June 19: ORD

Today is June 19th. It's the 171st day of the year. 195 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 59. The 29-year averages are 80 and 58.

On the hot side, in 1995 the high was 94 with a low of 71. In 1988 the high was 93 with a low of 71. The other 90s high was 92 in 1986. The upper 80s were 89 in 1987, 87 in 1991 and 87 two years ago. The record high of 102 was set in 1953 and the record warmest low of 75 was set in 1931. 14 of the 29 highs thus far have been in the 80s.

On the cool side, in 1980 the high was 69 with the record low of 43. In 2004 the high was 64 with a low of 48. Other cool highs include 67 in 1992 and 68 in 2003. Another cool low was 47 in 1985. The record coolest high of 56 was set in 1926. 24 of the 29 lows so far have been in the 50s (13) and 60s (11).

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 4:42 and sunrise is at 5:17. Sunset is at 20:33 and twilight ends at 21:08. There's a total of 15 hours, 16 minutes of sunlight and 16 hours, 26 minutes between twilights. The moon is waning gibbous with 100% visible at midnight and 99% visible at noon. Moonset is at 5:40 and moonrise is at 21:46. Moonlight time is 7 hours, 54 minutes today. The full Strawberry moon was yesterday at 12:30. The Summer Solstice is tomorrow at 18:59.

Independence day is in 15 days. -Bernie-