September 18: ORD

Today is September 18th. It's the 262nd day of the year. 104 days remain. It's week 38 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 73 and the normal low is 54. The 29-year averages are 75 and 53.

On the hot side, in 1985 the high was 87 with a low of 67. In 1988 the high was 86 with a low of 67. Last year the high was 88 with a low of 63. In 1983 the high was 84 with a low of 65. Another hot high was 86 in 2000. The record high of 94 was set in 1955 and the record warmest low of 71 was set in 1965. There's almost a parity of highs. 11 have been 80s. Nine have been in the 60s and nine have been in the 70s.

There were several large spreads (differences of 30 degrees or more between the daily high and low). In 2000, the spread was 35 degrees (86/51). 1984 had a spread of 31 degrees (74/43). 1980 had a spread of 31 degrees (75/54). In 1997 the spread was 30 degrees (83/53). In 1986 the spread was a small one of four degrees as the high was 65 with a low of 61.

On the cool side, in 1981 the high was 60 with a low of 40. In 1991 the high was 69 with a low of 42. In 1990 the high was 63 with a low of 49. In 1982 the high was 68 with a low of 45. In 1995 the high was 69 with a low of 44. Other cool lows were 43 in 1984 and 45 in 1980. The record low of 40 was set in 1903 and the record coolest high of 54 was set in 1901. 14 of the last 29 lows have been in the 50s, nine have been in the 40s and six have been in the 60s.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 6:09 and sunrise is at 6:37. Sunset is at 18:57 and twilight ends at 19:25. Twilight begins tomorrow at 6:10 and sunrise is at 6:38. There's a total of 12 hours, 20 minutes of daylight today and 13 hours, 16 minutes between twilights. The moon is waning gibbous. Illumination was 90% at midnight, will be 86% at noon and 82% at midnight tonight. Moonset is at 10:33 this morning. Moonrise is at 20:21 tonight and moonset is at 11:50 tomorrow. Moonlight time is 14 hours, 12 minutes today.

The following events are all 25 days away on October 13th: Columbus Day, my parents' 46th wedding anniversary and a brother-in-law, Buddy, will be turning 33. -Bernie-