August 18: ORD

Today is August 18th. It's the 231st day of the year. 135 days remain. It's the 34th week of the year.

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 81 and the normal low is 62. The 29-year averages are 80 and 62.

On the hot side, in 1995 the high was 90 with a low of 73. In 1988 the high was 89 with a low of 72. In 1990 the high was 91 with a low of 70. The other hot high was 87 in 1980. The other 70s lows were 72 two years ago and 71 in 1983. There have been no upper 80s or 90s highs since 1995. The record high of 98 was set in 1947 and the record warmest low of 79 was set in 1972. 26 of the 29 highs so far have been 70s (14) and 80s (12).

On the cool side, in 1981 the high was 75 with a low of 51. Last year the lone sub-70 degree high of 68 occurred with a low of 59. You have to go all the way back to 1963 to find the previous sub-70 degree high of 69 degrees. The low in 1963 was 42 at O'Hare (this was not the official low for Chicago, otherwise it would have been the record low). The high was also 69 degrees on the previous day in 1963. On this day in 1972 the high was 93 (with the record warmest low of 79). The high was 90 degrees in 1960. In 1997, the high was 70 with a low of 58. Another cool 70s high was 70 in 2001. Other cool lows were 53 in both 1982 and 2002. The record low of 49 was set in 1963 and the record coolest high of 65 was set in 1950. 24 of the 29 lows have been 50s (11) and 60s (13).

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 5:34 and sunrise is at 6:04. Sunset is at 19:49 and twilight ends at 20:19. Twilight begins tomorrow at 5:36 and sunrise is at 6:05. There's a total of 13 hours, 45 minutes of daylight today and 14 hours, 45 minutes between twilights. The moon is waning gibbous with 98% illumination at midnight, 96% at noon and 94% at midnight tonight. Moonset is at 7:56 and moonrise is at 20:32. Moonlight time is 11 hours, 24 minutes today.

Tomorrow 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 two days. ***Bernie***