June 15: ORD

Today is June 15th. It's the 167th day of the year. 199 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 57. The 29-year averages are 80 and 59.

On the hot side, in 1994 the record high of 95 was the tied (record is 95 set in 1954). Also in 1994 the new record warmest low of 78 was established. In 1979, the high was 89 with a low of 72. In 1988 we had a high of 93 with a low of 67. In 1981 the high was 88 with a low of 68. In 1991 the high was 87 with a low of 67. The high was 91 last year and 89 in 1995. 23 of the 29 highs so far have been in the 70s (10) and 80s (13).

On the cool side, in 1989 we had our only 50s high of 57 with a low of 53. In 1999 the high was 63 with a low of 52. In 1984 the high was 69 with a low of 51. In 1997 the new record low of 43 occurred. The former record low was 46 in 1917. Other cool lows were 51 in 1982 and 49 in 1980. The record coolest high of 52 was set in 1917. 25 of the 29 lows so far have been in the 50s (14) and 60s (11). 1997 exhibited a 39-degree difference between the high of 82 and low of 43.

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 20:32 and twilight ends at 21:06. There's a total of 15 hours, 16 minutes of sunlight and 16 hours, 24 minutes between twilights. The moon is waxing gibbous with 89% visible at midnight and 92% visible at noon. Moonset is at 2:45 and moonrise is at 18:16. Moonlight time is 8 hours, 29 minutes today. The moon reached first quarter last Tuesday at 10:04.

Flag day was yesterday and Father's Day is today. -Bernie-