May 27: ORD

Today is May 27th. It's the 148th day of the year. 218 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 is 73 and the normal low is 51. The 29-year averages are 72 and 50.

On the warm side, in 1987 the high was 88 with a low of 68. In 1991 the high was 88 with a low of 66. Two years ago the high was 87 with a low of 59. Other 80s highs include 85 in 1980, 84 in 1988, 83 in 1998 and 81 in 1999. Last year the high was 75 and the low was 57. The records were both set in 1911: the record high of 94 and record warmest low of 75. 28 of the past 29 highs have been in the 60s (12), 70s (9) and 80s (7).

On the cool side, the high in 1992 was 63 with the record low of 33. The only other 30s low was 35 in 1994. Other cool highs were 62 in 1984, 61 in 2001 and 54 in 1996 (only 50s high). 25 of the past 29 lows have been in the 40s (14) and 50s (11). The record coolest high of 49 was set way back in 1895.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 4:49 and sunrise is at 5:22. Sunset is at 20:20 and twilight ends at 20:53. There's a total of 14 hours, 58 minutes of sunlight and 16 hours, 4 minutes between twilights. The moon is waning gibbous with 59% visible at midnight and 54% visible at noon. Moonrise is at 1:12 and moonset is at 12:08. Moonrise is at 1:34 tomorrow. Moonlight time is 10 hours, 56 minutes today. The moon is waning gibbous and will reach the last quarter on Tuesday at 21:57.

My father turns 68 in 15 days. Happy Birthday Dad!

- Bernie -