January 16: ORD

Today is January 16th. It's the 16th day of the year. 349 days remain. It's week 3 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 29 and the normal low is 14. The 32-year averages are 31 and 14.

On the warm side, in 1980 the high was 56 with a low of 42. The record warmest low is 42, set back in 1913. Since the official station in 1980 was Midway and not O'Hare, this low of 42 in 1980 is not considered the official record warmest low. It actually missed being the record by a single day! A decade later, in 1990, the high was the record high of 57 with a low of 36. A couple of years earlier, in 1988, the high was 46 with a low of 32. In 2006 the high was 47 with a low of 30. Two decades earlier, in 1986, the high was 50 with a low of 18, a 32 degree spread. In 1995 the high was 36 with a low of 31, a five degree spread. A year later, in 1996, the high was 43 with a low of 22. Another warm high was 42 in 1989. Other warm lows were 26 in both 1998 and 2001. 24 of the last 32 highs (75%) were: 20s (10), 30s (8) and 40s (6). On the warmer side, three highs were 50s. On the cold side, three highs were 10s (aka teens) and two highs were in the single digits (3 two years ago and 8 in 1982).

In looking back through the years to the first January at O'Hare in 1959, the following instances were notable: In 1978 the high was a cold 16 degrees. In 1977 the high was -4 with a low of -17, a cold day. The record coldest high of -7 was set this year (1977). It's unusual that Midway had a lower reading than O'Hare. In 1974 the high was 42 with a low of 31, a warm day. In 1973 the high was 50 with a low of 33, another warm day. In 1972 the high was 15 with a low of -13, a cold day. In 1969 the high was 37 with a low of 34, a three degree spread and warm day. In 1966 the low was a cold 1 degree. In 1965 the low was zero. In 1963 the high was 17 with a low of -12, a very cold day. In 1962 the high was 14 with a low of zero, a cold day. In 1961 the high was 31 with a warm low of 27, a four degree spread. In 1959 the high was 12 with a low of 1, a cold day.

More recently, we had small spreads of four degrees in 1998 (30/26), four degrees last year (27/23), five degrees in 2001 (31/26) and five degrees in 2004 (29/24).

On the cold side, in 1982 the high was 8 with the record low of -25, a 33 degree spread. Other lows in 1982 were as follows: Rockford: -24, DeKalb and Marengo: -17, Midway, Elgin and Barrington: -16, Wheaton: -15. Two years ago the high was 3 with a low of -18. That high of 3 was the coldest high of the last 32 years. In 1994 the high was 10 with a low of -16. A decade earlier, in 1984, the high was 18 with a low of -6. In 1992 the high was 27 with a low of -12, a 39 degree spread. In 2005 the high was 14 with a low of 3. In 1979 the high was 24 with a low of -7, a 31 degree spread. A couple of locations in 1979 were a lot colder than Midway's -7. They were -24 at Elgin and -21 at Rockford. In 1997 the high was 22 with a low of -4. The record coldest high of -7 was set in 1977. 12 of the last 32 lows (37%) were 20s. 15 lows (47%) were cold: negative 20s (1), negative 10s (3), negative single digits (3), single digits (3) and 10s (aka teens) (5). Five lows were warmer: 30s (4) and 40s (1). Through Winter 2010-11, this is the average twelfth coldest day of the year.

Today is a major day in O'Hare's snow history. In 1979, 0.2 inches fell. This was the sixth day of a 21.7 inch, seven day stretch of snow. This storm changed Chicago politics. The slow response that the city had to cleaning up after the storm was blamed on Mayor Michael Bilandic and his administration. This caused him to lose in the primary election to the eventual new mayor, Jayne Byrne. At O'Hare on the 13th, 15.3 inches fell while at Midway, 16.5 inches fell. This blizzard closed down the city for several days.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 6:48 and sunrise is at 7:19. Sunset is at 16:47 and twilight ends at 17:18. There's a total of 9 hours, 28 minutes of daylight today and 10 hours, 30 minutes between twilights. We gained two minutes of daylight from yesterday. Tomorrow twilight begins at 6:48 and sunrise is at 7:19. The moon is waxing gibbous. Illumination was 84% at midnight, will be 88% at noon and 91% at midnight tonight. Moonset is at 4:24 this morning. Moonrise is at 13:35 this afternoon. Moonset is at 5:21 tomorrow morning. Moonlight time is 14 hours, 49 minutes which is 10 minutes longer than yesterday.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is tomorrow. -Bernie-