August 22: ORD

Today is August 22nd. It's the 235th day of the year. 131 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 80 and the normal low is 61. The 29-year averages are 82 and 62.

On the hot side, in 1996 the high was 89 with a low of 70. Last year the high was 90 (the first high of 90 or more since 1976 when it was also 90) with a low of 69. Other hot highs include 89 in 1991, 87 in 1986 and 87 two years ago. The other warm low was 71 in 1989. The record high of 99 was set in 1936 and the record warmest low of 76 was set in 1968. 20 of the 29 highs so far have been 80s.

On the cool side, in 2004 the high was 80 with the record low of 49. The former record low of 51 occurred in 1890 and was repeated in 1992. In 1997 the high was 75 with a low of 55. In 1985 the high was 76 with a low of 55. Another cool high of 72 occurred in 1990. Other cool lows were 51 in 1992, 54 in 1999 and 55 in 1994. The record coolest high of 60 was set in 1890. 19 of the 29 lows have been 60s.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 5:39 and sunrise is at 6:09. Sunset is at 19:43 and twilight ends at 20:12. Twilight begins tomorrow at 5:40 and sunrise is at 6:10. There's a total of 13 hours, 34 minutes of daylight today and 14 hours, 33 minutes between twilights. The moon is waning gibbous and was 69% illuminated at midnight, will be 64% at noon and 59% at midnight tonight. Moonset is at 12:45 and moonrise is at 22:19. Moonlight time is 14 hours, 26 minutes today.

Labor Day is in ten days. Grandparent's Day is in 16 days and Patriot's Day is in 20 days. -Bernie-