May 13: ORD

Today is May 13th. It's the 134th day of the year. 232 days remain.

Unless noted, the following data is based upon observations collected by the National Weather Service, Chicago, at O'Hare International Airport (ORD) between 1979 and 2007. Observations have been official at O'Hare since Jan. 17, 1980.

Before this, Midway International Airport (MDW) was the official station of record from Wed. July 1, 1942 to Thu. Jan. 17, 1980. Before July 1, 1942, records were official at various locations in the city going all the way back to Mon. Oct. 16, 1871. Records before this (back to Sat. Oct. 15, 1870) were lost during the Great Chicago Fire which began on the evening of Sun. Oct. 8, 1871.

According to the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), the normal high for today is 69 and the normal low is 46.
The 29-year averages are 68 and 47.

On the warm side, in 1991 the high was 89 which tied the record high set in 1956 and the low was a warm 64. In 2004 the high was 78 with another warm low of 65. The other highs of note were 86 in 1982, 79 in 1998 and 78 in 1987. The other 60s low was 61 in 1983. The record warmest low of 72 was set in 1956. 27 of the 29 highs so far have been in the 50s (7), 60s (10) and 70s (10).

On the cool side, in 1996 we had a high of 56 with the record-tying record low of 34 (also in 1888). In 2006 the high was 50 with a low of 42. The low was 37 in 2001 and 39 in 1997. The record coolest high is 41 which was set way back in 1883. 20 of the 29 lows have been in the 40s.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 5:02 and sunrise is at 5:34. Sunset is at 20:06 and twilight ends at 20:38. There's a total of 14 hours, 32 minutes of sunlight and 15 hours, 36 minutes between twilights. The moon is waxing gibbous with 62% visible at midnight, 66% visible at noon and 71% visible at midnight tonight. Moonset is at 2:28 and moonrise is at 14:02. The moon will set at 2:49 tomorrow. Moonlight time is 12 hours, 26 minutes today. First quarter moon phase was yesterday at 8:47.

Memorial Day is in 13 days. One of my sisters, Maria, will be celebrating her 29th birthday in 3 days. I wish her happy birthday!

- Bernie -