August 29: ORD

Today is August 29th. It's the 242nd day of the year. 124 days remain. This is week 35.

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 81 and 61.

On the hot side, in 1984 the high was 94 with a low of 71. In 1991 the high was 92 with a low of 73. In 1995 the high was 88 with a low of 73. In 1980 the high was 92 with a low of 68. The record high of 98 was set in 1953 and the record warmest low of 74 occurred in 1973. 24 of the 29 highs have been in the 70s (10) and 80s (14).

On the cool side, in 1982 the high was 72 with the record low of 43 (it was also 43 in 1965). In 1986 the high was 71 with a low of 44. In 1988 the high was 72 with a low of 48. In 2004 the high was 69 with a low of 53. Another cool high was 71 two years ago. Another cool low was 51 in 1992. The record coolest high of 62 was set way back in 1893. 14 of the 29 lows have been 60s and eight lows have been 50s.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 5:47 and sunrise is at 6:16. Sunset is at 19:31 and twilight ends at 20:00. Twilight begins tomorrow at 5:48 and sunrise is at 6:17. There's a total of 13 hours, 15 minutes of daylight today and 14 hours, 13 minutes between twilights. The moon is waning crescent. Illumination was 3% at midnight, will be 1% at noon and 0% at midnight tonight. Moonrise was at 4:47 and moonset is at 18:56. Moonrise is at 6:01 tomorrow morning. Moonlight time is 14 hours, 9 minutes today.

Labor Day is in three days. Grandparent's Day is in nine days and Patriot's Day is in 13 days. -Bernie-