January 7: ORD

Today is January 7th. It's the 7th day of the year. 358 days remain. It's week 1 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 15.

On the warm side, last year the high was the record high of 65 with the record warmest low of 51. The former record high of 59 occurred in 1907 and the former record warmest low of 44 occurred in 1965. In 1989 the high was 53 with a low of 22, a 31 degree spread. In 1998 the high was 40 with a low of 35, a five degree spread. In 2003 the high was 47 with a low of 26. In 1990 the high was 42 with a low of 28. A couple of years after that, in 1992, the high was 37 with a low of 33, a four degree spread. Five years before that, in 1987, the high was 37 with a low of 31, a six degree spread. Two decades after that (and two years ago), in 2007, the high was 41 with a low of 27. A year before that (and three years ago), in 2006, the high was 39 with a low of 26. Other warm lows were 30 in 1985 and 27 in 1983. 18 of the last 30 highs were: 20s (11) and 30s (7). On the warmer side, four highs were 40s, one high was in the 50s and one high was in the 60s. On the colder side, three highs were 10s and three highs were 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 39 with a low of 34, a five degree spread. In 1976 the high was 31 with a low of -3, a 34 degree spread. In 1974 the high was 9 with a low of -1, a cold day. In 1970 (at Midway) the high was 0 with a low of -12, another cold day. In 1968 the high was 5 with a low of -13, yet another cold day. In 1965 the high was 55 with a low of 44, a rare 50s high!

More recently, we had a small spread of three degrees in 1985 (33/30) and a large spread of 32 degrees in 1994 (28/-4).

On the cold side, in 1986 the high was 9 with a low of -9. In 1999 the high was 9 with a low of -7. In 1982 the high was 8 with a low of -6. In 1988 the high was 14 with a low of -9. In 1979 the high was 16 with a low of -3. A couple of years after that, in 1981, the high was 16 with a low of 4. Another cold low was -4 in 1994. The record low of -16 was set back in 1912. The record coldest high of -4 was set in 1942. 29 of the last 30 lows were: negative zeros (6), zeros (5), 10s (6), 20s (8) and 30s (4). One low was in the 50s but no lows were in the 40s.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 6:51 and sunrise is at 7:22. Sunset is at 16:38 and twilight ends at 17:09. There's a total of 9 hours, 16 minutes of daylight today and 10 hours, 18 minutes between twilights. Tomorrow twilight begins at 6:50 and sunrise is at 7:22. The moon is waxing gibbous. The full Wolf moon is in three days at 21:27. Illumination was 79% at midnight, will be 84% at noon and 88% at midnight tonight. Moonset was at 3:43 and moonrise is at 12:53. Moonset is at 4:59 tomorrow. Moonlight time is 14 hours, 50 minutes.

Today is a major snow day in O'Hare's history. In 1962, 2.1 inches fell. This was the third day of a three day, 11 inch snowstorm.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is in one week, five days. The Presidential inauguration is in one week, six days. My brother will be celebrating a birthday in two weeks, three days. -Bernie-