October 12: ORD

Today is October 12th. It's the 285th day of the year. 80 days remain. It's week 41 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. ORD has been the official site of record for Chicago since Thursday, January 17, 1980.

According to the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), the normal high is 64 and the normal low is 43. I've calculated the 31-year averages at 64 and 43.

On the warm side, two years ago the high was the co-record high of 84 with a low of 57. The other co-record high of 84 was set in 1960. In 1997 the high was 82 with a low of 58. Two years earlier, in 1995, the high was 83 with a low of 55. Another warm high was 76 in 1985. Another warm low was 55 in 2005. The record warmest low of 67 occurred back in 1928. Over the last 31 years, 25 highs (81%) have been: 50s (6), 60s (11) and 70s (8). Three highs were in the warmer 80s. Three highs were in the cooler: 30s (1) and 40s (2). The most recent 40s high was last year's 48. Five of the 70s highs occurred within a seven year span from 1996 to 2002. The year prior to this span (1995) and the year following it's start (1997) were host to highs in the 80s. The lone 30s high of 39 happened in 2006. This was the year that the earliest measurable snow occurred. An inch fell here in Crystal Lake and in neighboring Algonquin. An inch and a half fell at Arlington Heights. Both O'Hare and Midway airports received three tenths of an inch. The suburb of DeKalb had half an inch. October 12, 2006 beat October 18 in 1972 and 1989, the previous earliest dates for snow.

In looking back through the years to the first October at O'Hare in 1959, the following instances were notable: in 1976 the high was 79 with a low of 57, a warm day. In 1975 the high was a warm 76 with a low of 41, a 35 degree spread. In 1973 the high was 74 with a warm low of 61, a warm day. In 1971 the high was 70 with a low of 39, a 31 degree spread. In 1969 the high was 61 with a low of 54, a seven degree spread. In 1968 the high was 75 with a low of 44, a 31 degree spread. In 1967 the high was 63 with a cold low of 28, a 35 degree spread. In 1966 the high was 65 with a cold low of 31, a 34 degree spread. In 1962 the high was a warm 76 degrees. In 1961 the high was a warm 78 with a low of 45, a 33 degree spread. In 1960 the high was a warm 82 with a low of 53, a warm day. 1960 was also the year of the co-record high of 84 at Midway.

More recently, there were large spreads of 32 degrees in 1990 (64/32), 32 degrees in 1994 (67/35), 31 degrees in 1987 (59/28) and 30 degrees in 2000 (73/43). There was a small spread of seven degrees last year (48/41).

On the cool side, in 2006 the high was 39 with a low of 30. In 1988 the high was 48 with the co-record low of 28. In 1980 the high was 53 with a low of 31. Other cool highs were 48 last year and 51 in 1979. Another cool low was the co-record low of 28 in 1987. The record coolest high of 38 occurred back in 1917. 29 of the last 31 lows (94%) were: 30s (8), 40s (13) and 50s (8). Two lows were in the cooler 20s.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 6:34 and sunrise is at 7:03. Sunset is at 18:16 and twilight ends at 18:44. There's a total of 11 hours, 13 minutes of daylight today and 12 hours, 10 minutes between twilights. We are losing two or three minutes of daylight a day. Tomorrow twilight begins at 6:36 and sunrise is at 7:04. The moon is waxing crescent. Illumination was 24% at midnight, will be 29% at noon and 34% at midnight tonight. Moonrise is at 12:41 this afternoon. Moonset is at 21:47 tonight. Moonrise is at 13:29 tomorrow afternoon. Moonlight time is 9 hours, 6 minutes which is the same as yesterday.

United Nation's Day is in 12 days. -Bernie-