July 16: ORD

Today is July 16th. It's the 197th day of the year. 168 days remain. It's week 29 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 86 and 65.

On the hot side, there were no days of a mean of 11.5 degrees or more above normal. The hottest days had lows in the 70s. The warmest low was 75 in 1982 and there were lows of 74 in both 1995 and 2006. The only high that was significantly above normal was 99 in 1988. That high fell just one degree short of tying the record high of 100 which was set way back in 1887. There were a couple of highs of 94 (1997 & 2006). There were three highs of 93 (1986, 1995 and 2005). The record warmest low of 80 occurred way back in 1878. 28 of the last 31 highs (90%) were: 80s (16) and 90s (12). Three highs were in the cooler 70s. Through 2010, this is the average third 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 1967 the high was 79 with a cool low of 49, a 30 degree spread. In 1962 the high was a cool 72.

More recently, there were no small spreads of up to seven degrees or large spreads of at least 30 degrees.

On the cool side, there were no days of a mean of 11.5 degrees or more below normal. The coolest low was 52 in 1987. The record low of 49 was set back in 1945. Cool highs were the three 70s: 74 in 1979, 75 in 1992 and 76 in 1985. The record coolest high of 62 occurred back in 1912. 25 of the last 31 lows (81%) were: 60s (15) and 70s (10). Six lows were in the cooler 50s.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight began at 4:58 and sunrise was at 5:31. Sunset is at 20:27 and twilight ends at 21:01. There's a total of 14 hours, 56 minutes of daylight today and 16 hours, 3 minutes between twilights. Tomorrow twilight begins at 4:59 and sunrise is at 5:32. The moon is waxing crescent. Illumination was 26% at midnight, will be 31% at noon and 37% at midnight tonight. Moonrise was at 11:32 this morning. Moonset is at 23:05 and moonrise is at 12:45 tomorrow. Moonlight time is 11 hours, 33 minutes which is 47 minutes shorter than yesterday.

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