June 24: ORD

Today is June 24th. It's the 175th day of the year. 190 days remain. It's week 25 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 81 and the normal low is 60. I've calculated the 31-year averages at 83 and 60.

On the hot side, in 2005 the high was 96 with a low of 76. Last year the high was 94 with a low of 75. In 1997 the high was 93 with a low of 75. A year later, in 1998, the high was 94 with a low of 71. Another hot high was 94 in 1995. The record high of 97 was set in 1953. The record warmest low of 77 occurred back in 1923. 28 of the last 31 highs (90%) were: 70s (8), 80s (10) and 90s (10). Three highs were in the cooler 60s.

In looking back through the years to the first June at O'Hare in 1959, the following instances were notable: in 1974 the high was a cool 67. In 1969 the high was a cool 66 with a low of 59, a seven degree spread. In 1967 the high was a cool 68. In 1965 the low was a cool 48. In 1963 the high was 88 with a cool low of 48, a 40 degree spread. In 1961 the low was a cool 47. In 1959 the high was 90 with a low of 60, a 30 degree spread.

More recently, the spreads were all large: 31 degrees in 1987 (91/60), 31 degrees in 1995 (94/63), 31 degrees in 2001 (81/50), 31 degrees in 2006 (82/51) and 30 degrees in 1983 (91/61).

On the cool side, in 1986 the high was 61 with the record low of 46. Other cool highs were 69 in both 1979 and 1994. The record coolest high of 59 was set back in 1917. 24 of the last 31 lows were: 50s (12) and 60s (12). Three lows were in the cooler 40s and four lows were in the warmer 70s.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight began at 4:43 and sunrise was at 5:18. Sunset is at 20:34 and twilight ends at 21:08. There's a total of 15 hours, 16 minutes of daylight today and 16 hours, 25 minutes between twilights. Tomorrow twilight begins at 4:43 and sunrise is at 5:18. The moon is waxing gibbous, heading towards the full Strawberry/Rose/Hot moon in two days. Illumination was 95% at midnight, will be 97% at noon and 98% at midnight tonight. Moonset was at 3:27 this morning. Moonrise is at 19:21 and moonset is at 4:19 tomorrow morning. Moonlight time is 8 hours, 6 minutes which is 14 minutes shorter than yesterday.

Independence Day is in ten days. - Bernie -