October 9: ORD

Today is October 9th. It's the 282nd day of the year. 83 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 65 and the normal low is 45. I've calculated the 31-year averages at 63 and 44.

On the warm side, there were no days of a mean of at least 11.5 degrees above normal. The warmest highs were in the mid 70s (76 three years ago and 75 in 1997). The record high is 86, set in 1949 (at Midway). The warm lows were 57 in: 1982 and 1984. The record warmest low of 68 occurred way back in 1879. Over the last 31 years, 29 highs (94%) have been: 50s (10), 60s (11) and 70s (8). There were two highs in the cooler 40s. The last 31 years have not produced a high of 80 or higher. That will likely change today as the predicted high is 84 in Crystal Lake and at least 82 at O'Hare. Today will rival 1961 (80 degrees), 1966 (83 degrees) and 1973 (81 degrees) as O'Hare's warmest October 9th ever.

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 73 with a low of 41, a 32 degree spread. In 1973 the high was 81 with a low of 63, a warm day. In 1969 the high was a warm 79 with a low of 40, a 39 degree spread. In 1967 the high was a cool 48 with a low of 37, a cool day. In 1966 the high was a warm 83 with a low of 49, a 34 degree spread. In 1965 the high was 57 with a low of 50, a seven degree spread. In 1964 the high was 44 (this is the year of the record coolest high) with a low of 24 (cooler than the record low), a cold day. In 1963 the high was a warm 79 with a low of 41, a 38 degree spread. In 1961 the high was a warm 80 with a low of 56, a warm day.

More recently, there was a large spread of 30 degrees in 1981 (62/32). There were small spreads of three degrees in 1990 (48/45), six degrees in 1983 (56/50) and six degrees in 1984 (63/57).

On the cool side, in 1993 the high was 48 with a low of 32. In 2000 the high was 57 with the record low of 30. Other cool lows were 32 in both 1981 and 1989. Other cool highs were 48 in 1990, 52 last year and 53 in 1986. The record coolest high stands at 43, which occurred in 1964. 16 of the last 31 lows were 40s. Eight lows were in the cooler 30s and seven lows were in the warmer 50s.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 6:31 and sunrise is at 6:59. Sunset is at 18:21 and twilight ends at 18:49. There's a total of 11 hours, 22 minutes of daylight today and 12 hours, 18 minutes between twilights. We are losing two or three minutes of daylight a day. Tomorrow twilight begins at 6:32 and sunrise is at 7:00. The moon is waxing crescent. Illumination was 3% at midnight, will be 6% at noon and 9% at midnight tonight. Moonrise is at 9:25 this morning. Moonset is at 19:13 tonight. Moonrise is at 10:38 tomorrow morning. Moonlight time is 9 hours, 48 minutes which is 37 minutes shorter than yesterday.

Columbus Day is in two days and United Nation's Day is in 15 days. -Bernie-