September 30: ORD

Today is September 30th. It's the 274th day of the year. 92 days remain. It's week 40 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 69 and the normal low is 48. The 29-year averages are 73 and 48.

On the warm side, in 2002 the high was 85 with the near-record warmest low of 68. The record warmest low remains 69 degrees, set in 1971. In 1995 the high was 84 with a low of 65. In 1982 the high was 85 with a low of 58. Last year the high was 83 with a low of 59. Other warm highs were 83 in both 1981 and 1994. It was 82 in 1991 and 81 in 1983. Another warm low was 58 in 1988. The record high of 92 was set in 1971. 28 of the 29 highs have been in the 60s (9), 70s (11) and 80s (8).

The large spreads were 36 degrees in 2004 (72/36), 34 degrees in 1989 (77/43), 33 degrees in 1983 (81/48), 31 degrees in 1984 (60/29), 31 degrees in 1994 (83/52), 31 degrees in 1996 (78/47), 30 degrees in 1991 (82/52) and 30 degrees in 1993 (61/31).

On the cool side, in 1984 the high was 60 with the record low of 29. In 1993 the high was 61 with a low of 31. In 2003 the lone 50s high of 56 occurred with a low of 39. Another cool high of 61 occurred in 1985. Other cool lows were 36 in 2004 and 39 in 1992. The record coolest high of 44 was set way back in 1899. 22 of the 29 lows have been 40s (11) and 50s (11).

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 6:22 and sunrise is at 6:50. Sunset is at 18:36 and twilight ends at 19:04. Twilight begins tomorrow at 6:23 and sunrise is at 6:51. There's a total of 11 hours, 46 minutes of daylight today and 12 hours, 42 minutes between twilights. The moon was new yesterday morning at 3:12. Illumination was 1% at midnight, will be 2% at noon and 4% at midnight tonight. Moonrise is at 8:18 this morning and moonset is at 18:51 tonight. Moonrise is at 9:24 tomorrow morning. Moonlight time is 10 hours, 33 minutes today.

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