May 8: ORD

Today is May 8th. It's the 129th day of the year. 237 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 71 and 48.

On the warm side, in 1979 we had our only 90s high at 90 degrees and it is also the runner-up earliest first 90s high (earliest was on April 22 one year later in 1980). The low was the record warmest low of 68 degrees. In 1988, the high was 85 with a low of 52. Last year the high was 82 with a low of 54. The record high of 91 was set in 1963. Other 80s highs include 84 in 2004 and 85 in 2005. 24/29 highs have been in the 60s, 70s and 80s (9, 8 and 7 respectively).

On the cool side, in 1983 we had our only 40s high of 48 with the record low of 29. In 1984 the high was 51 with a low of 38. The record coolest high of 42 was set in 1960. The low was 32 in 1981. By far the largest category of low temperatures is the 40s at 17 occurrences of the 29 since 1979.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 5:08 and sunrise is at 5:39. Sunset is at 20:01 and twilight ends at 20:32. There's a total of 14 hours, 22 minutes of sunlight and 15 hours, 24 minutes between twilights. The moon is waxing crescent with 11% visible at midnight and 15% visible at noon. Moon rise is at 8:01 and moon set is at 0:19 on the 9th. Moonlight time is 16 hours, 18 minutes. The moon turned new at 7:18 on Monday, May 5th.

Mother's Day is in 3 days and Memorial Day is in 18 days. One of my sisters, Maria, will be celebrating her 29th birthday in 8 days. I wish her happy birthday!

- Bernie-