July 20: ORD

Today is July 20th. It's the 202nd day of the year. 164 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 85 and 65.

On the hot side, in 1980 the high was the record high of 101 with a low of 69. In 1991 the high was 96 with a low of 74. In 1983 the high was 94 with a low of 71. In 1987 the high was 96 with a low of 67. In 2001 the high was 93 with a low of 70. Other 90s highs were 92 in 2005, 91 in 1998 and 90 in both 1994 and 2002. Lows of 70 happened in 1981, 2004 and two years ago. The record warmest low of 79 was set in 1977. 28 of the 29 highs have been 70s (8), 80s (12) and 90s (8).

On the cool side, in 1996 the high was 71 with a low of 59. Last year the high was 75 with a low of 58. In 2000 the high was 75 with a low of 59. In 1992 the high was 76 with a low of 59. Two more cool highs were 72 in 1989 and 76 in 1990. Two other 50s lows were 54 in 1979 and 59 in 1985. The record low of 53 was set in 1970 and the record coolest high of 65 was set in 1950. 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 5:02 and sunrise is at 5:35. Sunset is at 20:24 and twilight ends at 20:57. There's a total of 14 hours, 49 minutes of sunlight and 15 hours, 55 minutes between twilights. The moon is waning gibbous with 96% visible at midnight, 94% visible at noon and 92% visible at midnight tonight. The full Buck moon was Friday morning at 2:59. Moonset was at 7:51 this morning. Moonrise is at 21:44 tonight and moonset is at 8:58 tomorrow. Moonlight time is 10 hours, 7 minutes today.

Parent's Day is in a week. -Bernie-