June 27: ORD

Today is June 27th. It's the 178th day of the year. 187 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 83 and 62.

On the hot side, in 1998 the high was 95 with a low of 69. In 2005 the high was 95 with a low of 68. Three years ago the high was 91 with a low of 71. In 1991 the high was 93 with a low of 68. The only other 90s high of the past 31 years was 93 in 1991. The only other 70s low was 70 in 1999. The record high of 101 was set in 1971. The record warmest low of 79 occurred back in 1931. 21 of the last 31 highs were 80s. Four highs were in the warmer 90s. Six highs were in the cooler: 60s (1) and 70s (5). The lone 60s high was 69. It occurred on the coolest day of the past 30 years in 1992. It didn't rain that day, but winds were Northeast, off the lake.

In looking back through the years to the first June at O'Hare in 1959, the following instances were notable: In 1971 the high was a hot 96 with a low of 69, a hot day. 1971 was the year of the record high of 101 at Midway. In 1968 the high was a cool 58 with a low of 55, a three degree spread and cool day. In 1959 the high was 91 with a warm low of 75, a hot day.

The June 1964 heat wave was impressive. The following were the highs and lows: 26th (90/65), 27th (90/61), 28th (91/61), 29th (91/62) and 30th (90/61).

More recently, the spreads were all large: 32 degrees in 1981 (81/49) and 30 degrees in 1996 (89/59).

On the cool side, in 1992 the high was the only 60s high of 69 with the record low of 47. The only other 40s low was 49 in 1981. The record coolest high of 57 was set way back in 1905. 27 of the last 31 lows were: 50s (10) and 60s (17). Two lows were in the cooler 40s and two 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 5:19. Sunset is at 20:34 and twilight ends at 21:08. There's a total of 15 hours, 15 minutes of daylight today and 16 hours, 24 minutes between twilights. Tomorrow twilight begins at 4:45 and sunrise is at 5:19. The moon reached full at 6:30 yesterday morning. It's known as the full Strawberry or Rose or Hot moon. Illumination was 99% at midnight, will be 98% at noon and 97% at midnight tonight. Moonset was at 6:19 this morning. Moonrise is at 21:33 and moonset is at 7:22 tomorrow morning. Moonlight time is 8 hours, 46 minutes which is 26 minutes longer than yesterday.

Independence Day is in a week. - Bernie -