May 3: ORD

Today is May 3rd. It's the 124th day of the year. 242 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.

According to the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), the normal high for today is 66 and the normal low is 42.
The 29-year averages are 64 and 42.

On the warm side, in 2001 we had our only 80s high of 86 with a low of 58. 70s highs of note include 76 in 1980, 78 in 1981, 79 in 1982, 78 in 1999, 77 in 2000 and 73 in 2006. The other 50s low of note was 57 degrees in 1993. The record high of 92 occurred in 1955 and the record warmest low of 68 degrees occurred four years later in 1959.

On the cool side, in 2004 the high was 54 and the low was the record low of 30. The next year, 2005, the high was 52 and the low was 33. We had highs of just 51 in 1983 and 50 in 1987. Before 2004, the former record low was 32 which occurred in 1971. The record coldest high of 41 still stands, having been set in 1935. 26 of the 29 lows have been in the 30s and 40s.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 5:15 and sunrise is at 5:46. Sunset is at 19:55 and twilight ends at 20:26. There's a total of 14 hours, 9 minutes of sunlight and 15 hours, 11 minutes between twilights. The moon is waning crescent with 8% visible at midnight and 5% visible at noon. The moon will be new at 7:18 on Monday, May 5th. Moonrise is at 4:19 and moonset is at 18:05. Moonlight time is 13 hours and 46 minutes.

Mother's Day is in 8 days and Memorial Day is in 23 days. One of my sisters, Maria, will be celebrating her 29th birthday in a day short of two weeks. I wish her happy birthday!

- Bernie Ziegler