June 28: ORD

Today is June 28th. It's the 180th day of the year. 186 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 November 1978 and last year. Observations have been official at O'Hare since Thu. 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 82 and the normal low is 60. The 29-year averages are 83 and 61.

On the hot side, in 2005 the high was 94 with a low of 76. In 1991 the high was 89 with a low of 70. In 1998 the high was 88 with a low of 68. In 1999 the high was 87 with a low of 67. Other hot 80s include 89 (1980 & 1981), 88 (1988 & 1997) and 87 in 1990. Another hot high was 92 in 1996. Another warm low was 67 in 1995. The record high of 101 was set in 1971 and the record warmest low of 81 was set in 1913. 18 of 29 highs so far have been in the 80s.

On the cool side, our lone 60s high of 69 degrees occurred in 2000. In 1983 the high was 70 and a decade later in 1993 it was 72. The record low of 44 was set in 1992. Remarkably, we've had no lows in the lower 50s going back to 1979. The record coolest high of 58 was set way back at the beginning of the 20th century in 1902. 17 of the 29 lows so far have been in the 60s.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 4:45 and sunrise is at 5:19. Sunset is at 20:34 and twilight ends at 21:08. There's a total of 15 hours, 15 minutes of sunlight and 16 hours, 23 minutes between twilights. The moon is waning crescent with 31% visible at midnight and 26% visible at noon. Moonrise was at 1:11 and moonset is at 15:54. Moonrise will be at 1:43 tonight. Moonlight time is 14 hours, 43 minutes today. The last quarter moon was Thursday at 7:10.

Independence day is in six days and my mother will celebrate her 67th birthday in 12 days. Happy birthday mom! -Bernie-