1967 the high was 60 with a low of 45, a bonus 60s day. In 1965 the high was 34 with a low of 30, a four degree spread. In 1963 the high was -6 with a low of -19, a cold day. In 1959 the high was 6 with a low of -12, another cold day.

More recently, we had small spreads of two degrees in 1983 (34/32), four degrees in 2007 (26/22), seven degrees in 1996 (36/29) seven degrees in 2006 (30/23) and a big 36 degree spread in 1982 (38/2).

On the cold side, in 1987 the high was 8 with a low of -4. In 2003 the high was 12 with a low of -4. Five years later (and a year ago) the high was 14 with a low of 5. In 1980 the high was 15 with a low of 4. Another cold low was 2 in 1982. The record low of -18 and record coldest high of -4 were both set in 1963. 28 of the last 30 lows have been: single digits (6), 10s (a.k.a. teens)(6), 20s (11) and 30s (5). On the colder side, two lows were in the negative single digits.

Today is a major day in O'Hare's snow history. In 2005, 0.2 inches fell. This was the fourth 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 6:44 and sunrise is at 7:14. Sunset is at 16:56 and twilight ends at 17:27. Chicago's sunset is a minute earlier and twilight ends two minutes earlier. There's a total of 9 hours, 42 minutes of daylight today and 10 hours, 43 minutes between twilights. Tomorrow twilight begins at 6:43 and sunrise is at 7:14. The moon is waning crescent. Illumination was 8% at midnight, will be 6% at noon and 4% at midnight tonight. Moonrise was at 5:42 and moonset is at 14:25. Moonrise is at 6:23 tomorrow. Moonlight time is 8 hours, 43 minutes.

My brother will be celebrating a birthday tomorrow. -Bernie-