September 22: ORD

Today is September 22nd. It's the 266th day of the year. 100 days remain. It's week 39 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 72 and the normal low is 51. The 29-year averages are 71 and 50.

On the warm side, in 1986 the high was the only 90s high of 90 with a low of 65. In 2005 the high was 87 with a low of 63. Other warm highs were 84 in 1980 and 82 in 2004. Other warm lows were 60 (1984 and 1985) and 61 in 1988. The record high of 92 was set in 1956 and the record warmest low of 73 was set way back in 1895. 23 of the 29 highs have been in the 60s (11) and 70s (12).

The large spreads (differences of 30 degrees or more between the daily high and low) were: 35 degrees in 1989 (78/43), 32 degrees in 2004 (82/50) and 31 degrees in 1999 (72/41).

On the cool side, in 1995 the high was 52 with the record low of 32. In 1983 the high was 54 with a low of 37. In 1981 the high was 61 with a low of 41. In 1992 the high was 62 with a low of 41. In 1982 the high was 61 with a low of 43. Another cool low was 41 in 1999. The record coolest high of 49 occurred in 1974. 22 of the last 29 lows have been 40s (12) and 50s (10).

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 6:13 and sunrise is at 6:41. Sunset is at 18:50 and twilight ends at 19:18. Twilight begins tomorrow at 6:14 and sunrise is at 6:42. There's a total of 12 hours, 9 minutes of daylight today and 13 hours, 5 minutes between twilights. The moon is at the last quarter and reached it at 4 minutes past midnight. Illumination was 50% at midnight, will be 44% at noon and 38% at midnight tonight. Moonset is at 15:09 this afternoon and moonrise is at 2 minutes past midnight tonight. Moonlight time is 15 hours, 9 minutes today. The autumnal equinox is today at 10:44.

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