January 26: ORD

Today is January 26th. It's the 26th day of the year. 339 days remain. It's week 4 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 30 and the normal low is 14. The 32-year averages are 30 and 12.

On the warm side, in 2002 the high was 53 with a low of 34. In 1981 the high was 43 with a low of 35. Three years later, in 1984, the high was 41 with a low of 31. Five years after that, in 1989, the high was 41 with a low of 27. Other warm highs were 43 in 1996, 2006 and 2007. The record high of 62 was set in 1944 and record warmest low of 49 was set back in 1916. 27 of the last 32 highs (84%) were in the: 20s (12), 30s (8) and 40s (7). On the warmer side, one high was in the 50s. On the cold side, four highs were in the 10s (a.k.a. teens).

In looking back through the years to the first January at O'Hare in 1959, the following instances were notable: in 1977 the low was a cold 2 degrees. In 1974 the high was 44 with a low of 31, a warm day. In 1973 the high was 57 with a low of 29, another warm day. In 1972 the high was 8 with a low of 2, a six degree spread and cold day. In 1971 the high was 32 with a cold low of 2, a 30 degree spread. In 1970 the high was 35 with a warm low of 31, a four degree spread. In 1968 the high was 39 with a warm low of 28, a warm day. In 1967 the high was 30 with a warm low of 28, a two degree spread. 1967 was the first day of the Blizzard of '67 (see below). In 1963 the high was 10 with a low of -3, a cold day. In 1962 the low was a warm 26 degrees. In 1961 the high was 17 with a low of 1, a cold day.

More recently, there were small spreads of four degrees in 2004 (24/20) and six degrees in 1994 (26/20).

On the cold side, in 1982 the high was 13 with a low of -13. Three years later, in 1985, the high was 20 with a low of -6. Two years ago the high was 17 with a low of -1. In 1986 the high was 21 with a low of -3. Two years later, in 1988, the high was 19 with a low of 0. Fifteen years later, in 2003, the high was 19 with a low of 1. In 1980 the high was 20 with a low of 1. Other cold lows were 0 in 1979 and 1997. The record low of -16 and record coldest high of -3 were set on the same day way back in 1897. 25 of the last 32 lows (78%) were in the: single digits (10), 10s (a.k.a. teens) (8) and 20s (7). Four lows were in the cold: negative 10s (a.k.a. negative teens) (1) and negative single digits (3). Three lows were in the warmer 30s. Through Winter 2010-11, this is the average fifth coldest day of the year.

Today is a major day in O'Hare's snow history. In 1967, 13.4 inches fell. This was the first day of a two-day, 20.4 inch period of snow known as the Blizzard of '67. This paralyzed Chicago for a few days. Midway Airport reported 16.4 inches this day, part of a two-day total of 23 inches. This comprised 80% of Midway's snow for the month. Midway also recorded the most snow for any 24-hour period. This was 19.8 inches.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 6:42 and sunrise is at 7:12. Sunset is at 17:00 and twilight ends at 17:30. There's a total of 9 hours, 48 minutes of daylight today and 10 hours, 48 minutes between twilights. We gained three minutes of daylight from yesterday. Tomorrow twilight begins at 6:41 and sunrise is at 7:12. The moon reaches last quarter this morning at 6:57. Illumination was 53% at midnight, will be 48% at noon and 42% at midnight tonight. Moonrise is at 31 minutes past midnight this morning. Moonset is at 10:38 this morning. Moonrise is at 1:42 tomorrow morning. Moonlight time is 10 hours, 7 minutes which is three minutes longer than yesterday.

National Freedom Day is in six days and Groundhog Day is in seven days. -Bernie-