January 30: ORD

Today is January 30th. It's the 30th day of the year. 335 days remain. It's week 5 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 15. The 32-year averages are 29 and 17.

On the warm side, in 1988 the high was the record high of 55 with the record warmest low of 46. A year later, in 1989, the high was 46 with a low of 35. In 2001 the high was 40 with a low of 32. Five years later, in 2006, the high was 39 with a low of 32, a seven degree spread. Other warm highs were 45 in 1990 and 44 in 1999. Other warm lows were 31 in 1987, 30 five years later in 1992 and 29 in both 1998 and 2002. 22 of the last 32 highs (69%) were: 20s (10) and 30s (12). On the warmer side, four highs were in the 40s and one was in the 50s. On the cold side, three highs were in the 10s (a.k.a. teens) and two were 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 14 with a low of -9, a cold day. In 1977 the high was 9 with a low of -1, another cold day. In 1975 the high was 32 with a low of 25, a seven degree spread. In 1974 the high was 55 with a low of 36, a warm day. In 1972 the high was 14 with a low of 0, a cold day. In 1971 the high was 15 with a low of -1, another cold day. In 1969 the high was a warm 46 with a low of 24, a warm day. In 1968 the high was 40 with a warm low of 32, a warm day. In 1967 the high was 30 with a low of 25, a five degree spread. In 1966 the high was 4 with a low of -19, an extremely cold day. 1966 was the year of the record low and that low of -19 at O'Hare was colder than the record. In 1965 the high was 2 with a low of -13, yet another extremely cold day. In 1964 the high was a warm 44 degrees. In 1963 the high was 10 with a low of -6, a cold day. In 1962 the high was 36 with a cold low of -1, a spread of 37 degrees. In 1961 the high was 21 with a cold low of zero, a cold day. In 1960 the high was 33 with a warm low of 28, a five degree spread.

More recently, there were small spreads of three degrees in 1987 (34/31), four degrees in 1998 (33/29), five degrees in 2002 (34/29) and seven degrees in: 1992 (37/30), 2000 (31/24) and last year (25/18).

On the cold side, in 2004 the high was the record coldest high of 3 (tied with 1951) with a low of -9. In 1996 the high was 7 with a low of -4. Three years ago, in 2008, the high was 12 with a low of -2. Two years ago the high was 14 with a low of 4. In 1986 the high was 22 with a low of 0. Another cold high was 18 degrees four years ago in 2007. Notice how all the teens highs (of the past 32 years) happened in the back to back to back years of '07, '08 and '09. The record low of -15 was set in 1966 and originally in 1951. 23 of the last 32 lows (72%) have been: single digits (7), 10s (a.k.a. teens) (9) and 20s (7). On the cold side, three lows were in the negative single digits. Six lows were in the warmer: 30s (5) and 40s (1).

Today is a major day in O'Hare's snow history. Back in 1939 at the University of Chicago, 14.9 inches fell. Nine years ago, in 2002, 4.8 inches fell. This was the first day of a two day, 12 inch storm which was 77% of the month's total of 15.5 inches. Tomorrow is the conclusion of 2002's storm and also the beginning of an impressive four day, 10.5 inch stretch of snow three years ago.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 6:39 and sunrise is at 7:09. Sunset is at 17:05 and twilight ends at 17:35. There's a total of 9 hours, 56 minutes of daylight today and 10 hours, 56 minutes between twilights. We gained two minutes of daylight from yesterday. Tomorrow twilight begins at 6:38 and sunrise is at 7:08. The moon is waning crescent. Illumination was 14% at midnight, will be 11% at noon and 8% at midnight tonight. Moonrise is at 4:43 this morning. Moonset is at 13:55 this afternoon. Moonrise is at 5:28 tomorrow morning. Moonlight time is 9 hours, 12 minutes which is five minutes longer than yesterday.

National Freedom Day is in two days and Groundhog Day is in three days. Lincoln's Birthday is in 13 days. -Bernie-