June 7: ORD

Today is June 7th. It's the 158th day of the year. 207 days remain. It's week 23 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 77 and the normal low is 55. I've calculated the 31-year averages at 80 and 57.

On the hot side, three years ago the high was 91 with a low of 71. in 1999 the high was 88 with a low of 73. In 1988 the high was 94 with a low of 65. In 1987 the high was 89 with a low of 67. Other hot highs include 92 in three years: 1982, 1995 and 2005. The record high of 100 and record warmest low of 78 were set on the same day back in 1933. 14 of the past 31 highs were 80s. Five highs were in the hot 90s. 12 highs were in the cooler: 60s (4) and 70s (8).

In looking back through the years to the first June at O'Hare in 1959, the following instances were notable: In 1972 the high was 80 with a low of 50, a 30 degree spread. In 1969 the high was a cool 64. In 1968 the high was 91 with a low of 73, a hot day. In 1967 the high was 76 with a low of 69, a seven degree spread. In 1963 the high was 91 with a low of 68, a hot day. In 1960 the high was a cool 64. In 1959 the high was a hot 92 with a low of 64, a hot day.

More recently, there were large spreads of: 41 degrees in 1995 (92/51), 37 degrees in 1985 (83/46), 32 degrees in 1981 (86/54), 31 degrees in 2005 (92/61), 30 degrees in 1982 (92/62) and 30 degrees in 1994 (83/53).

On the cool side, in 1996 the high was 60 with a low of 48. Another cool high was 62 in 1997. All four of the cooler 60s occurred between 1993 and 2001. The record low of 44 and record coolest high of 50 were set on the same day back in 1913. 24 of the last 31 lows were: 50s (14) and 60s (10). Five lows were in the cooler 40s. Two 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 5:17. Sunset is at 20:27 and twilight ends at 21:02. There's a total of 15 hours, 10 minutes of daylight today and 16 hours, 19 minutes between twilights. Tomorrow twilight begins at 4:43 and sunrise is at 5:17. The moon is waning crescent. Illumination was 28% at midnight, will be 24% at noon and 20% at midnight tonight. Moonrise was at 1:54 this morning. Moonset is at 15:41. Moonrise is at 2:20 tomorrow morning. Moonlight time is 13 hours, 47 minutes which is 41 minutes longer than yesterday.

Flag Day is in a week. - Bernie -