July 12: ORD

Today is July 12th. It's the 194th day of the year. 172 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 84 and the normal low is 63. The 29-year averages are 85 and 64.

On the hot side, in 1995 the high was the record high of 97 with a low of 73. In 1981 the high was 94 with a low of 73. In 1980 the high was 94 with a low of 68. In 1979 the high was 92 with a low of 69. In 1994 the high was 91 with a low of 70. In 1987 the high was 90 with a low of 69. Other warm lows include 72 in 2005, 69 in 1991, 69 in 2004 and 68 two years ago. The record warmest low of 79 was set in 1921. 19 of the past 29 highs have been in the 80s. It's been 13 years since the last high in the 90s (97 in 1995) and we've had just two upper 80s highs on the way back to 1995. These were 87 in 2004 and 88 in 1997.

On the cool side, in 1990 the high was 73 with a low of 59. Other cool highs include 78 in 1989 and 79 in both 1993 and 2002. Other cool lows include the record low of 53 in 1999 and 56 in 1982. The previous record low was 55 degrees in 1975. The record coolest high of 65 was set in 1940. 17 of the 29 lows so far have been 60s.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 4:55 and sunrise is at 5:28. Sunset is at 20:29 and twilight ends at 21:03. There's a total of 15 hours, 1 minute of sunlight and 16 hours, 8 minutes between twilights. The moon is waxing gibbous with 70% visible at midnight this morning, 74% visible at noon and 78% visible at midnight tonight. Moonrise is at 16:07 and moonset is at 1:17 tomorrow. Moonlight time is 8 hours, 39 minutes today. The moon was at first quarter on Wednesday at 23:35.

My niece will celebrate her 14th in six days. Happy birthday Katy! -Bernie-