January 29: ORD

Today is January 29th. It's the 29th day of the year. 336 days remain. It's week 5 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 15. The 30-year averages are 32 and 16.

On the warm side, three years ago in 2006 the high was 50 with a low of 39. In 1989 the high was 42 with a low of 37, a five degree spread. In 1998 the high was 41 with a low of 32. A decade earlier, in 1988, the high was 50 with a low of 22. Five years before that, in 1983, the high was 41 with a low of 30. In 2001 the high was 42 with a low of 29. Other warm highs were 48 last year and 45 in 1990. Other warm lows were 31 in 2002 and 27 a decade earlier in 1992. Last year was what I call a dual day. The high qualifies as one of the warmest (48 degrees) and the low is one of the coldest at 2 degrees, a huge 46 degree spread. A cold front moved in, causing a temperature crash. The record high of 59 was set in 1914 and record warmest low of 38 was set a decade later in 1924. 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, 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 13 with a low of -5, a cold day. In 1977 the high was 8 with a low of -2, another cold day. In 1968 the high was 51 with a low of 35, a bonus 50s day. In 1966 the high was -6 with a low of -20, an extremely cold day. In 1965 the high was -1 with a low of -11, yet another extremely cold day. In 1960 the high was 34 with a low of 30, a four degree spread. In 1959 the high was 36 with a low of 29, a seven degree spread.

More recently, there were small spreads of five degrees in 2002 (36/31) and six degrees in 1992 (33/27). The large spreads were 33 degrees in 1982 (34/1) and that unusual day last year when the high was 48 and then the crash to just 2 degrees, a 46 degree spread.

On the cold side, in 2004 the high was 4 with a low of -1, a five degree spread. In 1997 the high was 20 with a low of -6. In 1980 the high was 16 with a low of 0. Five years later, in 1985, the high was 22 with a low of 0. Other cold lows were 1 degree in 1982 and the low of 2 on that dual day last year. The record low of -16 and the record coldest high of -6 were set on the same day in 1966. 28 of the last 30 lows have been: single digits (8), 10s (a.k.a. teens)(7), 20s (8) and 30s (5). Two lows were in the colder negative single digits.

Today is not a major day in O'Hare's snow history! The next one is tomorrow when I'll be writing about two events.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 6:39 and sunrise is at 7:09. Sunset is at 17:04 and twilight ends at 17:34. Chicago's sunset and end of twilight times are each two minutes earlier. There's a total of 9 hours, 55 minutes of daylight today and 10 hours, 55 minutes between twilights. Tomorrow twilight begins at 6:39 and sunrise is at 7:08. The moon is waxing crescent. Illumination was 8% at midnight, will be 11% at noon and 14% at midnight tonight. Moonrise is at 8:33 and moonset is at 20:47. Moonrise is at 8:53 tomorrow. Moonlight time is 12 hours, 14 minutes and is 44 minutes longer than yesterday.

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