January 27: ORD

Today is January 27th. It's the 27th day of the year. 338 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 31 and 15.

On the warm side, in 2002 the high was 59 with a low of 38. Four years later, in 2006, the high was 51 (our most recent 50s high) with a low of 35. In 1999 the high was 49 (our most recent 40s high) with a low of 34. In 1990 the high was 50 with a low of 25. A year earlier, in 1989, the high was 48 with a low of 26. Other warm lows were 30 in 1998, 26 in 1979 and 26 in 1992. The record high of 62 was set in 1916 and record warmest low of 47 was set in 1944. 25 of the last 32 highs (78%) were: 20s (12) and 30s (13). On the warmer side, two highs were in the 40s and three highs were in the 50s. On the cold side, one high was in the 10s (a.k.a. teens) and one was in the single digits.

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 10 with a low of 4, a six degree spread and cold day. In 1977 the high was 19 with a cold low of -3, a cold day. In 1976 the high was 14 with a low of -3, a cold day. In 1974 the high was 38 with a warm low of 29, a warm day. In 1973 the high was 46 with a low of 36, a warm day. In 1972 the high was a cold 13 with a low of 3, a cold day. In 1971 the high was 8 with a low of -3, another cold day. In 1970 the high was 36 with a warm low of 32, a four degree spread and warm day. In 1968 the high was 45 with a low of 37, a warm day. In 1966 the high was 20 with a cold low of -8, a cold day. In 1965 the low was a cold 2 degrees. In 1963 the high was 6 with a low of -10, a cold day. In 1961 the high was 7 with a low of -5, another cold day. In 1960 the high was 34 with a warm low of 32, a small two degree spread. In 1959 the low was a cold -1.

More recently, there were small spreads of six degrees in 1998 (36/30) and seven degrees in 1992 (33/26).

On the cold side, in 1986 the high was 5 with a low of -6. In 2003 the high was 20 with a low of -7. In 1988 the high was 20 with a low of -7. In 1980 the high was 11 with a low of 3. The record low of -10 was set in 1955 and the record coldest high of -1 was set way back in 1895. 25 of the last 31 lows (78%) have been: single digits (7), 10s (a.k.a. teens) (11) and 20s (7). Three lows were in the cold negative single digits. Four lows were in the warmer 30s. Although there's been seven lows in the 20s, our most recent instance was 20 in 1994.

Today is a major day in O'Hare's snow history. In 1967, 7 inches fell. This was the second 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 6.6 inches this day, part of a two day total of 23 inches. This comprised 80% of Midway's snow for the month. Midway also had 19.8 inches in a 24-hour period, a record.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 6:41 and sunrise is at 7:12. Sunset is at 17:01 and twilight ends at 17:31. There's a total of 9 hours, 49 minutes of daylight today and 10 hours, 50 minutes between twilights. We a minute of daylight from yesterday. Tomorrow twilight begins at 6:41 and sunrise is at 7:12. The moon is waning crescent, having reached last quarter yesterday morning at 6:57. Illumination was 42% at midnight, will be 37% at noon and 32% at midnight tonight. Moonrise is at 1:42 this morning. Moonset is at 11:18 this morning. Moonrise is at 2:49 tomorrow morning. Moonlight time is 9 hours, 36 minutes which is 31 minutes shorter than yesterday.

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