August 5: ORD

Today is August 5th. It's the 218th day of the year. 148 days remain.

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 83 and the normal low is 64. The 29-year averages are 81 and 63.

On the hot side, in 1996 the high was 90 with a low of 73. In 1980 the high was 87 with a low of 70. Other hot highs were 91 in 1984, 89 in 2001, 88 (1988, last year) and 87 in 1995. The other 70s low was 71 in 1998. The record high of 102 was set in 1918 and the and the record warmest low of 78 was set way back in 1881. There have been 17 highs in the 80s and nine highs in the 70s.

On the cool side, in 1994 the high was 68 with the record low of 51. In 1992 the high was 73 with a low of 53. In 1997 the high was 73 with a low of 53. Another cool high was 72 in 2004. Another cool low was 52 in 1993. The record coolest high of 63 was set in 1915. Four of the six lows between 1992 and 1997 were 51, 52 or 53 degrees. There have been 20 lows in the 60s, the breakdown of which is that 12 of them occurred between 1979 and 1991 [11 consecutive 60s between 1981 and 1991]. The other eight were between 1995 and 2007. There were no 50s lows for 13 years from 1979 to 1991. In 1978, however, the low was 50.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 5:20 and sunrise is at 5:51. Sunset is at 20:07 and twilight ends at 20:38. There's a total of 14 hours, 16 minutes of daylight today and 15 hours, 18 minutes between twilights. The moon is waxing crescent and will reach first quarter this coming Friday at 15:20. Illumination was 17% at midnight and 21% at noon. Moonrise is at 10:39 and moonset is at 22:01. There's 11 hours, 22 minutes of moonlight today.

In two weeks, my tennis coach, Bob Finder, will be 76 years old. He is a testament that age has nothing to do with ability and performance. He is a master of the sport and is a shining example of the wealth of knowledge our elders can give us, provided we just take the time to listen. -Bernie-