January 9: ORD

Today is January 9th. It's the 9th day of the year. 356 days remain. It's week 2 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 29 and the normal low is 14. The 30-year averages are 30 and 16.

On the warm side, in 2002 the high was 55 with a low of 38. Two years prior, in 2000, the high was 41 with a low of 37, a four degree spread. A decade earlier, in 1990, the high was 42 with a low of 34. Two years later, in 1992, the high was 44 with a low of 32. In 2003 the high was 45 with a low of 28. Three years after that (and three years ago) the high was 38 with a low of 33, a five degree spread. Last year the high was 39 with a low of 30. Twenty-five years earlier, in 1983, the high was 43 with a low of 24. Another warm low was 26 in 2005. The record high of 60 was set way back in 1880 and the record warmest low of 45 was set in 1939. 18 of the last 30 highs were: 20s (9) and 30s (9). On the warmer side, six highs were warmer and six were colder. On the warmer side, five highs were 40s and one high was in the 50s. On the colder side, four highs were 10s and two 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 3 with a low of -5, a cold day. In 1963 the high was 40 with a low of 33, a seven degree spread. In 1962 the high was -1 with a low of -13, another cold day.

More recently, we had a small spreads of four degrees in 1997 (28/24) and seven degrees in 1993 (28/21).

On the cold side, in 1982 the high was 7 with a low of -19. Six years later, in 1988, the high was 7 with a low of -8. In 1999 the high was 12 with a low of -4. Two decades earlier, in 1979, the high was 16 with a low of -3. Fifteen years later, in 1994, the high was 24 with a low of -7, a 31 degree spread. The record low of -20 was set way back in 1875 and the record coldest high of 0 was set in 1962. 22 of the last 30 lows were: 10s (8), 20s (8) and 30s (6). Eight lows were colder: negative single digits (4), single digits (3) and that one low of -19 (of what I call 'the negative 10s').

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 6:50 and sunrise is at 7:22. Chicago's sunrise is four minutes earlier. Sunset is at 16:40 and twilight ends at 17:11. Chicago's sunset is at 16:39 and twilight ends at 17:10. There's a total of 9 hours, 18 minutes of daylight today and 10 hours, 21 minutes between twilights. Tomorrow twilight begins at 6:50 and sunrise is at 7:21. The moon is waxing gibbous. The full Wolf moon is tomorrow at 21:27. Illumination was 95% at midnight, will be 97% at noon and 99% at midnight tonight. Moonset is at 6:08 and moonrise is at 14:56. Moonset is at 7:06 tomorrow. Moonlight time is 15 hours, 12 minutes.

Today is a major snow day in northern Illinois. Back in 1930 at Rockford, 10 inches of snow accumulated.

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