May 26: ORD

Today is May 26th. It's the 146th day of the year. 219 days remain. It's week 21 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. ORD has been the official site of record for Chicago since Thursday, January 17, 1980.

According to the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), the normal high is 73 and the normal low is 51. I've calculated the 31-year averages at 70 and 48.

On the warm side, in 1985 the high was 89 with a low of 62. In 1991 the high was 82 with a low of 69. In 1987 the high was 86 with a low of 61. Rounding out the highs in the 80s, it was 83 in 2006 and 81 two years ago. The record high of 94 was set back in 1911 and the record warmest low of 75 was set back in 1914. 22 of the last 31 highs (71%) have been: 60s (9) and 70s (13). Five highs were in the warmer 80s. Four highs were in the cooler 50s.

In looking back through the years to the first May at O'Hare in 1959, the following instances were notable: In 1978 the high was 87 with a low of 65, a hot day. In 1971 the high was a cool 54 with a low of 43, a cool day. In 1969 the high was 74 with a low of 39, a 35 degree spread. In 1967 the high was a hot 92 with a low of 61, a 31 degree spread and hot day. In 1966 the high was 82 with a low of 49, a 33 degree spread. In 1965 the low was a warm 63. In 1962 the high was a cool 59. In 1961 the high was 47 with a low of 36, a cold day and year of the record coolest high. In 1959 the high was 84 with a low of 64, a warm day.

More recently, there were large spreads of 36 degrees in 1988 (78/42), 36 degrees in 2002 (73/37), 34 degrees two years ago (81/47), 33 degrees in 1993 (78/45), 31 degrees in 1979 (70/39) and 31 degrees in 1998 (78/47).

On the cool side, in 1992 the high was 53 with a low of 35. In 1983 the high was 60 with the record low of 34. In 2001 the high was 57 with a low of 38. In 1994 the high was 59 with a low of 37. In 1997 the high was 55 with a low of 46. Another cool high was 60 in 1996. The other 30s lows were 37 in 2002 and 39 in 1979. The record coolest high of 48 was set in 1961. 13 of the last 31 lows were in the 40s. Six lows were in the colder 30s and 12 lows were in the warmer: 50s (8) and 60s (4).

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight began at 4:50 and sunrise was at 5:23. Sunset is at 20:18 and twilight ends at 20:52. There's a total of 14 hours, 55 minutes of daylight today and 16 hours, 2 minutes between twilights. Tomorrow twilight begins at 4:49 and sunrise is at 5:22. The moon is waxing gibbous, heading towards the full Flower moon tomorrow at 18:07. Illumination was 96% at midnight, will be 98% at noon and 99% at midnight tonight. Moonset was at 4:03 this morning. Moonrise is at 19:27 this evening. Moonset is 4:45 tomorrow morning. Moonlight time is 8 hours, 36 minutes which is 35 minutes shorter than yesterday.

Memorial Day is in five days. - Bernie -