May 9: ORD

Today is May 9th. It's the 130th day of the year. 236 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 67 and the normal low is 45.
The 29-year averages are 72 and 49.

On the warm side, in 1979 we had a high of 89 and the record warmest low of 69. In 1993 the high was 87 with a low of 60. In 1987 the high was 85 with a low of 55. In 2004 the high was 88 with a low of 52. In 2005 the high was 77 with a low of 62. In 2003 the high was 84 with a low of 54. Last year the high was 77 with a low of 61. The other 80s are 81 in 1985 and 80 in 2001. The record high of 94 was set in 1934.

On the cool side, in 1983 we had a high of 55 with the record low of 27. All of the coldest temperatures happened in 4 of the 5 years from 1980 to 1984. The three 30s lows were 35 in 1980, 38 in 1981 and 37 in 1984. The record coldest high of 42 occurred in 1966. 21 of the 29 lows for the date 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 5:07 and sunrise is at 5:38. Sunset is at 20:02 and twilight ends at 20:34. There's a total of 14 hours, 24 minutes of sunlight and 15 hours, 27 minutes between twilights. The moon is waxing crescent with 20% visible at midnight and 25% visible at noon. Moonset is at 0:19 and moonrise is at 9:14. The moon will set at 1:04 on the 10th. Moonlight time is 15 hours, 5 minutes today. First quarter moon is Monday, May 12th at 8:47.

Mother's Day is in 2 days and Memorial Day is in 17 days. One of my sisters, Maria, will be celebrating her 29th birthday in 7 days. I wish her happy birthday!

- Bernie-