July 14: ORD

Today is July 14th. It's the 195th day of the year. 170 days remain. It's week 28 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 84 and the normal low is 63. I've calculated the 31-year averages at 85 and 64.

On the hot side, in 1995 the high was the co-record high of 100 with the record warmest low of 83. In 1988 the high was the co-record high of 100 with a low of 69, a 31 degree spread. The 90s highs of note were 97 in 1980 and 95 in 1983. The warmest of the 70s lows was 73 in 1997 and 72 in 2006. 16 of the last 31 highs were 80s. Seven highs were in the warmer: 90s (5) and 100s (2). Eight highs were in the cooler: 60s (1) and 70s (7). Through 2010m this is the average eighth hottest day of the year.

In looking back through the years to the first July at O'Hare in 1959, the following instances were notable: In 1977 the high was 98 with a low of 77, a hot day. In 1976 the high was a hot 98 with a low of 72, a hot day. In 1974 the high was 95 with a low of 74, a hot day. In 1974 the high was also 95 yesterday on the 13th. In 1967 the high was a cool 70 with a low of 51, a cool day. That low of 51 was cooler than the record low. In 1962 the high was a cool 69 with a low of 62, a seven degree spread. In 1960 the high was a cool 71.

More recently, there was a small spread of five degrees in 1990 (65/60) and a large spread of 32 degrees in 2002 (88/56).

On the cool side, there were no days of a mean of 11.5 degrees or more below normal. The coolest lows were 55 last year and in 2003. The record low of 52 was set back in 1926. Cool highs were 65 in 1990 and 70 in 1992. The record coolest high of 64 occurred back in 1930. 20 of the last 31 lows were 60s. Five lows were in the cooler 50s. Six lows were in the warmer: 70s (5) and 80s (1).

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight began at 4:56 and sunrise was at 5:29. Sunset is at 20:29 and twilight ends at 21:02. There's a total of 15 hours of daylight today and 16 hours, 6 minutes between twilights. Tomorrow twilight begins at 4:57 and sunrise is at 5:30. The moon is waxing crescent. Illumination was 9% at midnight, will be 12% at noon and 16% at midnight tonight. Moonrise was at 9:02 this morning. Moonset is at 22:11 and moonrise is at 10:18 tomorrow morning. Moonlight time is 13 hours, 9 minutes which is 49 minutes shorter than yesterday.

Parent's Day is in 11 days. - Bernie -