June 12: ORD

Today is June 12th. It's the 164th day of the year. 202 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 79 and the normal low is 56. The 29-year averages are 79 and 58.

On the hot side, in 1987 the high was 93 with a low of 67. In 1990, we had the only upper 80s high of 88 with a low of 68. All 90s highs happened between the years 1983 to 1988. Others were 93 in 1983, 91 in 1984 and 90 in 1988. Our only upper 60s low was 67 in 1999 and our only 70s low was 70 in 2005. The record high of 97 was set in 1956 and the record warmest low of 75 was set in 1920.

On the cool side, in 1985 the only 50s high of 57 occurred with the record low of 40. The other cool high of 60 occurred in 2000. Other cool lows include 49 in 1995, 51 in 1992 and 52 in both 1980 and 1996. The record coolest high of 55 was set in 1955. 26 of the 29 lows have been in the 50s and 60s (13 in each category).

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 4:42 and sunrise is at 5:16. Sunset is at 20:30 and twilight ends at 21:05. There's a total of 15 hours, 14 minutes of sunlight and 16 hours, 23 minutes between twilights. The moon is waxing gibbous with 66% visible at midnight and 71% visible at noon. Moonset is at 1:33 and moonrise is at 15:06. Moonlight time is 10 hours, 27 minutes today. The moon reached first quarter Tuesday at 10:04.

Flag day is in two days and Father's Day is in three days. -Bernie-