October 23: ORD

Today is October 23rd. It's the 296th day of the year. 69 days remain. It's week 43 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 59 and the normal low is 40. I've calculated the 31-year averages at 59 and 41.

On the warm side, in 1992 the high was 76 with a low of 58. The year before, in 1991, the high was 77 with a low of 55. In 2004 the high was 76 with a low of 55. In 2000 the high was 71 with a low of 58. The next year, 2001, the high was 65 with a low of 58, a seven degree spread. Other warm highs were 72 in 1989 and 71 in 1995. Other warm lows were 55 in 1986 and 54 in 1985. The record high of 85 was set in 1963. The record warmest low of 64 occurred back in 1920. Over the last 31 years, 30 highs (97%) have been: 40s (7), 50s (9), 60s (8) and 70s (6). One high was in the cooler 30s.

In looking back through the years to the first October at O'Hare in 1959, the following instances were notable: in 1975 the high was 78 with a low of 60, a warm day. In 1974 the low was a warm 52 degrees. In 1973 the high was 75 with a low of 45, a 30 degree spread. In 1971 the high was 62 with a warm low of 57, a five degree spread. In 1970 the low was a warm 54 degrees. In 1969 the high was 48 with a cold low of 25, a cool day. In 1967 the high was 78 with a low of 54, a warm day. In 1964 the high was 53 with a cold low of 22 degrees, a 31 degree spread, a cool day. In 1963 the high was 85 with a low of 55, a 30 degree spread, a hot day and year of the record high. In 4 of 5 days in 1963 from the 22nd to the 26th, highs were in the 80s. In 1962 the high was a cool 47 with a low of 29, a cool day.

More recently, there were large spreads of 30 degrees in 1989 (72/42) and 30 degrees in 1993 (68/38). There was a small spread of five degrees in 1983 (52/47), six degrees in 1979 (45/39) and six degrees in 2002 (46/40).

On the cool side, in 1981 the high was the record coolest high of 35 with the record low of 20. The very next year, 1982, the high was 54 with a low of 23. Another cool low was 28 in 1984. Other cool highs were 45 in 1979 and 46 in 2002. 27 of the last 31 lows (87%) were: 30s (10), 40s (10) and 50s (7). Four lows were in the cold 20s. These 20s lows occurred within a span of seven years from 1981 to 1987.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 6:47 and sunrise is at 7:15. Sunset is at 17:59 and twilight ends at 18:28. There's a total of 10 hours, 44 minutes of daylight today and 11 hours, 41 minutes between twilights. We are losing two or three minutes of daylight a day. Tomorrow twilight begins at 6:48 and sunrise is at 7:17. The moon is waning gibbous, having reached the full Hunter's moon last night at 20:36. It's also known as the Travel or Dying Grass moon. Illumination was 100% at midnight, will be 99% at noon and 99% at midnight tonight. Moonset is at 7:58 this morning. Moonrise is at 18:00 this afternoon. Moonset is at 9:02 tomorrow morning. Moonlight time is 13 hours, 58 minutes which is 32 minutes longer than yesterday.

United Nation's Day is tomorrow. Halloween is in eight days. Election Day is in ten days. Veteran's Day is in 19 days. -Bernie-