June 26: ORD

Today is June 26th. It's the 177th day of the year. 188 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 82 and the normal low is 60. I've calculated the 31-year averages at 84 and 62.

On the hot side, in 1983 the high was the record high of 99 with a low of 72. The record warmest low of 77 occurred back in 1931. 23 of the last 31 highs were: 70s (9) and 80s (14). Seven highs were in the warmer 90s. One high was 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 1977 the high was 89 with a low of 58, a 31 degree spread. In 1970 the high was a cool 64 with a low of 54, a cool day. In 1969 the high was 96 with a low of 75, a hot day. In 1963 the high was 92 with a low of 62, a 30 degree spread.

More recently, the spreads were all large: 35 degrees in 1979 (88/53), 34 degrees in 1986 (90/56) and 32 degrees in 1984 (88/56).

On the cool side, there were no days of a mean of 11.5 degrees or more cooler than normal. The one cool high of note was 69 degrees in 1982, the only 60s high. The record low of 50 occurred in 1992. The record coolest high of 60 was set way back in 1884. 25 of the last 31 lows were: 50s (10) and 60s (15). Six lows were in the warmer 70s.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight began at 4:44 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, 24 minutes between twilights. Tomorrow twilight begins at 4:44 and sunrise is at 5:19. The moon reached full at 6:30 this morning. It's known as the full Strawberry or Rose or Hot moon. Illumination was 100% at midnight, will be 100% at noon and 99% at midnight tonight. Moonset was at 5:17 this morning. Moonrise is at 20:57 and moonset is at 6:19 tomorrow morning. Moonlight time is 8 hours, 20 minutes which is 14 minutes longer than yesterday.

Independence Day is in eight days. - Bernie -