July 14: ORD

Today is July 14th. It's the 196th day of the year. 170 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 65.

On the hot side, in 1995 the high was the co-record high of 100 with the record warmest low of 83. In 1988 the high was the co-record high of 100 with a low of 69. In 1980 the high was 97 with a low of 71. In 1997 the high was 92 with a low of 73. Other 90s highs include 95 in 1983, 92 in 1984 and 90 in 1998. Other 70s lows include 72 in 2006, 71 in 2005 and 70 in 1979. 14 of the past 29 highs have been 80s. We've had nine straight years without a high of 90 or higher. The last was 90 in 1998. That the record highs are in '95 and '88 exemplifies the two hottest summers since 1979: 1995 was the hottest and 1988 was the second hottest.

On the cool side, in 1990 the high was the near-record coolest high of 65 (the record was 64 in 1930). The low in 1990 was 60. The other cool high was 70 in 1992. Cool lows were 55 in 2003 and 56 in both 1989 and 2002. The record low of 52 occurred in 1926. 19 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 4:56 and sunrise is at 5:30. Sunset is at 20:28 and twilight ends at 21:02. There's a total of 14 hours, 58 minutes of sunlight and 16 hours, 6 minutes between twilights. The moon is waxing gibbous with 88% visible at noon and 91% visible at midnight tonight. Moonrise is at 18:08 and moonset is at 2:39 tomorrow. Moonlight time is 7 hours, 46 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 four days. Happy birthday Katy! Parent's Day is in 13 days. -Bernie-