November 13: ORD

Today is November 13th. It's the 317th day of the year. 48 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 48 and the normal low is 32. I've calculated the 32-year averages at 50 and 32.

On the warm side, in 1989 the high was the record high of 73 with a low of 45. Five years later, in 1994, the high was 65 with the record warmest low of 52. A year earlier, 1993, the high was 65 with a low of 45. In 1999 the high was 71 with a low of 37, a 34 degree spread. In 1980 the high was 61 with a low of 45. A couple of years prior, in 1978, the high was 64 with a low of 41. In 2001 the high was 63 with a low of 40. Other warm highs were 61 in 1987, 61 in 2005 and 60 three years ago (our most recent 60s high). Another warm low was 44 two years ago. 23 of the last 32 highs (72%) were: 40s (8), 50s (7) and 60s (8). Two highs were in the warmer 70s. Seven highs were in the cold: 20s (3) and 30s (4). Our most recent: 30s high: 37 in 1997, 40s high: 42 in 2006 and 50s high: 55 last year.

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 40 with a cold low of 17, a cool day. In 1975 the high was 38 with a low of 32, a six degree spread. In 1974 the high was a cool 36. In 1973 the high was 61 with a low of 50, a warm day. In 1964 the high was a warm 61 degrees. In 1962 the high was 57 with a low of 26, a 31 degree spread. In 1961 the low was a warm 44 degrees. In 1960 the high was a warm 63. In 1959 the high was a cool 35. In 1958 the high was 65 with a low of 48, a warm day.

More recently, there were no other large spreads. There was a small spread of three degrees in 1985 (46/43).

On the cold side, in 1986 the high was the record coldest high of 21 with the record low of 6. A decade later, in 1996, the high was 27 with a low of 17. In 1982 the high was 28 with a low of 20. In 1995 the high was 31 with a low of 18. Those lows in the 10s (a.k.a. teens) happened in back-to-back years. Another cool high was 36 in 1992. 28 of the last 32 lows were: 20s (10), 30s (11) and 40s (7). Three lows were in the cold: 0s (1) and 10s (2). One low was in the warmer 50s. The most recent 20s lows were 29 in 2003 and 26 in 2004.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 6:11 and sunrise is at 6:41. Sunset is at 16:33 and twilight ends at 17:03. There's a total of 9 hours, 52 minutes of daylight today and 10 hours, 52 minutes between twilights. We are losing two minutes of daylight a day. Tomorrow twilight begins at 6:12 and sunrise is at 6:43. The moon reached first quarter this morning at 10:39. Illumination was 46% at midnight, will be 51% at noon and 55% at midnight tonight. Moonrise was at 12:34 this afternoon. Moonset is at 23:43 tonight. Moonrise is at 12:58 tomorrow afternoon. Moonlight time is 11 hours, 9 minutes which is 35 minutes longer than yesterday.

Thanksgiving is in 12 days. -Bernie-