November 5: ORD

Today is November 5th. It's the 309th day of the year. 56 days remain. It's week 45 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 53 and the normal low is 35. I've calculated the 32-year averages at 52 and 35.

On the warm side, in 1978 the high was 78 with a low of 47. Two years ago (also three decades later) the high was 71 with a low of 47. Another warm high was 67 in 1999. Other warm lows were 49 in 1994 and 48 in 1989. The record high of 79 was set in 1978 at Midway. The record warmest low of 54 occurred in 1956. 26 of the last 32 highs (81%) have been: 40s (11), 50s (9) and 60s (6). Two highs were in the warmer 70s. Four highs were in the cooler 30s. Our last 40s high was 47 in 2003.

In looking back through the years to the first November at O'Hare in 1958, the following instances were notable: in 1977 the low was a warm 49 degrees. In 1975 the high was 72 with a low of 54, a warm day. In 1974 the high was 45 with a low of 40, a five degree spread. The same temperatures also occurred the prior day (November 4) in 1974. In 1973 the high was 36 with a low of 23, a cold day. In 1971 the high was a warm 67 with a low of 45, a warm day. In 1967 the high was a cold 35 with a low of 27, a cool day. In 1965 the high was a warm 66 with a low of 28, a 38 degree spread. In 1964 the high was 59 with a low of 29, a 30 degree spread. In 1963 the high was 53 with a low of 46, a seven degree spread.

More recently, there was a large spread of 30 degrees in 1983 (58/28). There were small spreads of five degrees in 1998 (41/36), six degrees in 1992 (36/30) and seven degrees in 2002 (41/34).

On the cool side, in 1991 the high was 38 with a low of 17 (the only 10s low). Four years later, in 1995, the high was 37 with a low of 20. In 1984 the high was 40 with a low of 23. Two years prior, in 1982, the high was 34 with a low of 30, a four degree spread. Other cool highs were 36 in 1992, 41 in 1998 and 41 in 2002. The record low of 11 and record coolest high of 30 were set on the same cold day in 1951. 17 of the last 32 lows (53%) were 30s. Six lows were in the cooler: 10s (1) and 20s (5). Nine lows were in the warmer 40s. No lows have been below 30 degrees since the low of 20 in 1995.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 7:02 and sunrise is at 7:31. Sunset is at 17:42 and twilight ends at 18:11. There's a total of 10 hours, 11 minutes of daylight today and 11 hours, 9 minutes between twilights. We are losing two or three minutes of daylight a day. Tomorrow twilight begins at 7:03 and sunrise is at 7:33. The moon reaches new tonight at 23:52. Illumination was 1% at midnight, will be 0% at noon and 0% at midnight tonight. Moonrise is at 6:58 this morning. Moonset is at 17:04 this afternoon. Moonrise is at 8:13 tomorrow morning. Moonlight time is 10 hours, 6 minutes which is 40 minutes shorter than yesterday.

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