October 26: ORD

Today is October 26th. It's the 299th day of the year. 66 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 58 and the normal low is 38. I've calculated the 31-year averages at 57 and 40.

On the warm side, in 2000 the high was 76 with a low of 59. In 1989 the high was 75 with a low of 50. In 1996 the high was 68 with a low of 56. A couple of years later, in 1998, the high was 73 with a low of 50. Another warm high was 70 in 1985. Other warm lows were 53 in 2004, 53 in 2007 and 52 in 1986. The record high of 84 was set in 1963 and the record warmest low of 63 was set back in 1939. Over the last 31 years, 27 highs (87%) have been: 40s (7), 50s (12) and 60s (8). Four highs were in the warmer 70s. The last high in the 70s was 76 in 2000.

In looking back through the years to the first October at O'Hare in 1959, the following instances were notable: in 1974 the high was 66 with a low of 34, a 32 degree spread. In 1971 the high was 78 with a low of 57, a warm day. In 1970 the high was 72 with a low of 52, a warm day. In 1966 the high was 62 with a cold low of 25, a 37 degree spread. In 1964 the high was a warm 72 with a low of 48, a warm day. In 1963 the high was a warm 83 with a low of 45, a 38 degree spread, warm day and year of the record high. In 1962 the high was 45 with a low of 19 (cooler than the record low), a cool day. In 1959 the high was a cold 39 with a low of 34, a five degree spread and cool day.

More recently, there was a large spread of 33 degrees in 1982 (64/31). There were small spreads of three degrees in 2006 (46/43), five degrees in 2001 (41/36), six degrees last year (55/49), seven degrees in 1986 (59/52), seven degrees in 1991 (54/47) and seven degrees in 2004 (60/53).

On the cool side, in 1980 the high was 42 with a low of 26. In 1988 the high was 44 with a low of 28. Other cool highs were 41 in 2001, 45 in 2003, 46 in 1997 and 46 in 2006. The record low of 22 and record coolest high of 37 were set on the same day back in 1942. 13 of the last 31 lows were 30s. Four lows were in the cooler 20s. 14 lows were in the warmer: 40s (7) and 50s (7). The last low in the 20s was two decades ago: 28 in 1990.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 6:50 and sunrise is at 7:19. Sunset is at 17:55 and twilight ends at 18:24. There's a total of 10 hours, 36 minutes of daylight today and 11 hours, 34 minutes between twilights. We are losing two or three minutes of daylight a day. Tomorrow twilight begins at 6:51 and sunrise is at 7:20. The moon is waning gibbous. Illumination was 90% at midnight, will be 87% at noon and 83% at midnight tonight. Moonset is at 11:04 this morning. Moonrise is at 20:13 tonight. Moonset is at 11:58 tomorrow morning. Moonlight time is 14 hours, 51 minutes which is six minutes longer than yesterday. Today is the longest time of moonlight for the next several days.

Halloween is in five days. Election Day is in seven days. Veteran's Day is in 16 days. -Bernie-