July 13: ORD

Today is July 13th. It's the 195th day of the year. 171 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 63.

On the hot side, in 1995 the high was the record high of 104 with the record warmest low of 81. The high of 104 ties June 20, 1988 as the highest-ever temperature at O'Hare. In 1997 the high was 94 with a low of 72. In 1979 the high was 92 with a low of 71. In 1981 the high was 88 with a low of 74. Other hot highs include 94 in 1988, 92 in 1985, 90 in 1980, 90 in 1984, 89 in 1983, 88 in 2000, 87 in 2004 and 87 two years ago. The other 70s low was 73 in 2005. 14 of the past 29 highs have been 80s.

On the cool side, 1990 claims the only 60s high of 66 with a low of 59. In 1987 the high was 74 with a low of 54. Another cool high was 72 in 1994. Other cool lows were 56 in both 1983 and 1999. The record low of 52 occurred in 1975 and the record coolest high of 64 was set in 1926. 15 of the 29 lows so far have been 60s.

Note: 1983 was kind of a dual temperature day. Both the high of 89 and low of 56 were noteworthy for hottest and coldest. Also, the difference was 33-degrees between the high and low.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 4:55 and sunrise is at 5:29. Sunset is at 20:29 and twilight ends at 21:02. There's a total of 15 hours of sunlight and 16 hours, 7 minutes between twilights. The moon is waxing gibbous with 82% visible at noon and 85% visible at midnight tonight. Moonrise is at 17:09 and moonset is at 1:54 tomorrow. Moonlight time is 8 hours, 8 minutes today. The moon will reach full (the full Buck moon) on Friday, July 18th at 2:59.

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