January 7: ORD

Today is January 7th. It's the 7th day of the year. 358 days remain. It's week 1 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. I've calculated the 32-year averages at 30 and 15.

On the warm side, three years ago the high was the record high of 65 with the record warmest low of 51. The former record high of 59 occurred in 1907 and the former record warmest low of 44 occurred in 1965. In 1989 the high was 53 with a low of 22, a 31 degree spread. In 1998 the high was 40 with a low of 35, a five degree spread. In 2003 the high was 47 with a low of 26. In 1990 the high was 42 with a low of 28. A couple of years after that, in 1992, the high was 37 with a low of 33, a four degree spread. Five years before that, in 1987, the high was 37 with a low of 31, a six degree spread. Two decades after that, in 2007, the high was 41 with a low of 27. A year before that, in 2006, the high was 39 with a low of 28. Other warm lows were 30 in 1985 and 27 in 1983. 20 of the past 32 highs (63%) were: 20s (13) and 30s (7). On the warmer side, four highs were 40s, one high was in the 50s and one high was in the 60s. On the colder side, three highs were 10s (aka teens) and three highs were 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 39 with a warm low of 34, a five degree spread, a warm day. In 1977 the high was 11 with a low of 0, a cold day. In 1976 the high was 31 with a cold low of -3, a 34 degree spread. In 1975 the high was 40 with a warm low of 31, a warm day. In 1974 the high was 9 with a low of -1, a cold day. In 1971 the high was 11 with a low of -3, a cold day. In 1970 the high was 5 with a low of -10, a cold day. In 1969 the high was a cold 15 with a low of 8, a cold day. In 1968 the high was 5 with a low of -13, a cold day. In 1965 the high was 55 with a low of 44, a warm day. In 1961 the low was a warm 29 degrees. In 1960 the high was 41 with a warm low of 31, a warm day.

More recently, we had a small spreads of three degrees in 1985 (33/30) and six degrees last year (22/16). A large spread of 32 degrees occurred in 1994 (28/-4).

On the cold side, in 1986 the high was 9 with a low of -9. In 1999 the high was 9 with a low of -7. In 1982 the high was 8 with a low of -6. In 1988 the high was 14 with a low of -9. In 1979 the high was 16 with a low of -3. A couple of years later, in 1981, the high was 16 with a low of 4. Another cold low was -4 in 1994. The record low of -16 was set back in 1912. The record coldest high of -4 was set in 1942. 31 of the last 32 lows (97%) were in the: negative single digits (6), single digits (5), 10s (a.k.a. teens) (8), 20s (8) and 30s (4). One low was in the 50s but no lows were in the 40s. Through Winter 2010-11, this is the average fourteenth coldest day of the year.

Today is a major snow day in O'Hare's history. In 1962, 2.1 inches fell. This was the third day of a three day, 11 inch snowstorm.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 6:51 and sunrise is at 7:22. Sunset is at 16:37 and twilight ends at 17:09. There's a total of 9 hours, 15 minutes of daylight today and 10 hours, 18 minutes between twilights. We are gaining a minute of daylight per day. Tomorrow twilight begins at 6:50 and sunrise is at 7:22. The moon is waxing crescent. Illumination was 8% at midnight, will be 11% at noon and 14% at midnight tonight. Moonrise is at 9:02 this morning. Moonset is at 20:17 tonight. Moonrise is at 9:25 tomorrow morning. Moonlight time is 11 hours, 15 minutes which is 35 minutes longer than yesterday.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is in ten days. -Bernie-