November 14: ORD

Today is November 14th. It's the 318th day of the year. 47 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 2001 the high was 62 with a low of 51. In 1989 the high was 62 with a low of 46. Last year the high was 63 with a low of 43. Other warm highs were 66 in 1990, 62 in 1994, 61 in 1981, 60 in 1987 and 60 in 1999. Another warm low was 43 in 1993. The record high of 78 was set in 1971. The record warmest low of 59 was set in 1958. The past 32 highs have been fairly evenly distributed: 30s (7), 40s (9), 50s (8) and 60s (8).

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 39 with a cold low of 15, a cool day. In 1974 the high was a cold 30 with a low of 23, a cold day with a mere seven degree spread. In 1973 the high was a warm 65 with a low of 39, a warm day. In 1971 the high was 77 with a low of 48, a warm day and year of the record high. In 1969 the high as 28 with a low of 20, a cold day. In 1965 the low was a cold 20 degrees. In 1964 the high was a warm 70 with a low of 37, a 33 degree spread and warm day. In 1962 the high was a warm 61 with a low of 27, a 34 degree spread. In 1960 the high was 69 with a low of 48, a warm day. In 1959 the high was 26 with a low of 13, a cold day. That high of 26 is near the record coldest high of 24. The low of 13 is actually colder than the record low of 14. In 1958 the high was 71 with a low of 57, a warm day and year of the record warmest low.

More recently, there were large spreads of 35 degrees in 1981 (61/26), 31 degrees in 1990 (66/35) and 31 degrees in 1999 (60/29). There were small spreads of three degrees in 1993 (46/43) and five degrees in 1997 (38/33).

On the cold side, in 1986 the high was 34 with a low of 15. That low of 15 was only a degree warmer than the record low. A decade later, in 1996, the high was 33 with a low of 17. That low of 17 is our most recent 10s low. In 1982 the high was 30 with a low of 20. In 1995 the high was 37 with a low of 18. As you can see, the back to back years of 1995 and 1996 had lows in the 10s. In 1992 the high was 35 with a low of 20. Another cold high was 36 in 2000 (the most recent 30s high). The record low of 14 and record coldest high of 24 were set on the same cold day back in 1916. The record low of 14 also occurred 16 years earlier in 1900. 22 of the last 32 lows (69%) were: 20s (10) and 30s (12). Three lows were in the cold 10s (a.k.a. teens). Seven lows were in the warmer: 40s (6) and 50s (1). Our most recent 20s lows were back to back to back: 23 in 2003, 26 in 2004 and 28 in 2005. Lows in succeeding years are also warmer each year (36, 39, 42 and 43 last year). The low of 23 in 2003 was preceded by a low of 51 in 2001 (the warmest low of the past 32 years) and then a low of 39 in 2002. So recent lows on this date display quite a variation.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 6:12 and sunrise is at 6:43. Sunset is at 16:33 and twilight ends at 17:03. There's a total of 9 hours, 50 minutes of daylight today and 10 hours, 51 minutes between twilights. We are losing two minutes of daylight a day. Tomorrow twilight begins at 6:14 and sunrise is at 6:44. The moon is waxing gibbous, having reached first quarter yesterday morning at 10:39. Illumination was 55% at midnight, will be 60% at noon and 65% at midnight tonight. Moonrise is at 12:58 this afternoon. Moonset is at 42 minutes past midnight tonight. Moonrise is at 13:20 tomorrow afternoon. Moonlight time is 11 hours, 2 minutes which is seven minutes shorter than yesterday.

Thanksgiving is in 11 days. -Bernie-