October 5: ORD

Today is October 5th. It's the 278th day of the year. 87 days remain. It's week 40 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 67 and the normal low is 46. I've calculated the 31-year averages at 66 and 44.

On the warm side, in 2005 the high was 84 with the record warmest low of 69. The former record warmest low of 68 occurred in 1922. Three years ago the high was 84 with a low of 62. In 1982 the high was 86 with a low of 54, a 32 degree spread. In 1997 the high was the record high of 88 with a low of 52, a 36 degree spread. Another warm high was 85 in 1990. Another warm low was 58 in 1998. Over the last 31 years, 16 highs have been in the 60s. There were seven highs in the warmer: 70s (2) and 80s (5) and eight highs in the cooler 50s. The 70s highs occurred 12 years ago (71 in 1998) and 27 years ago (70 in 1983).

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 75 with a low of 42, a 33 degree spread. In 1972 the high was 64 with a warm low of 59, a five degree spread. In 1970 the high was a warm 79 degrees. In 1969 the low was a warm 58 degrees. In 1968 the low was a cold 32 degrees. In 1966 the high was 61 with a cold low of 31, a 30 degree spread. In 1965 the high was 60 with a cold low of 30, a 30 degree spread and a cool day. In 1963 the high was a hot 86 degrees with a low of 45, a 41 degree spread. A spread of 40 degrees or more is rare. In 1960 the high was a warm 79 degrees. In 1959 the low was a warm 58 degrees.

More recently, there were large spreads of 34 degrees in 1990 (85/51), 30 degrees in 1996 (69/39) and 30 degrees in 1993 (64/34). There was a small spread of four degrees in 1995 (60/56).

On the cool side, in 1980 the high was 54 with the record low of 28. In 1988 the high was 54 with a low of 32. In 2004 the high was 60 with a low of 31. Another cool low was 34 in 1993. Another cool high was 51 in 2001. 22 of the last 31 lows (71%) were: 30s (9) and 40s (13). One low was in the cooler 20s. Eight lows were in the warmer: 50s (6) and 60s (2). The last 50s low occurred 12 years ago in 1998 (58 degrees).

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 6:27 and sunrise is at 6:55. Sunset is at 18:28 and twilight ends at 18:56. There's a total of 11 hours, 33 minutes of daylight today and 12 hours, 29 minutes between twilights. We are losing two or three minutes of daylight a day. Tomorrow twilight begins at 6:28 and sunrise is at 6:56. The moon is waning crescent. Illumination was 10% at midnight, will be 6% at noon and 4% at midnight tonight. Moonrise is at 4:15 this morning. Moonset is at 17:01 this afternoon. Moonrise is at 5:33 tomorrow morning. Moonlight time is 12 hours, 46 minutes which is 47 minutes shorter than yesterday.

Columbus Day is in six days and United Nation's Day is in 19 days. -Bernie-