September 19: ORD

Today is September 19th. It's the 263rd day of the year. 103 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 53. The 29-year averages are 75 and 55.

On the hot side, in 1985 the high was 87 with a low of 66. In 2002 the high was 80 with a low of 72. In 2000 the high was 87 with a low of 62. In 2005 the high was 84 with a low of 65. Last year the high was 84 with a low of 65. In 1983 the high was 85 with a low of 61. In 1997 the high was 84 with a low of 62. Other hot highs include 87 in 1984, 85 in 1994 and 84 in 1998. The record high of 93 was set in 1955 and the record warmest low of 74 was set in 1908. 13 highs have been 80s, eight have been 70s and six have been 60s.

The large spreads (differences of 30 degrees or more between the daily high and low) were: 34 degrees in 1984 (87/53), 33 degrees in 1999 (80/47) and 30 degrees in 1994 (85/55).

On the cool side, in 1991 the high was 56 with the record low of 40. Two years ago the high was just 55 with a low of 47. In 1992 the high was 65 with a low of 42. Another cool high was 62 in 1990. The record coolest high of 52 occurred in 1938. 13 of the last 29 lows have been in the 50s, eight have been in the 40s and seven have been in the 60s.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 6:10 and sunrise is at 6:38. Sunset is at 18:55 and twilight ends at 19:23. Twilight begins tomorrow at 6:11 and sunrise is at 6:39. There's a total of 12 hours, 17 minutes of daylight today and 13 hours, 13 minutes between twilights. The moon is waning gibbous. Illumination was 82% at midnight, will be 77% at noon and 72% at midnight tonight. Moonset is at 11:50 this morning. Moonrise is at 21:00 tonight. Moonlight time is 14 hours, 50 minutes today.

The following events are all 24 days away on October 13th: Columbus Day, my parents' 46th wedding anniversary and a brother-in-law, Buddy, will be turning 33. -Bernie-