August 12: ORD

Today is August 12th. It's the 225th day of the year. 141 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 82 and the normal low is 63. The 29-year averages are 80 and 61.

On the hot side, in 1995 the high was 98 with a low of 75. In 1988 the high was 93 with a low of 75. In 2002 the high was 89 with a low of 68. In 2005 the high was 85 with a low of 72. Last year the high was 88 with a low of 67. Other hot highs include 88 in 1985 and 87 in 1987. Other warm lows were 70 in 1993 and 67 in 2003. The record high of 101 was set in 1918 and the record warmest low of 78 was set way back in 1881. 25 of the 29 highs have been in the 70s (11) and 80s (14). There have been no 90s highs since 1995.

On the cool side, in 2004 the record coolest high of 62 occurred with a low of 49. In 1982 the high was 74 with the record low of 47. In 1992 the high was 67 with a low of 56. Another cool high was 71 in 1994. Other cool lows were 50 in both 1979 and 1986. 23 of the 29 lows so far have been in the 50s (9) and 60s (14).

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 5:28 and sunrise is at 5:58. Sunset is at 19:58 and twilight ends at 20:28. Twilight tomorrow begins at 5:29 and sunrise is at 5:59. There's a total of 14 hours of daylight today and 15 hours between twilights. The moon is waxing gibbous and heading towards the full Sturgeon moon which is coming up this Saturday at 16:16. Moon illumination was 80% at midnight, will be 84% at noon and 87% at midnight tonight. Moonset is at 1:24, moonrise is at 17:41 and moonset is at 2:21 tomorrow. Moonlight time is 7 hours, 43 minutes today.

In a week my tennis coach, Bob Finder, will be 76 years old. He is a testament that age has nothing to do with ability and performance. He is a master of the sport and is a shining example of the wealth of knowledge our elders can give us, provided we just take the time to listen. -Bernie-