November 6: ORD

Today is November 6th. It's the 310th day of the year. 55 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 52 and the normal low is 35. I've calculated the 32-year averages at 51 and 34.

On the warm side, two years ago the high was 65 with a low of 45. In 1996 the high was 63 with a low of 45. In 2004 the high was 65 with a low of 42. Our warmest high (of the last 32 years) was 68 in 1980 but since the low was 28, the day was just five degrees above normal. However, that spread of 40 degrees is remarkable. The record high of 75 was set in 1975. The record warmest low of 63 occurred in 1924. 21 of the last 32 highs (66%) have been: 40s (10) and 50s (11). Seven highs were in the warmer 60s, including two recent back-to-back occurrences: 65 & 61 in '04 & '05 and 65 & 62 in '08 & '09. Four highs were in the cold 30s.

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 59 with a warm low of 52, a spread of seven degrees and a warm day overall. In 1975 the high was 75 with a low of 57, a warm day and year of the record high. In 1973 the high was 41 with a cold low of 20, a cool day. In 1969 the high was 60 with a low of 30, a 30 degree spread. In 1968 the high was 48 with a low of 45, a three degree spread. In 1965 the high was 64 with a low of 55, a warm day. In 1961 the high was 40 with a low of 23, a cool day. In 1959 the high was a cold 30 with a low of 24, a six degree spread, cold day and year of the record coldest high.

More recently, the only large spread (30 degrees or more) was 40 degrees in 1980 (68/28). There were small spreads of four degrees in 1997 (47/43), five degrees in 1988 (36/31), six degrees in 1992 (37/31), seven degrees in 1989 (49/42) and seven degrees in 2002 (43/36).

On the cold side, in 1993 the high was 32 with a low of 20. A couple of years earlier, in 1991, the high was 36 with the record low of 19. Another cold low was 23 in 1984. Other cold highs were 36 in 1988 and 37 in 1992. Of the four highs in the 30s, they occurred in a six year span between 1988 and 1993, including three in a row from 1991 through 1993. The record coldest high of 29 was set in 1959. 18 of the last 32 lows (56%) were 30s. Six lows were in the colder: 10s (1) and 20s (5). Eight lows were in the warmer 40s. The lows in the 10s and 20s (until this year) had all occurred between 1980 and 1993.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 7:03 and sunrise is at 7:33. Sunset is at 17:41 and twilight ends at 18:10. There's a total of 10 hours, 8 minutes of daylight today and 11 hours, 7 minutes between twilights. We are losing two or three minutes of daylight a day. Tomorrow twilight begins at 6:04 and sunrise is at 6:34. The moon reached new last night at 23:52 and is waxing crescent. Illumination was 0% at midnight, will be 0% at noon and 2% at midnight tonight. Moonrise is at 8:13 this morning. Moonset is at 17:47 this afternoon. Moonrise is at 8:23 tomorrow morning. Moonlight time is 9 hours, 34 minutes which is 32 minutes shorter than yesterday.

Veteran's Day is in five days. We go back ("fall back") to standard time tonight as 2:A.M. becomes 1:A.M. -Bernie-