July 23: ORD

Today is July 23rd. It's the 205th day of the year. 161 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 82 and 63.

On the hot side, in 1999 the high was 94 with a low of 71. In 2001 the high was 92 with a low of 73. In 1987 the high was 92 with a low of 72. In 1984 the high was 89 with a low of 74. The other 90s high was 94 in 1979. The other 70s low was 73 in 1983. The record high of 99 was set in 1914 and the record warmest low of 78 was set in 1965. 15 of the 29 highs have been 80s. There was a streak of 11 years from 1988 to 1998 that was void of 90-degree highs. There's a current six year stretch from 2002-07 that has not had a 90-degree high.

On the cool side, in 1992 the high was the record coolest high of 64 with a low of 60. In 2000 the high was 73 with a low of 52. In 2004 the high was 73 with a low of 56. Other cool 70s highs were 74 in 1997 and 76 in 2002. The record low of 51 was set in 1947. 17 of the 29 lows so far have been in the 60s.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 5:05 and sunrise is at 5:38. Sunset is at 20:21 and twilight ends at 20:54. There's a total of 14 hours, 43 minutes of sunlight and 15 hours, 49 minutes between twilights. The moon is waning gibbous with 77% visible at midnight, 72% visible at noon and 67% visible at midnight tonight. The last quarter moon is Friday at 13:42. Moonset is at 11:15 this morning and moonrise is at 22:49 tonight. Moonlight time is 12 hours, 26 minutes today.

Parent's Day is in four days. -Bernie-