November 12: ORD

Today is November 12th. It's the 316th day of the year. 49 days remain. It's week 46 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 49 and the normal low is 33. I've calculated the 32-year averages at 48 and 31.

On the warm side, in 2007 the high was 66 with a low of 44. A couple of years earlier, in 2005, the high was 65 with a low of 43. Another warm high was 61 in 2003. The only other 60s high was 60 in 1982. Except for 1982, the 60s highs occurred in every odd year from 2003 to 2007. The record high of 70 was set in 1949 and previously in 1938 and 1902. The record warmest low of 62 was set way back in 1902. 14 of the last 32 highs have been 40s. 12 highs were in the warmer: 50s (8) and 60s (4). Six highs were in the cooler: 20s (1) and 30s (5).

In looking back through the years to the first November at O'Hare in 1958, the following instances were notable: in 1976 the high was 37 with a low of 15, a cold day. In 1972 the high was 46 with a low of 41, a five degree spread. In 1971 the high was a warm 61 degrees. In 1964 the high was 67 with a low of 45, a warm day. In 1961 the high was 59 with a warm low of 48, a warm day. In 1959 the high was a cold 33 with a low of 22, a cold day.

More recently, the lone large spread was 35 degrees in 1982 (60/25). The small spreads were three degrees in 1978 (47/44), four degrees in 1991 (37/33), seven degrees in 2000 (48/41) and seven degrees in 2002 (43/36).

On the cold side, in 1986 the high was 30 with the record low of 8. In 1995 the high was the record coldest high of 28 with a low of 14. A year later, in 1996, the high was 30 with a low of 17. A year after that, in 1997, the high was 34 with a low of 19. That's back to back to back lows in the 10s (a.k.a. teens)! In 1983 the high was 39 with a low of 19. Another cold high was 37 in 1991. 15 of the last 32 lows were 30s. 11 lows were in the cold: 0s (1), 10s (4) and 20s (6). Six lows were in the warmer 40s.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 6:10 and sunrise is at 6:40. Sunset is at 16:34 and twilight ends at 17:04. There's a total of 9 hours, 54 minutes of daylight today and 10 hours, 54 minutes between twilights. We are losing two minutes of daylight a day. Tomorrow twilight begins at 6:11 and sunrise is at 6:41. The moon is waxing crescent and will reach first quarter tomorrow morning at 10:39. Illumination was 36% at midnight, will be 41% at noon and 46% at midnight tonight. Moonrise is at 12:08 this afternoon. Moonset is at 22:42 tonight. Moonrise is at 12:34 tomorrow afternoon. Moonlight time is 10 hours, 34 minutes which is 33 minutes longer than yesterday.

Thanksgiving is in 13 days. -Bernie-