September 24: ORD

Today is September 24th. It's the 268th day of the year. 98 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 71 and the normal low is 51. The 29-year averages are 68 and 48.

On the warm side, last year the high was the near-record high of 90 degrees (the record high is 91, set way back in 1891) with a low of 68. In 1984 the high was 84 with a low of 61. Other warm highs were 82 in 2004 and 77 in 1981. Other warm lows were 64 in 1986 and 63 in 2005. The record warmest low of 71 was set in 1930. 16 of the 29 highs have been in the 60s and seven have been in the 70s.

On the cool side, in 1985 the high was 61 with the co-record low of 35. In 1989 the high was 61 with the other co-record low of 35. In 1991 the high was 57 with a low of 40. In 1995 the high was 62 with a low of 37. In 2001 the high was 55 with a low of 45. In 1983 the high was 66 with a low of 36 (a 30 degree spread). In 2002 the high was 61 with a low of 42. Another cool high was 56 in 2000. Another cool low was 38 in 1993 (spread of 31 as the high was 69). The record coolest high of 51 was set in 1942. 15 of the last 29 lows have been 40s. Five lows each in the 30s and 50s. Four lows have been in the 60s.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 6:15 and sunrise is at 6:43. Sunset is at 18:46 and twilight ends at 19:14. Twilight begins tomorrow at 6:16 and sunrise is at 6:44. There's a total of 12 hours, 3 minutes of daylight today and 12 hours, 59 minutes between twilights. The moon is waning crescent. Illumination was 28% at midnight, will be 23% at noon and 18% at midnight tonight. Moonrise was at 1:17 this morning. Moonset is at 16:30 this afternoon and moonrise is at 2:32 tomorrow morning. Moonlight time is 15 hours, 13 minutes today. The autumnal equinox was two days ago at 10:44.

The following events are all 19 days away on October 13th: Columbus Day, my parents' 46th wedding anniversary and a brother-in-law, Buddy, will be turning 33. -Bernie-