August 19: ORD

Today is August 19th. It's the 232nd day of the year. 134 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 1983 the record high of 99 occurred with the low of 71. In 1995 the high was 89 with a low of 72. In 1980 the high was 91 with a low of 69. In 1993 the high was 87 with a low of 71. In 2005 the high was 88 with a low of 69. Other hot highs include 88 in 1994 and 87 in 1982. Other warm lows include 70 in 1988, 69 in 1990, 68 in 1979 and 67 in 1996. The record warmest low of 82 was set in 1916. 26 of the 29 highs so far have been 70s (13) and 80s (13).

On the cool side, in 1992 the high was 74 with the record low of 51. In 1985 the high was 72 with a low of 55. In 1997 the high was 71 with a low of 57. In 2000 the high was 71 with a low of 57. In 2004 the high was 73 with a low of 55. Another cool 70s high was 70 in 1991. Another cool 50s low was 52 in 1981. Last year we had the lone sub-70 degree high of 68. Prior to last year, you have to go all the way back to 1967 to find the previous occurrence (64 degrees with 0.52" rain). By the way, the high at O'Hare in 1968 was 91 degrees. The record coolest high of 62 was set way back in 1897. 25 of the 29 lows have been 50s (12) and 60s (13).

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 5:36 and sunrise is at 6:05. Sunset is at 19:47 and twilight ends at 20:17. Twilight begins tomorrow at 5:37 and sunrise is at 6:06. There's a total of 13 hours, 42 minutes of daylight today and 14 hours, 41 minutes between twilights. The moon is waning gibbous with 94% illumination at midnight, 91% at noon and 87% at midnight tonight. Moonset is at 9:05 and moonrise is at 20:54. Moonlight time is 12 hours, 11 minutes today.

Today my tennis coach, Bob Finder, is 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 tomorrow. ***Bernie***