June 9: ORD

Today is June 9th. It's the 161st day of the year. 205 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 78 and the normal low is 55. The 29-year averages are 76 and 56.

On the hot side, in 1999 the high was 90 with a low of 67. In 2000 the high was 87 with a low of 67. The high in 2005 was 89. The low in 1984 was 70. 28 of the 29 highs so far have been in the 60s (8), 70s (9) and 80s (11). The record high of 98 occurred in 1911. The record warmest low of 77 occurred in 1914.

On the cool side, no days were -12 or greater below normal. In lieu of this, we had the following cool highs: 60 in 1996, 63 in 1988, 66 in 1987 and 66 in 1989. Cold lows include the record low of 40 in 1994 (former record was 42 in 1977) and 43 in 1980. The 50s have the greatest number of low temperature occurrences over the last 29 years with 14. The record coolest high was 54, set in 1915. Unusual to have 3 of the 4 records so close in years.

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 20:29 and twilight ends at 21:03. There's a total of 15 hours, 12 minutes of sunlight and 16 hours, 21 minutes between twilights. The moon is waxing crescent with 36% visible at midnight and 41% visible at noon. Moonset is at 0:31 and moonrise is at 11:51. Moonlight time is 12 hours, 40 minutes today. The moon will reach first quarter on Tuesday at 10:04.

My father turns 68 in two days. Happy Birthday Dad! Flag day is in five days and Father's Day is in six days. - Bernie -