January 31: ORD

Today is January 31st. It's the 31st day of the year. 334 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 32 and 16.

On the warm side, in 1989 the high was the record high of 65 with a low of 40. The prior year, 1988, the high was 55 with a low of 36. Five years later, in 1993, the high was 46 with a low of 31. Six years later, in 1999, the high was 40 with a low of 32. The prior year, 1998, the high was 41 with a low of 28. Other warm highs were 45 in 1990 and 44 in 1997. Other warm lows were 32 in 2003, 30 in 2002, 30 in 2006, 27 in 1992 and 27 in 2001 (our most recent 20s low). The record warmest low of 45 was set way back in 1877. 21 of the last 32 highs (66%) were: 20s (9) and 30s (12). On the warmer side, five highs were in the 40s, one was in the 50s and one was in the 60s. Three of the 40s highs came in the back to back to back years of '97, '98 and '99 (44, 41 and 40). On the cold side, three highs were 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 16 with a low of 2, a cold day. In 1977 the high was a cold 18 with a low of 4, another cold day. In 1974 the high was a warm 47 with a low of 22, a warm day. In 1973 the high was 42 with a warm low of 27, another warm day. In 1972 the low was a cold zero degrees. In 1971 the high was 1 with a low of -4, a five degree spread, year of the record coldest high and cold day. In 1970 the high was 46 with a low of 29, a warm day. In 1968 the high was 49 with a low of 35, a warm day. In 1967 the high was 35 with a warm low of 28, a seven degree spread. In 1966 the high was 16 with a low of -1, a cold day. In 1965 the high was 15 with a low of -6, another cold day. In 1964 the high was 40 with a warm low of 29, a warm day. In 1963 the high was 14 with a low of -12, a cold day. In 1962 the high was 17 with a low of -2, another cold day. In 1960 the low was a warm 27 degrees. In 1959 the high was 9 with a low of -3, yet another cold day.

More recently, there were small spreads of three degrees in 2003 (35/32) and four degrees in 2002 (34/30). There was a large spread of 31 degrees two years ago in 2009 (38/7).

On the cold side, in 1996 the high was 6 with a low of -11. A decade and a year earlier, in 1985, the high was 16 with the record low of -12. The record low originally occurred way back in 1899. In 2004 the high was 14 with a low of -6. A decade before, in 1994, the high was 13 with a low of -5. Four years ago, in 2007, the high was 20 with a low of 3. Other cold lows were 2 in 1984 and 3 in 1980. The record coldest high of 1 was set in 1971. 23 of the last 32 lows (72%) were in the: 10s (a.k.a. teens) (11), 20s (6) and 30s (6). Two lows were in the very cold negative 10s, two were in the negative single digits and four were in the single digits. One low was in the warmer 40s.

Today is a major day in O'Hare's snow history. In 2002, 7.2 inches fell. This was the second day of a two day, 12 inch storm which was 77% of the month's total of 15.5 inches. 2008 was the first day of a two day tally of 7.4 inches. Three years ago on January 31st, 3.9 inches fell.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 6:38 and sunrise is at 7:08. Sunset is at 17:06 and twilight ends at 17:36. There's a total of 9 hours, 58 minutes of daylight today and 10 hours, 58 minutes between twilights. We gained two minutes of daylight from yesterday. Tomorrow twilight begins at 6:37 and sunrise is at 7:07. The moon is waning crescent. Illumination was 8% at midnight, will be 5% at noon and 3% at midnight tonight. Moonrise is at 5:28 this morning. Moonset is at 14:57 this afternoon. Moonrise is at 6:06 tomorrow morning. Moonlight time is 9 hours, 29 minutes which is 17 minutes longer than yesterday.

National Freedom Day is tomorrow and Groundhog Day is in two days. Lincoln's Birthday is in 12 days. -Bernie-