November 25: ORD

Today is November 25th. It's the 329th day of the year. 36 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 42 and the normal low is 28. I've calculated the 32-year averages at 44 and 30.

On the warm side, in 1988 the high was 57 with a low of 42. A decade later, in 1998, the high was 53 with a low of 46, a seven degree spread. The year earlier, 1997, the high was 57 with a low of 37. In 2006 the high was 58 with a low of 36. Another warm high was 54 in 1984. Another warm low was 42 in 2001. The record high of 65 was set way back in 1908. The record warmest low of 49 occurred back in 1915. The last 60s high that both O'Hare and Midway had was in 1976 at exactly 60 degrees. Rockford had a high of 59 that day. After that warm-up, temperatures plummeted to lows in the single digits (O'Hare had lows of 6, 1 and 6 on the 28th, 29th and 30th in 1976). Over the last 32 years, 13 highs (41%) were 40s. Nine highs (28%) were 50s. Ten highs (31%) were in the cold: 30s (8) and 20s (2).

In looking back through the years to the first November at O'Hare in 1958, the following instances were notable: in 1977 the high was 33 with a cold low of 8, a cold day. In 1976 the high was a warm 60 with a low of 34, a warm day. In 1973 the high was 45 with a low of 39, a six degree spread. In 1972 the high was 37 with a low of 33, a four degree spread. In 1966 the high was a warm 62 with a low of 34, a warm day. In 1965 the low was just 42 degrees, warm for this time of year. In 1964 the high was 52 with a low of 19, a 33 degree spread. In 1961 the high was a warm 55 degrees. In 1960 the high was a warm 56 degrees. In 1959 the high was a cold 28 with a low of 18, a cold day.

More recently, there were no large spreads. There were small spreads of four degrees in 1993 (42/38), five degrees in 1987 (42/37), seven degrees in 1992 (46/39) and seven degrees in 2001 (49/42).

On the cold side, in 1991 the high was the record coldest high of 24 with a low of 13. In 2005 the high was 27 with a low of 13. The record low of 0 was set in 1950. 26 of the last 32 lows (81%) were: 20s (13) and 30s (13). Three lows were in the cold 10s (a.k.a. teens) and three lows were in the warmer 40s.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight is at 6:25 and sunrise is at 6:56. Sunset is at 16:25 and twilight ends at 16:55. There's a total of 9 hours, 29 minutes of daylight today and 10 hours, 30 minutes between twilights. We are losing a minute or two of daylight per day. Tomorrow twilight begins at 6:26 and sunrise is at 6:57. The moon is waning gibbous. Illumination was 86% at midnight, will be 82% at noon and 78% at midnight tonight. Moonset is at 10:26 this morning. Moonrise is at 20:22 tonight. Moonset is at 11:02 tomorrow morning. Moonlight time is 14 hours, 4 minutes which is 27 minutes shorter than yesterday.

Thanksgiving is today. Pearl Harbor Day is in 12 days. -Bernie-