August 26: ORD

Today is August 26th. It's the 239th day of the year. 127 days remain. It's week 35 of 2008.

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 79 and the normal low is 60. The 29-year averages are 83 and 64.

On the hot side, in 1993 the high was 94 with a low of 74. In 2003 the high was 92 with a low of 71. In 1980 the high was 92 with a low of 69. In 1995 the high was 91 with a low of 69. In 1990 the high was 88 with a low of 70. In 1991 the high was 93 with a low of 65. In 1983 the high was 89 with a low of 68. Other warm lows were 69 in 1994, 69 two years ago, 67 in 1981 and 67 in 2004. The record high of 97 was set in 1973 as was the record warmest low of 77. 16 of the 29 highs so far have been in the 80s, seven in the 70s and five in the 90s.

On the cool side, in 1987 the high was 65 with a low of 57. The other cool low was 54 in 1988. The record low of 47 was set way back in 1887 and the record coolest high of 61 was set way back in 1885. 19 of the 29 lows have been 60s and seven have been 50s.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 5:44 and sunrise is at 6:13. Sunset is at 19:36 and twilight ends at 20:05. Twilight begins tomorrow at 5:45 and sunrise is at 6:14. There's a total of 13 hours, 23 minutes of daylight today and 14 hours, 21 minutes between twilights. The moon is waning crescent. Illumination was 25% at midnight, will be 20% at noon and 16% at midnight tonight. Moonrise was at 0:59 and moonset is at 17:13. Moonlight time is 16 hours, 14 minutes today.

Labor Day is in six days. Grandparent's Day is in 12 days and Patriot's Day is in 16 days. -Bernie-