January 5: ORD

Today is January 5th. It's the 5th day of the year. 360 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 31 and 17.

On the warm side, in 1998 the high was the near-record high of 55 with a low of 40. The record high of 56 was set way back in 1890. Three years ago the high was 50 with the near-record warmest low of 42. The record warmest low of 44 was set back in 1946. Two years ago the high was 43 with a low of 35. In 1992 the high was 36 with a low of 34, a two degree spread. In 2006 the high was 37 with a low of 31, a six degree spread. Other warm lows were 30 in 2003 and 28 in 2002. 17 of the last 31 highs were 30s. On the warmer side, two highs were 40s and two highs were 50s. On the colder side, six highs were 20s, two highs were 10s, one high was in the single digits and one high was in the negative 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 low was a warm 29 degrees. In 1977 the high was 30 with a low of 25, a five degree spread. In 1976 the low was a cold zero. In 1973 the high was a cold 13 with a low of 5, a cold day. In 1972 the high was 10 with a low of -5, a cold day. In 1971 the high was 12 with a low of 0, a cold day. In 1970 the high was 18 with a low of -2, a cold day. In 1969 the high was 21 with a cold low of -4, a cold day. In 1968 the low was a cold -3. In 1966 the high was a warm 49 with a low of 20, a warm day. In 1965 the high was 42 with a low of 31, a warm day. In 1963 the high was 33 with a low of 26, a seven degree spread. In 1962 the high was 40 with a warm low of 32. In 1959 the high was 8 with a low of -13, a cold day.

More recently, we had small spreads of two degrees in 2003 (32/30), five degrees in 2005 (31/26), six degrees in 1983 (32/26) and seven degrees in 2002 (35/28).

On the cold side, in 1988 the high was -2 with a low of -11. In 1979 the high was 4 with a low of -11. Two decades later, in 1999, the high was 18 with the near-record low of -16, a 34 degree spread. The record low of -18 was set way back in 1884. Four years earlier, in 1995, the high was 19 with a low of -1. The record coldest high of -5 was set back in 1924. Other cold lows were -2 in 1981, 4 in 1986 and 4 in 2004. 12 of the last 31 lows were 20s. On the colder side, 13 lows were colder: 10s (6), single digits (2), negative single digits (2) and negative 10s (3). On the warmer side, four lows were 30s and two lows were 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 16:36 and twilight ends at 17:07. There's a total of 9 hours, 14 minutes of daylight today and 10 hours, 16 minutes between twilights. Tomorrow twilight begins at 6:51 and sunrise is at 7:22. The moon is waning gibbous, heading towards last quarter in two days at 4:39. Illumination was 74% at midnight, will be 69% at noon and 63% at midnight tonight. Moonset was at 10:12 and moonrise is at 23:00. Moonlight time is 11 hours, 12 minutes today which is 48 minutes shorter than yesterday.

Today is a major snow day in O'Hare's history. Five years ago, in 2005, 6.2 inches fell. This was the second day of a three day, 9.8 inch snowstorm. In 1962, 0.3 inches fell. This was the first day of a three day, 11 inch snowstorm.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is in 13 days. My brother will be celebrating a birthday in 19 days. -Bernie-