January 27: ORD

Today is January 27th. It's the 27th day of the year. 338 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 15.

On the warm side, in 2002 the high was 59 with a low of 38. Four years later, in 2006, the high was 51 with a low of 35. Seven years earlier, in 1999, the high was 49 with a low of 34. In 1990 the high was 50 with a low of 25. A year earlier, in 1989, the high was 48 with a low of 26. Other warm lows were 30 in 1998, 26 in 1979 and 26 in 1992. The record high of 62 was set in 1916 and record warmest low of 47 was set in 1944. 23 of the last 30 highs were: 20s (10) and 30s (13). On the warmer side, two highs were 40s and three highs were 50s. On the colder side, one high was 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 1978 the high was 10 with a low of 4, a six degree spread and cold. In 1971 the high was 8 with a low of -3, another cold day. In 1970 the high was 36 with a low of 32, a four degree spread (at Midway). In 1963 the high was 6 with a low of -10, yet another cold day. In 1961 the high was 7 with a low of -5, another cold one. 1960 the high was 34 with a low of 32, a two degree spread.

More recently, there were small spreads of six degrees in 1998 (36/30) and seven degrees in 1992 (33/26).

On the cold side, in 1986 the high was 5 with a low of -6. In 2003 the high was 20 with a low of -7. Fifteen years earlier, in 1988, the high was also 20 with a low of -7. Eight years before that, in 1980, the high was 11 with a low of 3. The record low of -10 was set in 1955 and the record coldest high of -1 was set way back in 1895. 18 of the last 30 lows have been: 10s (a.k.a. teens)(11) and 20s (7). Eight lows were colder: three in the negative single digits and five in the single digits. Four lows were in the warmer 30s.

Today is a major day in O'Hare's snow history. In 1967, 7.0 inches fell. This was the second day of a two day, 20.4 inch period of snow known as the Blizzard of '67. This paralyzed Chicago for a few days. Midway Airport reported 6.6 inches this day, part of a two day total of 23 inches. This comprised 80% of Midway's snow for the month.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 6:41 and sunrise is at 7:11. Sunset is at 17:02 and twilight ends at 17:32. Chicago's sunset/end of twilight times are 17:00/17:30. There's a total of 9 hours, 51 minutes of daylight today and 10 hours, 51 minutes between twilights. Tomorrow twilight begins at 6:40 and sunrise is at 7:10. The moon reached new yesterday at 1:55 and is waxing crescent. Illumination was 1% at midnight, will be 2% at noon and 4% at midnight tonight. Moonrise is at 7:50 and moonset is at 18:38. Moonrise is at 8:12 tomorrow. Moonlight time is 10 hours, 48 minutes and is 40 minutes longer than yesterday. But since such a small percentage is visible, you probably won't be able to find it in the sky.

The Super Bowl is in five days. Groundhog Day is in six days. Abraham Lincoln's Birthday is in two weeks, two days. Valentine's Day is in two weeks, four days. The Daytona 500 is in two weeks, five days. President's Day is in two weeks, six days. -Bernie-