June 20: ORD

Today is June 20th. It's the 172nd day of the year. 194 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 82 and 60.

On the hot side, in 1988 the high was the record high of 104 with a low of 73. This high of 104 is tied with July 13, 1995 as the highest temperature ever at O'Hare. In 1995 the high was 95 with a low of 74. In 1997 the high was 89 with a low of 74. In 2002 the high was 91 with a low of 72. In 1979 the high was 90 with a low of 69. In 1994 the high was 90 with a low of 68. Other 90s highs were 94 in 1991 and 91 in 1998. The record warmest low of 78 was set in 1953. During the record heat of 1988, at 3:00 P.M. it was 103 degrees but by 6:00 P.M. it had cooled off to 77 degrees because a rain shower had crossed the area.

On the cool side, in 1992 the high was the record coolest of 57 degrees with the co-record low of 43. The other low of 43 occurred in 1980. There have been no 60s highs over the last 29 years. Other cool lows were 44 in 1985 and 45 in 2003. 14 lows have been in the 60s (most prevalent 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 5:17. 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 98% visible at midnight and 96% visible at noon. Moonset is at 6:41 and moonrise is at 22:22. Moonlight time is 8 hours, 19 minutes today. The full Strawberry moon was Wednesday at 12:30. The Summer Solstice is today at 18:59.

Independence day is in two weeks. -Bernie-