November 14: ORD

Today is November 14th. It's the 319th day of the year. 47 days remain. It's week 46 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. ORD has been the official site of record for Chicago since Thursday, January 17, 1980. Before this, the official site was on the south side of Chicago at Midway International Airport (MDW), beginning on Wednesday, July 1, 1942. From Friday, January 1, 1926 through Tuesday, June 30, 1942, the official site was at the University of Chicago. Before that, the official site was at various locations in Chicago going back to Monday, October 16, 1871. Observations taken from October 15, 1870 to October 8, 1871 were lost in the Great Chicago Fire.
 
According to the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), the normal high is 49 and the normal low is 33. I've calculated the 34-year averages at 50 and 33.

On the warm side, in 2001 the high was 62 with a low of 51 (O'Hare's second warmest low of the date). In 1989 the high was 62 with a low of 46. Three years ago, in 2009, the high was 63 with a low of 43. The other warm highs were 66 degrees in 1990, 65 degrees in 1973 and 62 degrees in 1994. The record high of 78 degrees was set in 1971 at Midway. The record warmest low of 59 degrees occurred in 1958 at Midway. The past 34 highs have been fairly evenly distributed: 30s (7 for 21%), 40s (10 for 29%), 50s (9 for 26%) and 60s (8 for 24%). Our most recent 30s high was 36 degrees in 2000. There were three consecutive 30s highs (1995-1997) and three consecutive 40s highs (1978-1980). O'Hare's warmest November 14th was in 1958 as the high was 71 (O'Hare's second warmest high of the date) with a low of 57 (O'Hare's warmest low of the date). O'Hare's second warmest 11/14 was in 1971 as the high was 77 (O'Hare's warmest high of the date) with a low of 48. The third warmest 11/14 was in 1960 as the high was 69 with a low of 48. The other warm 11/14 day was in 1964 as the high was 70 (O'Hare's third warmest high and last of the 70s highs) with a low of 37.

In looking back through the years to the first November at O'Hare in 1958, the following instances were notable: in 1976 the high was 39 with a cold low of 15, a cold day. In 1974 the high was a cold 30 with a low of 23, a cold day with a small seven degree spread. In 1973 the high was a warm 65 degrees. In 1971 the high was 77 with a low of 48, a warm day and year of the record high of 78 at Midway. In 1969 the high as 28 with a low of 20, a cold day. In 1965 the low was a cold 20 degrees. In 1964 the high was a warm 70 with a low of 37, a 33 degree spread and warm day. In 1962 the high was a warm 61 with a low of 27, a 34 degree spread. In 1960 the high was 69 with a low of 48, a warm day. In 1959 the high was 26 with a low of 13, a cold day. That high of 26 is near the record coldest high of 24. The low of 13 is actually colder than the record low of 14. In 1958 the high was 71 with a low of 57, a warm day and year of the record warmest low of 59 at Midway.

More recently, there were large spreads of 35 degrees in 1981 (61/26), 31 degrees in 1990 (66/35) and 31 degrees in 1999 (60/29). There were small spreads of three degrees in 1993 (46/43) and five degrees in 1997 (38/33). 

On the cool side, in 1986 (O'Hare's third coolest November 14th) the high was 34 with a low of 15 (with 1976, O'Hare's second coldest low of the date). A decade later, in 1996, the high was 33 with a low of 17. In 1982 the high was 30 with a low of 20. In 1995 the high was 37 with a low of 18. As you can see, the back to back years of 1995 and 1996 had lows in the 10s (a.k.a. teens). These are our most recent 10s lows for the date. In 1992 the high was 35 with a low of 20. The other cold low is 20 degrees in 1965. The other cool high is 36 degrees in 2000 (our most recent 30s high). The record low of 14 degrees and record coolest high of 24 degrees were set on the same cold day back in 1916. The record low of 14 degrees first occurred 16 years earlier in 1900. All of the records were set at a time when the official readings were taken adjacent to Lake Michigan. 24 of the last 34 lows (71%) were in the: 20s (10) and 30s (14). There were consecutive 20s and 30s lows as follows: nine from 1977 through 1985 and six from 2002 through 2007. Three lows (9%) were in the cold 10s (a.k.a. teens). Seven lows (20%) were in the warm: 40s (6) and 50s (1). O'Hare's coolest November 14th was in 1959 as the high was 26 (O'Hare's coolest high of the date) with a low of 13 (O'Hare's coldest low of the date). O'Hare's second coolest 11/14 was in 1969 as the high was 28 (O'Hare's second coolest high of the date) with a low of 20. O'Hare's other cool 11/14 days were in: 1974 (high of 30, low of 23) and 1976 (high of 39, low of 15 (with 1986, O'Hare's second coldest low of the date)).

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 6:13 and sunrise is at 6:43. Sunset is at 16:32 and twilight ends at 17:02. There's a total of 9 hours, 49 minutes of daylight today and 10 hours, 49 minutes between twilights. We lost two minutes of daylight from yesterday. Tomorrow twilight begins at 6:14 and sunrise is at 6:44. The moon is waxing crescent, having reached new yesterday at 16:08. Illumination was 0% at midnight, will be 1% at noon and 3% at midnight tonight. Moonrise was at 7:34 this morning. Moonset is at 17:20 this afternoon. Moonrise is at 8:42 tomorrow morning. Moonlight time is 9 hours, 46 minutes which is 19 minutes shorter than yesterday. 

Cool Fall began on November 2nd and runs for 29 days through November 30th. High temperatures in this period are usually in the 30s, 40s and 50s. Highs in the 20s, 60s and 70s occur infrequently. Thanksgiving is in eight days. Pearl Harbor Day is in 23 days.