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 31-year averages are 32 and 16.

On the warm side, 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 in 2008 and 45 in 1990. Other warm lows were 31 in 2002 and 27 a decade earlier in 1992. 2008 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 back in 1914 and record warmest low of 38 was set a decade later in 1924. 27 of the last 31 highs were: 20s (11), 30s (10) 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 1975 the low was a warm 27. In 1974 the low was a warm 28. In 1972 the high was 14 with a low of -6, a cold day. In 1969 the high was 48 with a low of 34, a warm day. In 1968 the high was 51 with a low of 35, a warm day. In 1966 the high was -6 with a low of -20, an extremely cold day. 1966 was the year of both the record low and record coldest high. In 1965 the high was -1 with a low of -11, yet another extremely cold day. In 1963 the high was 17 with a low of 1, a cold day. In 1961 the high was 16 with a low of -6, a cold day. In 1960 the high was 34 with a warm low of 30, a four degree spread. In 1959 the high was 36 with a warm 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 two years ago 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 in 2008. The record low of -16 and the record coldest high of -6 were set on the same day in 1966. 24 of the last 31 lows have been: single digits (8), 10s (a.k.a. teens)(8) and 20s (8). Two lows were in the colder negative single digits. Five lows were in the warmer 30s.

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 6:40 and sunrise is at 7:10. 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, 54 minutes of daylight today and 10 hours, 54 minutes between twilights. Tomorrow twilight begins at 6:39 and sunrise is at 7:09. The moon is waxing gibbous and will reach the full Wolf moon tonight at 18 minutes past midnight. Illumination was 98% at midnight, will be 100% at noon and 100% at midnight tonight. Moonset was at 6:37 and moonrise is at 16:41. Moonset is at 7:13 tomorrow. Moonlight time is 13 hours, 56 minutes and is 38 minutes shorter than yesterday.

National Freedom Day is in three days. Groundhog Day is in four days. -Bernie-