May 28: ORD

Today is May 28th. It's the 149th day of the year. 217 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 74 and the normal low is 52. The 29-year averages are 73 and 52.

On the warm side, two years ago the high was a near-record of 92 degrees (record is 93 in 1977), with the record warmest low of 74 (former record warmest low was 72 in 1941). In 1991 the high was 91 with a low of 69. In 1987 the high was 88 with a low of 68. In 1998 the high was 90 with a low of 60. In 1999 the high was 87 with a low of 63. In 1980 the high was 85 with a low of 60. Other 80s highs include 88 in 1988 and 80 in 1994. 18 of the past 29 highs have been in the 60s (8) and 70s (10).

On the cool side, the high in 1984 was 51 with a low of 40. In 1992 the high was 69 with the record (and only 30s low) of 33. Other cool high temperatures were 59 in 1983 and 57 in 1996. In 1989 the low was 42. The record coolest high of 47 was set way back in 1884. 22 of the past 29 lows have been in the 40s (10) and 50s (12).

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 4:48 and sunrise is at 5:21. Sunset is at 20:20 and twilight ends at 20:54. There's a total of 14 hours, 59 minutes of sunlight and 16 hours, 6 minutes between twilights. The moon is waning crescent with 49% visible at midnight and 43% visible at noon. Moonrise was at 1:34 and moonset is at 13:16. Moonrise is at 1:56 tomorrow. Moonlight time is 11 hours, 42 minutes today. The moon reached last quarter yesterday at 21:57.

My father turns 68 in 14 days. Happy Birthday Dad! Flag day is in 17 days and Father's Day is in 18 days. - Bernie -