June 25: ORD

Today is June 25th. It's the 176th day of the year. 189 days remain. It's week 26 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 85 and 60.

On the hot side, last year the high was 94 with a low of 75. In 1988 the high was the record high of 103 with a low of 66, a 37 degree spread. A decade later, in 1998, the high was 95 with a low of 70. Another hot high was 94 in 1983. Other warm lows were 73 in 2002 and 72 in 2003. The record warmest low of 76 occurred way back in 1890. 18 of the last 31 highs were 80s. Seven highs were in the warmer: 90s (6) and 100s (1). Six highs were in the cooler 70s.

In looking back through the years to the first June at O'Hare in 1959, the following instances were notable: In 1978 the high was 75 with a low of 68, a seven degree spread. In 1973 the high was 84 with a low of 50, a 34 degree spread. In 1970 the high was a cool 69. In 1969 the high was a hot 96 with a low of 60, a 36 degree spread. In 1965 the high was 73 with a cool low of 45, a cool day. In 1963 the high was 90 with a low of 53, a 37 degree spread.

More recently, the spreads were all large: 36 degrees in 1979 (80/44), 35 degrees in 1989 (91/56), 33 degrees in 1982 (83/50), 33 degrees in 1985 (84/51), 33 degrees in 1992 (80/47) and 31 degrees in 1983 (94/63).

On the cool side, in 1986 the high was 77 with the record low of 41, a 36 degree spread. Other cool lows were 44 in 1979 and 47 in 1992. The record coolest high of 56 was set back in 1928. 22 of the last 31 lows were: 50s (9) and 60s (13). Four lows were in the cooler 40s and five 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 4:44 and sunrise is at 5:18. The moon is waxing gibbous, heading towards the full Strawberry/Rose/Hot moon tomorrow. Illumination was 98% at midnight, will be 99% at noon and 100% at midnight tonight. Moonset was at 4:19 this morning. Moonrise is at 20:13 and moonset is at 5:17 tomorrow morning. Moonlight time is 8 hours, 6 minutes which is the same as yesterday.

Independence Day is in nine days. - Bernie -