September 3: ORD

Today is September 3rd. It's the 247th day of the year. 119 days remain. It's week 36 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 78 and the normal low is 58. The 29-year averages are 80 and 59.

On the hot side, in 1985 the high was 88 with a low of 72. In 2000 the high was 85 with a low of 69. Last year the high was 88 with a low of 66. Other hot highs were 91 in 1983 and 90 in 1999. Other warm lows were 68 in 1986 and 67 in 1991. The record high of 97 was set in 1953 and the record warmest low of 75 was set in 1973. 16 highs have been in the 80s and eight highs have been in the 70s.

On the cool side, in 1997 the high was 67 with a low of 50. The other cool highs were 66 in 1981 and 68 in 1994. The other cool lows were 48 in 1982, 49 in 1987 and 51 in 1984. The record low of 47 was set in 1974 and the record coolest high of 59 was set in 1891. 26 of the 29 lows have been 60s (14) and 50s (12).

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 5:53 and sunrise is at 6:21. Sunset is at 19:23 and twilight ends at 19:52. Twilight begins tomorrow at 5:54 and sunrise is at 6:22. There's a total of 13 hours, 2 minutes of daylight today and 13 hours, 59 minutes between twilights. The moon is waxing crescent. Illumination was 13% at midnight, will be 16% at noon and 20% at midnight tonight. Moonrise is at 10:34 and moonset is at 20:49. Moonlight time is 10 hours, 15 minutes today.

Grandparent's Day is in four days and Patriot's Day is in eight days. -Bernie-