May 22: ORD

Today is May 22nd. It's the 143rd day of the year. 223 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 72 and the normal low is 50.
The 29-year averages are 73 and 49.

On the warm side, in 1991 the high was 84 with a low of 67. In 1994 the high was 89 with a low of 58. In 1992 the high was 83 with a low of 63. The high was 87 last year. Warmer lows were 58 in 1984 and 57 in 2005. The record high of 94 was set back in 1925 and the record warmest low of 75 was set in 1977. 21 of 29 highs have been in the 60s (11) and 70s (10).

On the cool side, in 2006 the high was 62 with the record low of 36 (former record low was 37 which occurred in 1997). The low was also 37 at O'Hare in 1979. In 2003 the high was 61 with a low of 39. The coolest high of the last 29 years was 59 in 1986. The high in 1998 was 60. The high in 2001 was 61. The record coolest high is 44, set in 1917. 23 of the 29 lows have been in the 40s (10) and 50s (13).

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 4:53 and sunrise is at 5:26. Sunset is at 20:15 and twilight ends at 20:48. There's a total of 14 hours, 49 minutes of sunlight and 15 hours, 55 minutes between twilights. The moon is waning gibbous with 96% visible at midnight and 94% visible at noon. Moonset is at 6:49 and moonrise is at 23:06. Moonlight time is 7 hours, 43 minutes today. The moon was full (full Flower moon) at 21:11 three days ago.

Memorial Day is in four days.

- Bernie -