September 7: ORD

Today is September 7th. It's the 251st day of the year. 115 days remain. It's week 37 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 77 and the normal low is 57. The 29-year averages are 80 and 59.

On the hot side, in 1985 the high was the near-record high of 99 (record high is 100 set in 1960) with a low of 73. In 2001 the high was 87 with a low of 68. In 2005 the high was 88 with a low of 67. Other hot highs were 90 (1984, 1991), 89 in 2002 and 88 in 2000. Other warm lows were 67 in 1989 and 70 last year. The record warmest low of 78 was set in 1922. 22 of the 29 highs have been in the 70s (11) and 70s (11). For the past ten years there have been no highs below 74 degrees (since 1998). In 1997 the high was 72 and two years before that it was 68 degrees. According to the Weather Channel, the high is expected to be right at 74 today.

I reported that for yesterday, for 14 years in a row, no highs had failed to reach 75 degrees at O'Hare (from 1994 onward). As of 9:00 yesterday morning, the National Weather Service and The Weather Channel had forecast a high of 72 degrees. If this held, it would be the coolest high since 1993 when it had hit just 68. The outcome was that the high at O'Hare was 74 at 14:02. So, the 14 year streak of at least 75 degrees has been broken! Other highs around the area were 73 at Rockford at 14:24, 74 at Midway, 77 at Northerly Island, 74 at the weather service in Romeoville and 75 at the airport in West Chicago.

Now back to September 7th. On the cool side, in 1986 the high was 66 with the record low of 42. Other cool highs were 66 in 1979, 68 in 1995 and 69 in 1982. Other cool lows were 44 in 1988, 49 in 1993, 50 in 1999 and 52 in 1981. The record coolest high of 61 was set in 1924. 24 of the 29 lows have been 50s (12) and 60s (12).

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 5:57 and sunrise is at 6:25. Sunset is at 19:16 and twilight ends at 19:44. Twilight begins tomorrow at 5:58 and sunrise is at 6:26. There's a total of 12 hours, 51 minutes of daylight today and 13 hours, 47 minutes between twilights. The moon reaches first quarter today at 9:04. Illumination was 47% at midnight, will be 52% at noon and 56% at midnight tonight. Moonrise is at 14:44 and moonset is at 23:15. Moonlight time is 8 hours, 31 minutes today.

Grandparent's Day is today and Patriot Day is in four days. My eldest sister, Mary Ann, and her husband William, will be celebrating their 6th wedding anniversary in six days. Another sister, Maria, and her husband Buddy will be celebrating their 7th wedding anniversary in a week. Both couples currently reside in Tampa, home of the amazing Rays. Constitution Day, also known as Citizenship day, is in ten days. This is a newer holiday, having been enacted by Congress just four years ago. The website "www.patriotism.org" says that Constitution Day is "a birthday for our country and it serves as a means for American citizens to express their pride in their citizenship. Constitution Day also designates a time to honor the Constitution of America and learn more about the famous piece of legislation." -Bernie-