May 15: ORD

Today is May 15th. It's the 136th day of the year. 230 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 47.
The 29-year averages are 69 and 48.

On the warm side, in 1998 the high was 86 with a low of 64. In 1991 the high was 87 with a low of 57. In 1988 the high was 80 with a low of 63. In 2001, the high was 88 with a low of 55. In 1982, the high was 85 with a low of 56. Last year the high was 80 with a low of 57. The record high and record warmest low were both set in 1962 at 91 and 71 degrees respectively.
High temperatures show a fairly even distribution for the date:
50s (6), 60s (9), 70s (8) and 80s (6).

On the cool side, in 1997 the high was 51 with a low of 38. In 1983 the high was 53 with a low of 37. In 2004 the high was 55 with a low of 39. The other mid 50s high was 54 in 2005. The other 30s low was 38 in 1984. The record low of 35 was set way back in 1895 and the record coolest high of 44 was set in 1904.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 5:00 and sunrise is at 5:32. Sunset is at 20:08 and twilight ends at 20:40. There's a total of 14 hours, 36 minutes of sunlight and 15 hours, 40 minutes between twilights. The moon is waxing gibbous with 80% visible at midnight, 83% visible at noon and 87% visible at midnight tonight. Moonset is at 3:08 and moonrise is at 16:10. The moon will set at 3:28 tomorrow. Moonlight time is 10 hours, 58 minutes today. The moon will reach full (the full Flower moon) on Monday, May 19 at 21:11.

Memorial Day is in 11 days. One of my sisters, Maria, will be celebrating her 29th birthday in one day. I wish her happy birthday!

- Bernie -