November 3: ORD

Today is November 3rd. It's the 307th day of the year. 58 days remain. It's week 44 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 54 and the normal low is 36. I've calculated the 31-year averages at 53 and 36.

On the warm side, in 1987 the high was the record high of 75 with a low of 57. The record high of 75 also occurred in 1964 and 1938. Two years ago the high was 73 with a low of 54. Three years earlier, in 2005, the high was 70 with a low of 53. In 1994 the high was 68 with a low of 54. In 1978 the high was 74 with a low of 43, a 31 degree spread. In 1990 the high was 70 with a low of 47. A decade earlier, in 1980, the high was 66 with a low of 50. Other warm highs were 68 in 1981 and 66 in 2001 (our most recent 60s high). The record warmest low of 60 occurred in 1975. 13 of the last 32 highs (41%) have been 40s. 17 highs (53%) were in the warmer: 50s (7), 60s (5) and 70s (5). Two highs were in the cooler: 20s (1) and 30s (1).

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 71 with a low of 58, a warm day. In 1975 the high was 67 with a low of 62, a five degree spread, warm day and year of the record warmest low. In 1972 the high was 46 with a low of 41, a five degree spread. In 1969 the high was 44 with a low of 41, a three degree spread. In 1967 the high was a cool 41 degrees. In 1966 the high was 36 with a low of 23, a cool day. In 1965 the high was 73 with a low of 50, a warm day. In 1964 the high was 74 with a low of 51, a warm day. In 1963 the high was 59 with a cold low of 21, a 38 degree spread.

More recently, there was a large spread of 31 degrees in 2001 (66/35). There were small spreads of five degrees in 2003 (51/46) and seven degrees in 1997 (40/33).

On the cool side, in 1991 the high was the record coolest high of 24 with a low of 13. Four years later, in 1995, the high was 33 with a low of 27. In 2006 the high was 40 with a low of 21. In 1989 the high was 41 with a low of 20. Other cold lows were 23 in 1996 and 24 in 2002. Other cool highs were 40 in 1997 and 42 in 1992. The record low of 11 was set in 1951. 21 of the last 32 lows (66%) were: 20s (9) and 30s (12). One low was in the cooler 10s. Ten lows were in the warmer: 40s (5) and 50s (5).

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 7:00 and sunrise is at 7:29. Sunset is at 17:44 and twilight ends at 18:14. There's a total of 10 hours, 15 minutes of daylight today and 11 hours, 14 minutes between twilights. We are losing two or three minutes of daylight a day. Tomorrow twilight begins at 7:01 and sunrise is at 7:30. The moon is waning crescent. Illumination was 12% at midnight, will be 8% at noon and 5% at midnight tonight. Moonrise was at 4:26 this morning. Moonset is at 15:57 this afternoon. Moonrise is at 5:42 tomorrow morning. Moonlight time is 11 hours, 31 minutes which is 46 minutes shorter than yesterday.

Veteran's Day is in eight days. -Bernie-