November 22: ORD

Today is November 22nd. It's the 326th day of the year. 39 days remain. It's week 47 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 44 and the normal low is 29. I've calculated the 32-year averages at 46 and 29.

On the warm side, in 1999 the high was 62 with a low of 46. In 2003 the high was 61 with a low of 44. In 1979 the high was 59 with a low of 40. In 1998 the high was 59 with a low of 38. Other warm highs were 59 in 1983, 57 in 2001, 57 last year and 56 in 1993. The record high of 69 was set back in 1913. The record warmest low of 51 occurred in 1931. Over the last 32 years, 16 highs (50%) have been: 30s (9) and 40s (7). 13 highs (41%) were in the 50s. Two highs were in the warmer 60s and one high was in the cold 20s. The most recent 40s high was 48 in 2004. The highs between last year and 2005 were in the 30s and 50s.

In looking back through the years to the first November at O'Hare in 1958, the following instances were notable: in 1973 the high was a warm 61. In 1971 the low was a cold 17 degrees. In 1970 the high was 50 with a cold low of 14, a 36 degree spread. A cold front came through in 1970, as on the morning of the 23rd, the low was 10 degrees. This was a 45 degree drop. Warm highs of 56 occurred in both 1968 and 1969. In 1967 the high was 38 with a low of 32, a six degree spread. In 1966 the high was 59 with a low of 49, a warm day. In 1964 the high was 30 with a low of 6, a cold day. In 1963 the high was 61 with a low of 38, a warm day. In 1963 a cold front came through, dropping the temperature 43 degrees to a low of 18 on the 24th. In 1959 the high was a warm 59 with a low of 39, a warm day.

More recently, there were no large spreads. There was a small spread of four degrees in 1992 (43/39).

On the cool side, in 1981 the high was 26 with a low of 13. In 2000 the high was 30 with a low of 14. Another cold low was 17 in 2008. Another cold high was 32 in 1989. The record low of 4 was set way back in 1880. The record coldest high of 21 occurred back in 1929. 25 of the last 32 lows (78%) were: 20s (13) and 30s (12). Four lows were in the cold 10s (a.k.a. teens). Three lows were in the warmer 40s, most recently 44 in 2003.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight began at 6:22 and sunrise was at 6:52. Sunset is at 16:26 and twilight ends at 16:57. There's a total of 9 hours, 34 minutes of daylight today and 10 hours, 35 minutes between twilights. We are losing two minutes of daylight a day. Tomorrow twilight begins at 6:23 and sunrise is at 6:53. The moon is waning gibbous, having passed full yesterday, the full Beaver (a.k.a. Frost) moon occurred at 11:27. Illumination was 100% at midnight, will be 99% at noon and 97% at midnight tonight. Moonset is at 7:56 this morning. Moonrise is at 17:07 this afternoon. Moonset is at 8:53 tomorrow morning. Moonlight time is 14 hours, 49 minutes which is 11 minutes longer than yesterday and is at the maximum time today.

Thanksgiving is in three days. Pearl Harbor Day is in 15 days. -Bernie-