January 4: ORD

Today is January 4th. It's the 4th day of the year. 361 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 15. The 31-year averages are 33 and 17.

On the warm side, in 1997 the high was the record high of 64 with a near-record warmest low of 39. A decade later (and three years ago), in 2007, the high was 52 with a near-record warmest low of 39. The record warmest low remains 41 degrees, set back in 1909. In 1998 the high was 56 with a low of 34. In 2006 the high was 43 with a low of 36, a seven degree spread. In 1993 the high was 47 with a low of 31. In 1990 the high was 46 with a low of 25. Two years after that, in 1992, the high was 38 with a low of 32, a six degree spread. Other warm lows were 30 in 2005 and 29 in 2004. 16 of the last 31 highs were 30s. On the warmer side, six highs were: 40s (3), 50s (2) and 60s (1). On the colder side, nine highs were: single digits (4), 10s (aka teens) (1) and 20s (4).

In looking back through the years to the first January at O'Hare in 1959, the following instances were notable: in 1976 the high was 10 with a low of 1, a cold day. In 1974 the high was 19 with a cold low of -1, a cold day. In 1972 the high was 14 with low of 2, a cold day. In 1971 the high was a warm 43 degrees with a low of 12, a 31 degree spread. In 1970 the low was a cold 3 degrees. In 1969 the high was 3 with a low of -8, a cold day. In 1968 the high was 6 with a low of -7, another cold day. In 1967 the low was a cold 2 degrees. In 1966 high was a warm 45 degrees with a low of 26, a warm day. In 1963 the high was 34 with a warm low of 27, a seven degree spread. in 1962 the high was 42 with a low of 31, a warm day. In 1961 the high was 32 with a low of 1, a 31 degree spread. In 1959 the high was 0 with a low of -10, a cold day.

More recently, we had small spreads of four degrees: 1980 (30/26) and 2004 (33/29). Another small spread was five degrees in 2005 (35/30).

On the cold side, in 1981 the high was 5 with a low of -9. In 1999 the high was 5 with a low of -9 as well. In 1979 the high was 4 with a low of -7. In 1995 the high was 7 with a low of -1. In 1988 the high was 19 with a low of -9. Other cold lows were 1 in 1985 and 3 in 1991. 23 of the last 31 lows were: 10s (aka teens) (9), 20s (7) and 30s (7). Eight lows were colder: five lows were negative single digits and three lows were single digits.

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 16:35 and twilight ends at 17:06. There's a total of 9 hours, 13 minutes of daylight today and 10 hours, 15 minutes between twilights. Tomorrow twilight begins at 6:51 and sunrise is at 7:22. The moon is waning gibbous. Illumination was 83% at midnight, will be 79% at noon and 74% at midnight tonight. Moonset is at 9:47 and moonrise is at 21:47. Moonlight time is 12 hours which is 47 minutes shorter than yesterday.

Today is a major snow day in O'Hare's history. Four years ago, in 2005, 1.2 inches fell. This was the first day of a three day, 9.8 inch storm.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is in two weeks. My brother will be celebrating a birthday in two weeks, six days. -Bernie-