June 16: ORD

Today is June 16th. It's the 168th day of the year. 198 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 80 and the normal low is 57. The 29-year averages are 81 and 58.

On the hot side, in 1994 the high was 95 with a low of 74. Two years ago the high was 90 with a low of 72. In 1979 the high was 88 with a low of 69. Other hot highs include 93 last year, 90 in 1987, 89 in 1995, 88 in 1992 and 88 in 1996. The record high of 98 was set in 1913 and the record warmest low of 76 was set in 1952. 22/29 highs so far have been in the 70s (9) and 80s (13).

On the cool side, in 1982 we had a high of 62 with a low of 45. In 1980 the high was 64 with the record low of 44. The high in 1999 was 68. The record coolest high of 54 was set way back in 1879. 25 of the 29 lows so far have been in the 50s (16) and 60s (9).

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 21:07. There's a total of 15 hours, 16 minutes of sunlight and 16 hours, 25 minutes between twilights. The moon is waxing gibbous with 94% visible at midnight and 96% visible at noon. Moonset is at 3:17 and moonrise is at 19:17. Moonlight time is 8 hours today. The moon will reach full Strawberry status Wednesday at 12:30.

Independence day is in 18 days. -Bernie-