December 26: ORD

Today is December 26th. It's the 360th day of the year. Five days remain. It's week 52 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. Observations have been official at O'Hare since Thursday, January 17, 1980.

According to the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), the normal high is 31 and the normal low is 17. The 32-year averages are 30 and 16.

On the warm side, two years ago the high was 52 with a low of 24. In 1982 the high was 40 with a low of 33, a seven degree spread. In 1994 the high was 47 with a low of 24. Other warm highs were 45 in 1991, 45 three years ago and 44 in 2003. Other warm lows were 32 in 2005, 29 in 1986 and 28 in 2006. The record high of 55 was set in 1971 and the record warmest low of 45 was set back in 1936. 16 of the last 32 highs (81%) were: 10s (aka teens)(7), 20s (7) and 30s (12). On the warmer side, six highs were: 40s (5) and 50s (1).

In looking back through the years to the first December at O'Hare in 1958, the following instances were notable. In 1977 the high was 13 with a low of -2, a cold day. In 1976 the low was a cold 5 degrees. In 1973 the high was 38 with a warm low of 35, a three degree spread and warm day. In 1971 the high was 44 with a low of 33, a warm day. 1971 was also the year of the record high of 55, set at Midway. In 1967 the high was 15 with a low of 0, a cold day. In 1966 the low was a cold 5 degrees. In 1964 the low was a cold 4 degrees. In 1962 the high was 8 with a low of -13, another cold day. That low of -13 is colder than the record low of -11 set in 1983. In 1961 the high was 30 with a low of 24, a six degree spread. In 1959 the high was 52 with a low of 42, a warm day.

More recently, we had small spreads of four degrees in 1986 (33/29), five degrees in 2005 (37/32), six degrees in 2006 (34/28), six degrees last year (26/20), seven degrees in 1979 (33/26) and seven degrees in 1997 (32/25).

On the cold side, in 1983 the high was 11 with the record low of -11. In 1990 the high was 12 with a low of -6. Three years later, in 1993, the high was 13 with a low of 6. In 2000 the high was 19 with a low of 3. In 1989 the high was 18 with a low of 5. Other cold lows were 2 in 1985 and 6 in 1992. Other cold highs were 18 in 2001 (our most recent teens high) and 19 in 1996. The record coldest high of 5 was set back in 1925. 28 of the last 32 lows (88%) were: single digits (7), 10s (aka teens)(8) and 20s (13). Our most recent single digit low was 9 in 2001. On the colder side, one low each was a negative single digit and negative ten (aka negative teen). On the warmer side, two lows were in the 30s.

Today is not a major snow day in O'Hare's history. The next one is tomorrow and it occurred way back in 1894!

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 6:49 and sunrise is at 7:21. Sunset is at 16:27 and twilight ends at 16:59. There's a total of 9 hours, 6 minutes of daylight today and 10 hours, 10 minutes between twilights. We are staying at about the same daylight per day. It is the least amount of daylight of the year, at either 9:05 or 9:06. Tomorrow twilight begins at 6:49 and sunrise is at 7:21. The moon is waning gibbous. Illumination was 72% at midnight, will be 66% at noon and 61% at midnight tonight. Moonset is at 10:34 this morning. Moonrise is at 23:03 tonight. Moonset is at 11:01 tomorrow morning. Moonlight time is 11 hours, 31 minutes which is 45 minutes shorter than yesterday.

New Year's Eve is in five days and New Year's Day is in six days. -Bernie-