June 7: ORD

Today is June 7th. It's the 159th day of the year. 207 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 77 and the normal low is 55. The 29-year averages are 81 and 57.

On the hot side, last year the high was 91 with a low of 71. In 1999 the high was 88 with a low of 73. In 1988 the high was 94 with a low of 65. In 1987 the high was 89 with a low of 67. Other hot highs include 92 in 1982, 92 in 2005, 92 in 1995 with a low of 51 (a 41-degree high to low spread) and 87 in 2004. Other warm lows were 69 in 1979 and 66 in 1984. The record high of 100 was set in 1933 and the record warmest low of 78 was also set in 1933.

On the cool side, 1996 was the only day that the mean was at least 12 degrees below normal. The high was 60 with a low of 48. All of our 60s highs occurred between 1993 and 2001 (4 total). The other ones were 62 in 1997, 68 in 2001 and 69 in 1993. 1913 was the year for the records: record low of 44 and record coolest high of 50. 22 of the 29 lows thus far have been in the 50s (13 of them) and the 60s (9 of them).

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 4:43 and sunrise is at 5:17. Sunset is at 20:28 and twilight ends at 21:02. There's a total of 15 hours, 11 minutes of sunlight and 16 hours, 19 minutes between twilights. The moon is waxing crescent with 17% visible at midnight and 21% visible at noon. Moonrise is at 9:27 and moonset is at 0:06 tomorrow. Moonlight time is 14 hours, 33 minutes today. The moon reached New four days ago at 14:23.

My father turns 68 in four days. Happy Birthday Dad! Flag day is in seven days and Father's Day is in eight days. - Bernie -