August 17: ORD

Today is August 17th. It's the 230th day of the year. 136 days remain. Week 34 begins today.

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 62.

On the hot side, in 1988 the high was the record high of 98 with a low of 77. In 1995 the high was 93 with a low of 72. In 1983 the high was 94 with a low of 68. The other hot high was 87 in 2002. The other warm lows were 71 in 2003, 70 in 1990, 68 in 1993 and 67 in 1998. There have been no 90s highs since 1995. The record warmest low of 78 occurred in 1972. 26 of the 29 highs so far have been 70s (11) and 80s (15).

On the cool side, in 1981 the high was 73 with a low of 51. In 1992 the high was 77 with a low of 49. In 1980 the high was 74 with a low of 57. In 1989 the high was 78 with a low of 53. There have been no highs in the low 70s (70, 71, 72). The record low of 48 was set in 1976 and the record coolest high of 66 was set in 1924. 16 of the 29 lows have been 60s and eight have been in the 50s.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 5:33 and sunrise is at 6:03. Sunset is at 19:50 and twilight ends at 20:20. Twilight begins tomorrow at 5:34 and sunrise is at 6:04. There's a total of 13 hours, 47 minutes of daylight today and 14 hours, 47 minutes between twilights. The moon reached full yesterday at 16:16. Moon illumination was 100% at midnight, is 99% at noon and 98% at midnight tonight. Moonset is at 6:47 and moonrise is at 20:11. Moonlight time is 10 hours, 36 minutes today.

In two 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. I'd also like to congratulate my sister Chris and her husband Steve who will be celebrating their sixth anniversary in three days. ***Bernie***