January 6: ORD

Today is January 6th. It's the 6th day of the year. 359 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 14. The 31-year averages are 31 and 18.

On the warm side, two years ago the high was the record high of 60 with the record warmest low of 41. The former record high of 54 and former record warmest low of 40 both occurred in 1907. A decade earlier, in 1998, the high was 47 with a low of 39. In 1987 the high was 48 with a low of 34. A couple of years later, in 1989, the high was 37 with a low of 34, a three degree spread. Three years ago, in 2007, the high was 42 with a low of 29. Fifteen years before that, in 1992, the high was 37 with a low of 32, a five degree spread. In 1983 the high was 41 with a low of 27. In 2000 the high was 41 with a low of 26. Other warm lows were 28 in 2006 and 26 (1985, 1994, 2003). 14 of the last 31 highs were 30s. On the warmer side, five highs were 40s and one high was in the 60s. No 50s highs. On the colder side, seven highs were 20s, two highs were 10s and two highs were 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 37 with a low of 34, a three degree spread. In 1975 the high was 37 with a low of 33, a four degree spread. In 1974 the high was a cold 18 degrees. In 1973 the high was a cold 18 with a low of 3, a cold day. In 1971 the high was 7 with a low of -4, a cold day. In 1970 the high was 8 with a low of -11, another cold day. In 1968 the high was 13 with a low of -3, a cold day. In 1967 the high was 43 with a low of 27, a warm day. In 1966 the high was 31 with a low of 26, a five degree spread. In 1965 the high was 49 with a low of 32, a warm day. In 1963 the high was 29 with a low of 24, a five degree spread. In 1961 the high was 44 with a low of 30, a warm day. In 1959 the low was a cold 1 degree.

More recently, we had small spreads of three degrees in 2006 (31/28), seven degrees in 1994 (33/26) and seven degrees in 2003 (33/26).

On the cold side, in 1988 the high was 2 with the record low of -14. In 1979 the high was 10 with a low of -11. In 2004 the high was 9 with a low of -3. In 1986 the high was 14 with a low of -3. Another cold low was 2 in 1999. The record coldest high of -1 was set back in 1912. 20 of the last 31 lows were: 10s (11) and 20s (9). On the colder side, two lows each were negative 10s, negative single digits and single digits. On the warmer side, four lows were 30s and one low was in the 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 16:37 and twilight ends at 17:08. There's a total of 9 hours, 15 minutes of daylight today and 10 hours, 17 minutes between twilights. Tomorrow twilight begins at 6:51 and sunrise is at 7:22. The moon is waning gibbous, heading towards last quarter tomorrow at 4:39. Illumination was 63% at midnight, will be 58% at noon and 52% at midnight tonight. Moonset was at 10:37 and moonrise is at 11 minutes past midnight tonight. Moonlight time is 10 hours, 37 minutes which is 35 minutes shorter than yesterday.

Today is a major snow day in O'Hare's history. Five years ago, in 2005, 2.4 inches fell. This was the third day of a three day, 9.8 inch snowstorm. In 1962, 8.6 inches fell. This was the second day of a three day, 11 inch snowstorm. In 1918 at the U.S. Courthouse in Chicago, a whopping 14.4 inches fell today. That was 92 years ago!

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is in 12 days. My brother will be celebrating a birthday in 18 days. -Bernie-