May 5: ORD

Today is May 5th. It's the 126th day of the year. 240 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 44. The 29-year averages are 69 and 46.

On the warm side, in 1982 the high was 88 with a low of 61. In 2000 the high was 84 with a warmest (but not record) low of 64. In 1980, the high was 88 and the low was 52. In 1999, we had our only upper 70s high of 78 with a low of 61. In 1986, the high was 80 with a low of 58. The only upper 50s low was 57 in 1985. The record high of 94 was set in 1949 and the record warmest low of 70 was set a decade later in 1959.

On the cool side, 1992 had the only mean that was at least 12 degrees or more below normal. We had our coolest high of 52 and the record low of 32. The other 50s highs were 59 in 1989, 58 in 2006 and 57 in 1996. The record coolest high of 43 was set in 1978. 19 of the 29 lows have been in the 40s and 50s.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 5:12 and sunrise is at 5:43. Sunset is at 19:58 and twilight ends at 20:29. There's a total of 14 hours, 15 minutes of sunlight and 15 hours, 17 minutes between twilights. The moon is new with 0% visible at midnight and 0% visible at noon. Moonrise is at 5:19 and moonset is at 20:49. Moonlight time is 15 hours, 30 minutes. The moon will be new at 7:18 on Monday, May 5th.

Mother's Day is in 6 days and Memorial Day is in 21 days. One of my sisters, Maria, will be celebrating her 29th birthday in 11 days. I wish her happy birthday!

-Bernie-