August 23: ORD

Today is August 23rd. It's the 236th day of the year. 130 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 81 and 62.

On the hot side, in 1998 the high was 90 with a low of 71. In 1993 the high was 91 with a low of 69. Last year the high was 87 with a low of 69. Other hot highs include 89 two years ago and 88 in 1995. Other warm lows were 69 in 2001, 67 in 2000 and 67 in 2002. There were no upper 80s highs (or higher) from 1979 to 1992 and no upper 60s lows (or higher) in the same period. 2001 was what I call a dual day: the high and low were notable (74/69) but the mean was only half a degree above normal. The record high of 97 was set in 1947 and the record warmest low of 76 was set in 1968. 27 of the 29 highs so far have been 70s (13) and 80s (14).

On the cool side, in 1987 the high was 73 with a low of 54. In 1984 the high was 74 with a low of 55. In 1997 the high was 76 with a low of 54. In 2005 the high was 73 with a low of 58. There have been no highs in the lower 70s (70,71,72) nor lows in the lower 50s from 1979-2007. Other cool highs were 74 degrees in both 1989 and 2001. The record low of 51 was set way back in 1888 and the record coolest high of 62 was set way back 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 5:40 and sunrise is at 6:10. Sunset is at 19:41 and twilight ends at 20:11. Twilight begins tomorrow at 5:41 and sunrise is at 6:11. There's a total of 13 hours, 31 minutes of daylight today and 14 hours, 31 minutes between twilights. The moon reaches last quarter today at 18:50. Moon illumination was 59% at midnight, will be 53% at noon and 47% at midnight tonight. Moonset is at 14:01 and moonrise is at 23:01. Moonlight time is 15 hours exactly today.

Labor Day is in nine days. Grandparent's Day is in 15 days and Patriot's Day is in 19 days. -Bernie-