January 24: ORD

Today is January 24rd. It's the 24th day of the year. 341 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 30 and 17.

On the warm side, in 1981 the high was 53 with a low of 28. In 1990 the high was 45 with a low of 33. A year before, in 1989, the high was 43 with a low of 32. In 2002 the high was 40 with a low of 32. In 1984 the high was 39 with a low of 30. A decade later, in 1994, the high was 37 with a low of 32, a five degree spread. A dozen years later (and three years ago), in 2006, the high was 40 with a low of 29. Other warm lows were 31 in 1983, 31 in 1999, 27 in 1997 and 26 in 1986. The record high of 65 and record warmest low of 44 were set on the same day in 1967. 19 of the last 30 highs were: 20s (7) and 30s (12). On the warmer side, four highs were 40s and one was in the 50s. On the colder side, four highs were in the 10s (a.k.a. teens) and two were single digits.

In looking back through the years to the first January at O'Hare in 1959, the following instances were notable. In 1977 the high was 30 with a low of 27, a three degree spread. In 1976 the high was 34 with a low of 27, a seven degree spread. In 1972 the high was 43 with a low of 9, a 34 degree spread. In 1967 the high was 61 with a low of 39, a bonus 60s day. In 1966 the high was 11 with a low of -11, a cold day. In 1964 the high was 60 with a low of 25, a 35 degree spread and bonus 60s day. In 1963 the high was 4 with a low of -12, another cold day. In 1959 the high was 38 with a low of 6, a 32 degree spread.

More recently, we had small spreads of two degrees in 1983 (33/31), four degrees in 1999 (35/31), five degrees in 1985 (27/22), six degrees in 2007 (28/22) and seven degrees in 1998 (31/24).

On the cold side, in 1982 the high was 3 with a low of -3, a six degree spread. Five years later, in 1987, the high was 9 with a low of -5. Last year the high was 10 with a low of -4. In 2000 the high was 15 with a low of -3. In 1991 the high was 14 with a low of 2. A dozen years later, in 2003, the high was 16 with a low of 2. The record low of -15 was set way back in 1897 and record coldest high of -2 was set back in 1904. 16 of the last 30 lows have been: 20s (9) and 30s (7). 14 lows were colder: four lows in the negative single digits, five lows in the single digits and five lows in the 10s (a.k.a. teens).

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 6:43 and sunrise is at 7:14. Sunset is at 16:58 and twilight ends at 17:28. There's a total of 9 hours, 44 minutes of daylight today and 10 hours, 45 minutes between twilights. Tomorrow twilight begins at 6:43 and sunrise is at 7:13. The moon is waning crescent. Illumination was 4% at midnight, will be 2% at noon and 1% at midnight tonight. Moonrise was at 6:23 and moonset is at 15:26. Moonrise is at 6:57 tomorrow. Moonlight time is 9 hours, 3 minutes.

My brother is celebrating a birthday today. -Bernie-