January 9: ORD

Today is January 9th. It's the 9th day of the year. 356 days remain. It's week 2 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 16.

On the warm side, in 2002 the high was 55 with a low of 38. Two years prior, in 2000, the high was 41 with a low of 37, a four degree spread. A decade earlier, in 1990, the high was 42 with a low of 34. Two years later, in 1992, the high was 44 with a low of 32. In 2003 the high was 45 with a low of 28. Three years after that (and three years ago) the high was 38 with a low of 33, a five degree spread. Two years ago the high was 39 with a low of 30. Twenty-five years earlier, in 1983, the high was 43 with a low of 24. Another warm low was 26 in 2005. The record high of 60 was set way back in 1880 and the record warmest low of 45 was set in 1939. 19 of the last 31 highs were: 20s (10) and 30s (9). On the warmer side, six highs were warmer and six were colder. On the warmer side, five highs were 40s and one high was in the 50s. On the colder side, four highs were 10s and two highs were 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 3 with a low of -5, a cold day. In 1977 the high was 19 with a cold low of 0, a cold day. In 1976 the high was 11 with a low of 0, another cold day. In 1975 the high was 42 with a low of 33, a warm day. In 1973 the high was a cold 13 with a low of 3, a cold day. In 1972 the high was 44 with a low of 35, a warm day. In 1970 the high was 15 with a low of -1, a cold day. In 1969 the low was a cold 2 degrees. In 1966 the high was a warm 43. In 1963 the high was 40 with a warm low of 33, a seven degree spread and a warm day. In 1962 the high was -1 with a low of -13, another cold day and year of the record coolest high. In 1960 the low was a warm 26 degrees.

More recently, we had a small spreads of four degrees in 1997 (28/24) and seven degrees in 1993 (28/21).

On the cold side, in 1982 the high was 7 with a low of -19. Six years later, in 1988, the high was 7 with a low of -8. In 1999 the high was 12 with a low of -4. Two decades earlier, in 1979, the high was 16 with a low of -3. Fifteen years later, in 1994, the high was 24 with a low of -7, a 31 degree spread. The record low of -20 was set way back in 1875 and the record coldest high of 0 was set in 1962. 23 of the last 31 lows were: 10s (9), 20s (8) and 30s (6). Eight lows were colder: negative single digits (4), single digits (3) and that one low of -19 (of what I call 'the negative 10s').

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 6:50 and sunrise is at 7:22. Sunset is at 16:40 and twilight ends at 17:11. There's a total of 9 hours, 18 minutes of daylight today and 10 hours, 21 minutes between twilights. Tomorrow twilight begins at 6:50 and sunrise is at 7:21. The moon is waning crescent. Last quarter was two days ago at 4:39. Illumination was 31% at midnight, will be 27% at noon and 22% at midnight tonight. Moonrise was at 2:30 and moonset was at 12:06. Moonrise is at 3:35 tomorrow. Moonlight time is 9 hours, 36 minutes which is 36 minutes shorter than yesterday.

Today is a major snow day in northern Illinois. Back in 1930 at Rockford, 10 inches of snow accumulated.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is in nine days. My brother will be celebrating a birthday in 15 days. -Bernie-