July 7: ORD

Today is July 7th. It's the 189th day of the year. 177 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 85 and 62.

On the hot side, in 1988 the high was 97 with a low of 71. In 1980 the high was the record high of 102 with a low of 59 (a 43-degree difference). In 1991 the high was 94 with a low of 67. In 1987 the high was 90 with a low of 70. In 1994 the high was 87 with a low of 73. Other hot highs include 93 in 1981, 91 in 1996 and 90 last year. The record warmest low of 78 was set way back in 1876. 14 of the past 29 highs have been 80s.

On the cool side, in 1984 the high was 74 with a low of 47. In 1983 the high was 79 with the record low of 45. In 2004 we had our only 60s high of 69 degrees. Other cool highs were 75 in 1997 and 76 in 2000. The record coolest high of 62 occurred in 1904. 15 of the 29 lows have been in the 60s.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 4:50 and sunrise is at 5:25. Sunset is at 20:32 and twilight ends at 21:06. There's a total of 15 hours, 7 minutes of sunlight and 16 hours, 16 minutes between twilights. The moon is waxing crescent with 22% visible at midnight and 26% visible at noon. Moonrise is at 10:43 and moonset is at 23:16. Moonlight time is 12 hours, 33 minutes today. The moon is approaching it's first quarter which will occur Wednesday at 23:35.

My mother will celebrate her 67th birthday in three days and my niece, Katy, will celebrate her 14th in 11 days. Happy birthday to both of you! -Bernie-