July 6: ORD

Today is July 6th. It's the 188th day of the year. 178 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 83 and the normal low is 62. The 29-year averages are 84 and 61.

On the hot side, in 1994 the high was 94 with a low of 72. In 1988 the high was the record high of 99 with a low of 66. In 1982 the high was 94 with a low of 70. In 1991 the high was 96 with a low of 67. In 1987 the high was 92 with a low of 68. 7 of the 13 years from 1982 to 1994 have had all of the 90s highs so far. 4 of the 5 highs in the upper 80s have occurred from 1996 to 2003 (4 of these 8 years). The exception was the high of 88 in 1981. Another hot high was 95 in 1989. Another warm low was 71 in 1999. The record warmest low of 80 was set in 1977. 14 of the past 29 highs have been 80s.

On the cool side, in 1983 the high was 71 with a low of 46. In 1979 the high was 78 with the record low of 43. In 1984 the high was 74 with a low of 50. In 1990 we had our only 60s high of 69 degrees. Other cool lows were 50 in 2001, 51 in 1992 and 52 in 1980. The record coolest high of 63 was set way back in 1873. 24 of the 29 lows have been 50s (10) and 60s (14).

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 4:50 and sunrise is at 5:24. Sunset is at 20:32 and twilight ends at 21:06. There's a total of 15 hours, 8 minutes of sunlight and 16 hours, 16 minutes between twilights. The moon is waxing crescent with 13% visible at midnight and 17% visible at noon. Moonrise is at 9:33 and moonset is at 22:55. Moonlight time is 13 hours, 22 minutes today. The moon is approaching the first quarter which will occur Wednesday at 23:35.

My mother will celebrate her 67th birthday in four days. Happy birthday mom! -Bernie-