September 6: ORD

Today is September 6th. It's the 250th day of the year. 116 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 57. The 29-year averages are 80 and 59.

On the hot side, in 1990 the high was the near-record high of 96 (record high is 97 set in 1954 and tied in 1960) with a low of 71. In 1985 the high was 93 with a low of 73. In 1998 the high was 92 with a low of 70. Other hot highs were 88 in 1987 and 87 in 2005. Other warm lows were 73 last year, 68 in 1989 and 67 in 1992. The record warmest low of 78 was set way back in 1881. 22 of the 29 highs have been in the 80s (14) and 70s (8). For 14 years in a row (and running), no highs have been below 75 degrees (from 1994 onward). As of 9:00 this morning, the National Weather Service and The Weather Channel are forecasting a high of 72 degrees. If this holds, it would be the coolest high since 1993 (see below).

On the cool side, in 1988 the high was 66 with a low of 43. In 1984 the high was 73 with the record low of 42. In 1986 the high was 67 with a low of 49. Other cool highs were 68 in both 1982 and 1993. Another cool low was 47 in 2000. The record coolest high of 61 was set way back in 1885. 21 of the 29 lows have been 50s (12) and 60s (9). Four lows a piece have been in the 40s and 70s.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 5:56 and sunrise is at 6:24. Sunset is at 19:18 and twilight ends at 19:46. Twilight begins tomorrow at 5:57 and sunrise is at 6:25. There's a total of 12 hours, 54 minutes of daylight today and 13 hours, 50 minutes between twilights. The moon is waxing crescent, heading towards the first quarter tomorrow at 9:04. Illumination was 38% at midnight, will be 42% at noon and 47% at midnight tonight. Moonrise is at 13:47 and moonset is at 22:29. Moonlight time is 8 hours, 42 minutes today.

Grandparent's Day is tomorrow and Patriot Day is in five days. -Bernie-