October 8: ORD

Today is October 8th. It's the 281st day of the year. 84 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 66 and the normal low is 45. I've calculated the 31-year averages at 66 and 46.

On the warm side, in 1997 the high was the record high of 88 with a low of 62. A decade later, in 2007, the high was 87 with a low of 60. Other warm highs were 80 in 2003 and 78 (our warmest 70s high) a decade earlier in 1993. Other warm lows were 57: in 1984, 1999 and 2004. The record warmest low of 68 occurred in 1939. Over the last 31 years, 27 highs (87%) have been: 50s (7), 60s (11) and 70s (9). Three highs were in the warmer 80s and one high was in the cooler 40s. The three 80s highs occurred more recently, in 1997, 2003 and 2007. Seven of the nine 70s highs occurred between 1980 and 1993. Then there was a decade long 70s drought between 1994 and 2003. Our most recent 70s highs were 72 in 2006 and 70 in 2004.

In looking back through the years to the first October at O'Hare in 1959, the following instances were notable: in 1978 the high was 58 with a cold low of 31, a cool day. In 1974 the high was 67 with a low of 35, a 32 degree spread. In 1970 the high was 67 with a warm low of 63, a four degree spread. In 1966 the high was a warm 80 with a low of 55, a warm day. In 1963 the high was 75 with a low of 41, a 34 degree spread. In 1961 the high was 76 with a low of 46, a 30 degree spread.

More recently, there were large spreads of 35 degrees in 1982 (75/40), 32 degrees in 2003 (80/48) and 30 degrees in 1993 (78/48). There were small spreads of six degrees in 1990 (53/47) and seven degrees in 1999 (64/57).

On the cool side, in 2000 the high was 46 with a low of 31. In 1987 the high was 56 with the record low of 27. In 1989 the high was 55 with a low of 34. Other cool highs were 50 in 1996, 53 in 1990, 53 in 2005 and 53 last year. The record coolest high stands at 41, which occurred way back in 1895. 19 of the last 31 lows were 40s. Four lows were in the cooler: 20s (1) and 30s (3). Eight lows were in the warmer: 50s (6) and 60s (2).

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 6:30 and sunrise is at 6:58. Sunset is at 18:23 and twilight ends at 18:51. There's a total of 11 hours, 25 minutes of daylight today and 12 hours, 21 minutes between twilights. We are losing two or three minutes of daylight a day. Tomorrow twilight begins at 6:31 and sunrise is at 6:59. The moon is waxing crescent and was new yesterday afternoon at 13:44. Illumination was 1% at midnight, will be 2% at noon and 3% at midnight tonight. Moonrise is at 8:09 this morning. Moonset is at 18:34 tonight. Moonrise is at 9:25 tomorrow morning. Moonlight time is 10 hours, 25 minutes which is 44 minutes shorter than yesterday.

Columbus Day is in three days and United Nation's Day is in 16 days. -Bernie-