November 29: ORD

Today is November 29th. It's the 334rd day of the year. 32 days remain. It's week 48 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 41 and the normal low is 27. The 30-year averages are 41 and 28.

On the warm side, ten years ago the high was the record high of 68 with the record warmest low of 57. Remember that yesterday the highest was 67 in 1998, our warmest (though not the record). Seven years before this, in 1991, the high was 60 with a low of 38. Two years ago the high was 60 with a low of 38. In 1997 the high was 49 with a low of 42, a seven degree spread. Other warm lows were 39 in 2001 and 37 in 1982. 26 of the last 30 highs were 30s (15) and 40s (11). Three highs were 60s and a lone high was in the 20s (see cold side below). There have been no 50s highs.

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 13 with a low of 1 (a very cold day). In 1975 the high was 62 with a low of 37 (a bonus 60s day). In 1971 the high was 40 with a low of 33 (a seven degree spread). In 1968 the high was 36 with a low of 31 (a five degree spread). In 1964 the high was 18 with a low of 9 (a very cold day). In 1960 the high was 28 with a low of 21, a spread of seven degrees. Remember that yesterday in 1960 the high was 63 with a low of 28, so obviously a cold front moved through. The drop was 42 degrees. 1958 was another very cold day as the high was 22 with a low of 3.

More recently, the spread was three degrees in 1982 (40/37), five degrees in 2000 (37/32), six degrees in 2001 (45/39), six degrees in 2004 (38/32) and seven degrees in 1983 (31/24).

On the cold side, in 1989 the high was 29 with a low of 12. In 1995 the high was 33 with a low of 11. Other cold lows were 17 in 1981 and 18 last year. Other cold highs were 31 in both 1983 and 1993. The record low of -2 was set way back in 1872 and record coldest high of 10 was set back in 1929. 15 of the last 30 lows were 20s. Nine lows were 30s and four lows were 10s. One low was in the 40s and one in the 50s (see warm side above).

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 6:30 and sunrise is at 7:01. Sunset is at 16:23 and twilight ends at 16:54. There's a total of 9 hours, 22 minutes of daylight today and 10 hours, 24 minutes between twilights. Tomorrow twilight begins at 6:31 and sunrise is at 7:02. The moon is waxing crescent. Illumination was 2% at midnight, will be 4% at noon and 6% at midnight tonight. Moonrise is at 9:02. Moonset is at 17:41 and moonrise is at 9:45 tomorrow morning. Moonlight time is 8 hours, 39 minutes today.

Pearl Harbor Day is in eight days. A sister of mine, Regina, will celebrate a birthday in 15 days and Bill of Rights day is in 16 days. -Bernie-