July 17: ORD

Today is July 17th. It's the 199th day of the year. 167 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 64. The 29-year averages are 86 and 66.

On the hot side, in 1982 the high was 93 with a low of 78. In 1986 the high was 94 with a low of 74. In 1983 the high was 93 with a low of 74. In 2005 the high was 97 with a low of 70. Two years ago the high was 95 with a low of 72. In 1997 the high was 92 with a low of 74. Other 90s highs include 91 in 1987 and 90 in 1980. Other 70s lows were 71 in 2001 and 70 in 1995. There were a couple of long stretches between 90s highs. The first instance was ten years from 1987's 91 to 1997's 92. Secondly, the eight years from 1997's 92 to 2005's 97. The record high of 100 was set in 1942 and the record warmest low of 80 was set way back in 1878. 17 of the 29 highs have been 80s.

On the cool side, in 1979 the high was 71 with the record low of 50. In 1985 the high was 79 with a low of 51. In 1984 the high was 78 with a low of 57. The other cool 70s high was 75 in 2004. The other cool 50s low was 55 in 1989. The record coolest high of 64 was set in 1924. 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 4:59 and sunrise is at 5:32. Sunset is at 20:26 and twilight ends at 20:59. There's a total of 14 hours, 54 minutes of sunlight and 16 hours between twilights. The moon is waxing gibbous with 99% visible at midnight, 100% visible at noon and 100% visible at midnight tonight. Moonset was at 4:33 this morning. Moonrise is at 20:23 today and moonset is at 5:37 tomorrow. Moonlight time is 8 hours, 10 minutes today. The moon will reach full (the full Buck moon) tomorrow at 2:59.

My niece will celebrate her 14th tomorrow. Happy birthday Katy! Parent's Day is in ten days. -Bernie-