August 15: ORD

Today is August 15th. It's the 228th day of the year. 138 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 82 and 63.

On the hot side, in 1988 the high was 94 with the record warmest low of 74. In 2000 the high was 92 with a low of 71. In 1983 the high was 90 with a low of 72. In 1987 the high was 90 with a low of 69. In 2003 the high was 88 with a low of 70. In 1995 the high was 87 with a low of 70. Other hot highs were 88 in 1991 and 87 in 1984. Other 70s lows include 71 last year and 70 in 1997. The record high is still 98, set in 1944. 15 highs have been in the 80s and nine have been in the 70s.

On the cool side, in 1979 the high was the only 60s high of 69 along with the unofficial record low of 46 (official is 51 in 1964 because Midway was the official station of record in 1979). In 1992 the high was 71 with a low of 52. In 2004 the high was 75 with a low of 48. Other cool highs include 74 in 1980 and 75 in 1996. Another low of 52 occurred in 1999. The record coolest high of 64 occurred way back in 1894. 15 lows have been 60s.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 5:31 and sunrise is at 6:01. Sunset is at 19:53 and twilight ends at 20:23. Twilight begins tomorrow at 5:32 and sunrise is at 6:02. There's a total of 13 hours, 52 minutes of daylight today and 14 hours, 52 minutes between twilights. The moon is waxing gibbous and heading towards the full Sturgeon moon which is tomorrow at 16:16. Moon illumination was 97% at midnight, is 99% at noon and 100% at midnight tonight. Moonset was at 4:31, moonrise is at 19:24 and moonset is at 5:39 tomorrow. Moonlight time is 9 hours, 7 minutes today.

In four days 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-