August 20: ORD

Today is August 20th. It's the 233rd day of the year. 133 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 61. The 29-year averages are 80 and 61.

On the hot side, in 1980 the only 90s high of 93 occurred with the only 70s low of 74. In 2005 the high was 86 with a low of 69. In 1982 the high was 88 with a low of 66. Another hot high was 89 in 2003. Other warm lows include 69 in 1990, 69 in 1996, 68 in 1983, 68 last year and 67 in 1979. The record high of 98 was set in 1947 and the record warmest low of 80 was set in 1916. 28 of the last 29 highs have been 70s (14) and 80s (14). There was a 20 year span from 1983 through 2002 without any highs in the upper 80s [no highs above 86 degrees].

On the cool side, in 1992 the high was 76 with a low of 49. In 1985 the high was 71 with a low of 57. In 2000 the high was 73 with a low of 57. Another cool high of 72 occurred in 1997. Another cool low of 51 occurred in 1984. The record low of 47 was set in 1950 and the record coolest high of 66 was set in 1940. 27 of the 29 lows have been 50s (13) and 60s (14).

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 5:37 and sunrise is at 6:06. Sunset is at 19:46 and twilight ends at 20:15. Twilight begins tomorrow at 5:38 and sunrise is at 6:08. There's a total of 13 hours, 40 minutes of daylight today and 14 hours, 38 minutes between twilights. The moon is waning gibbous with 87% illumination at midnight, 84% at noon and 79% at midnight tonight. Moonset is at 10:16 and moonrise is at 21:18. Moonlight time is 12 hours, 58 minutes today.

I'd like to congratulate my sister Chris and her husband Steve who are celebrating their sixth anniversary today. **Bernie**