January 17: ORD

Today is January 17th. It's the 17th day of the year. 348 days remain. It's week 3 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 31-year averages are 30 and 15.

On the warm side, in 1996 the high was 56 with a low of 37. A decade earlier, in 1986, the high was 54 with a low of 37. Four years later, in 1990, the high was 55 with a low of 35. A decade before, in 1980, the high was 44 with a low of 35. In 1989 the high was 45 with a low of 30. A year earlier, in 1988, the high was 41 with a low of 33. In 1995 the high was 43 with a low of 30. Three years ago, in 2006, the high was 43 with a low of 27. The record high of 60 was set way back in 1894 and the record warmest low of 42 was set in 1973. Another warm high was 41 in 1999. Another warm low was 28 in 2004. 23 of the last 31 highs were: 20s (11), 30s (6) and 40s (6). On the warmer side, three highs were 50s. On the colder side, five highs were: 10s (3) and single digits (2).

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 4 with a low of -12, a cold day. In 1976 the high was 15 with a low of 1, a cold day. In 1974 the high was 36 with a low of 31, a five degree spread and warm day. In 1973 the high was 57 with a low of 43, a warm day. In 1969 the high was 37 with a low of 35, a two degree spread and warm day. In 1967 the high was 14 with a low of -6, a cold day. In 1966 high was 10 with a low of -6, a cold day. In 1965 the low was a cold 2 degrees. In 1963 the high was 26 with a low of -12, a 38 degree spread and cold. In 1962 the high was 2 with a low of -4, a six degree spread and also a cold day. In 1961 the high was 49 with a low of 28, a warm day. In 1959 the high was 11 with a low of -1, a cold one.

More recently, we had small spreads of four degrees in 1987 (29/25), six degrees in 2000 (25/19), six degrees in 2004 (34/28) and seven degrees in 2001 (26/19).

On the cold side, in 1982 the high was the former record coldest high of 4 with the record low of -23. Other lows in 1982 were as follows: Rockford: -25, Barrington and Marengo: -22, Elgin: -20, Wheaton, DeKalb and Waukegan: -18 and Midway: -17. In 1997 the high was the record coldest high of 3 with a low of -9. Three years earlier, in 1994, the high was 10 with a low of -13. In 2005 the high was 11 with a low of 2. In 1984 the high was 12 with a low of 2. 28 of the last 30 lows were: single digits (10), 10s (7), 20s (4) and 30s (7). Three lows were colder: negative 20s (1), negative tens (1) and negative single digits (1).

The following pertains to last year (2009): And now a word about the past three days at O'Hare. All of them make the list of the coldest. On the 14th, this was the fourth coldest of the past 31 years as the high was 14 with a low of -2, 15 degrees below normal. On the 15th, this was the second coldest of the past 31 years. The high was -1 with a low of -13, 28 degrees below normal. It was only the second day of a high in the negative single digits. Only 1994 was slightly colder as the high that year was -4 with a low of -17. Other locations were colder. At DeKalb: -20; Aurora: -18; St.Charles, Lemont, South Elgin: -17; Joliet: -16; Elgin: -15. I had a reading on my cell phone, from The Weather Channel, of -17 in Crystal Lake and -16 in Bartlett. Yesterday (the 16th) was the second coldest of the past 31 years. The high was 3 with a low of -18, 28.5 degrees below normal. It was only the second day of a high in the single digits and it was the coldest high at O'Hare of the past 31 years. That low of -18 fell seven degrees short of equaling the record low set in 1982. In 1982 the high was 8 with a low of -25, 29.5 degrees below normal. On all of these days, the readings were colder in the outlying suburbs. And believe me, it was what we call "frickin' cold" yesterday morning. Here in northeast Illinois, Rockford was -25 at 6:51. This was a new record. In Romeoville, where the National Weather Service has been located since 1992, the low was -24 and the coldest since they've been there. Other locations: Barrington: -23, McHenry: -23, West Chicago: -22, Batavia: -22, St.Charles: -22, Elgin: -21, Joliet: -21, Park Forest: -19, O'Hare: -18, Midway: -17, Waukegan: -17, Wheeling: -15 and at Chicago's lakefront: -11. I had a reading on my cell phone, from The Weather Channel, of -21 in both Crystal Lake and Bartlett and -17 at the same time in Chicago on the west side. Now at Aurora airport in Sugar Grove, the low was -31. Tom Skilling of the WGN-TV news frequently states that the thermometer at the Aurora airport sits in a small valley and that's why they always have readings a bit colder than the rest of the Chicago area. At Dixon, which is west, southwest of DeKalb and just north of I-88, it was -32. At Polo, which is just a little north, northwest of Dixon, it was also -32. At Rochelle, which is between DeKalb and Dixon just north of I-88, it was -28. At Shabbona, which is south of I-88 but in a north/south line between DeKalb and Rochelle, it was -26. At Paw Paw, which is the next town southwest of Shabbona, it was -22. As indicated on the WGN-TV blog, we went 45 straight hours of zero or below zero chill. These readings courtesy of the National Weather Service's web site.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 6:48 and sunrise is at 7:19. Sunset is at 16:49 and twilight ends at 17:20. There's a total of 9 hours, 30 minutes of daylight today and 10 hours, 32 minutes between twilights. Tomorrow twilight begins at 6:47 and sunrise is at 7:18. The moon is waxing crescent. Illumination was 3% at midnight, will be 5% at noon and 8% at midnight tonight. Moonrise is at 8:23 and moonset is at 19:24 tomorrow. Moonlight time is 11 hours, 1 minute which is 37 minutes longer than yesterday.

Today is a major day in O'Hare's snow history. In 1979, 1.2 inches fell. This was the seventh day of a 21.7 inch, seven day stretch of snow. This storm changed Chicago politics. The slow response that the city had to cleaning up after the storm was blamed on Mayor Michael Bilandic and his administration. This caused him to lose in the primary election to the eventual new mayor, Jayne Byrne. At O'Hare on the 13th, 15.3 inches fell while at Midway, 16.5 inches fell. This blizzard closed down the city for several days.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is tomorrow. My brother will be celebrating a birthday in a week. -Bernie-