July 26: ORD

Today is July 26th. It's the 208th day of the year. 158 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 Thursday, January 17, 1980.

According to the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), the normal high is 84 and the normal low is 64. The 29-year averages are 83 and 65.

On the hot side, in 1997 the high was 97 with a low of 73. In 1982 the high was 91 with a low of 73. The other 90s high of 90 occurred in 1987. There were two periods of nine ('88-'96) and ten ('98-'07) consecutive years without a 90s high. The record high of 99 was set in 1955 and the record warmest low of 80 was set in 1916. 19 of the 29 highs so far have been 80s.

On the cool side, in 1984 the only 60s high of 67 occurred with the near-record low of 55 (the record is 53, set in 1962 and tied in 1991). The one cool 70s high was 74 in 2004. The other cool lows were 54 in 1994 and 56 in 1998. The record coolest high of 66 was set way back in 1891. 15 of the 29 lows have been 60s.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 5:08 and sunrise is at 5:41. Tomorrow morning twilight begins at 5:09 and sunrise is at 5:42. Sunset today is at 20:18 and twilight ends at 20:51. There's a total of 14 hours, 37 minutes of sunlight and 15 hours, 43 minutes between twilights. The moon reached last quarter yesterday at 13:42 with 45% visible at midnight, 39% visible at noon and 34% visible at midnight tonight. Moonset is at 14:56 and moonrise is at 0:18 tomorrow. Moonlight time is 14 hours, 56 minutes today.

Parent's Day is tomorrow. -Bernie-