June 29: ORD

Today is June 29th. It's the 181st day of the year. 185 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 61. The 29-year averages are 81 and 61.

On the hot side, in 1991 the high was 96 with a low of 71. In 1981 the high was 96 with a low of 70. In 1996 the high was 92 with a low of 73. In 2005 the high was 90 with a low of 73. Other warm lows were 67 in both 1995 and 1998. The record high of 97 was set in 1954 and the record warmest low of 80 was set in 1931. 24 of the 29 highs so far have been in the 70s (11) and 80s (13).

On the cool side, our lone 60s high of 68 degrees occurred in 1984. A high of 70 occurred in 1982, 1988 and last year. The record low of 48 was set in 1989. The record coolest high of 54 was set way back 1899. 24 of the 29 lows so far have been 50s (12) and 60s (12).

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 21% visible at midnight and 16% visible at noon. Moonrise was at 1:43 and moonset is at 17:13. Moonrise will be at 2:24 tonight. Moonlight time is 15 hours, 30 minutes today. The moon will be new on Wednesday at 21:19.

Our nation's 232nd birthday (Independence Day) is in five days and my mother will celebrate her 67th birthday in 11 days. Happy birthday mom! -Bernie-