September 26: ORD

Today is September 26th. It's the 270th day of the year. 96 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 70 and the normal low is 50. The 29-year averages are 70 and 50.

On the warm side, in 1998 the high was the record high of 90 with a low of 68. In 1986 the high was 78 with a low of 69. In 1999 the high was 86 with a low of 57. Other warm highs were 85 in 1987 and 83 in 1979. For 13 years running, there have been no highs failing to reach at least 65 degrees. The last time the high was below 65 was in 1994 when it was 58. The record warmest low of 71 was set in 1973. There have been 21 highs in the 60s (13) and 70s (8).

The largest spread of 39 degrees happened in 1987 as the high was 85 with a low of 46. Based upon the day before (in 1987), this must've been a warm front. On 9/25/87 the high and low were 69 and 44. There was a 32 degree spread in 1979 with a high of 83 and low of 51. The spread was 31 degrees in 1995 (76/45).

On the cool side, in 1984 the high was 53 with the near record low of 36 (the record is 35 set in 1928). In 1980 the high was 58 with a low of 42. In 1991 the high was 60 with a low of 40. Other cool highs were 58 degrees in 1989 and 1994. Other cool lows were 42 degrees in 1985 and 2000. The record coolest high of 47 was set in 1942. 26 of the last 29 lows have been 40s (12) and 50s (14).

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 6:17 and sunrise is at 6:45. Sunset is at 18:43 and twilight ends at 19:11. Twilight begins tomorrow at 6:19 and sunrise is at 6:46. There's a total of 11 hours, 58 minutes of daylight today and 12 hours, 54 minutes between twilights. The moon is waning crescent. Illumination was 11% at midnight, will be 8% at noon and 5% at midnight tonight. Moonrise was at 3:45 this morning. Moonset is at 17:23 this afternoon and moonrise is at 4:55 tomorrow morning. Moonlight time is 13 hours, 38 minutes today. The autumnal equinox was four days ago at 10:44.

The following events are all 17 days away on October 13th: Columbus Day, my parents' 46th wedding anniversary and a brother-in-law, Buddy, will be turning 33. -Bernie-