June 29: ORD

Today is June 29th. It's the 180th day of the year. 185 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 61. I've calculated the 31-year averages at 81 and 61.

On the hot side, in 1991 the high was 96 with a low of 71. A decade before, in 1981, the high was 96 with a low of 70. In 1996 the high was 92 with a low of 73. The only other 90s high was 90 in 2005. The only other 70s low was 73 in 2005. The record high of 97 was set in 1954. The record warmest low of 80 occurred in 1931. 26 of the last 31 highs were: 70s (13) and 80s (13). Four highs were in the warmer 90s. One high was in the cooler 60s. The lone 60s high was 68. It occurred on one of the two coolest days of the past 31 years in 1984.

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 95 with a low of 73, a hot day. In 1966 the high was 89 with a low of 57, a 32 degree spread.

More recently, there was a large spread of 34 degrees in 1992 (88/54).

On the cool side, no means were 11.5 degrees or lower below normal. The only cold low was 48, the record low (and only 40s low), which was set in 1989. The coolest highs were 68 in 1984, 70 in 1982, 70 in 1988 and 70 three years ago. The record coolest high of 54 was set way back in 1899. 26 of the last 31 lows were: 50s (12) and 60s (14). One low was in the cooler 40s. 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 4:45 and sunrise was at 5:20. Sunset is at 20:34 and twilight ends at 21:08. There's a total of 15 hours, 14 minutes of daylight today and 16 hours, 23 minutes between twilights. Tomorrow twilight begins at 4:46 and sunrise is at 5:20. The moon is waning gibbous. Illumination was 93% at midnight, will be 90% at noon and 87% at midnight tonight. Moonset was at 8:24 this morning. Moonrise is at 22:29 and moonset is at 9:25 tomorrow morning. Moonlight time is 9 hours, 55 minutes which is 36 minutes longer than yesterday.

Independence Day is in five days. - Bernie -