July 22: ORD

Today is July 22nd. It's the 203rd day of the year. 162 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 64. I've calculated the 31-year averages at 83 and 64.

On the hot side, in 1991 the high was the record high of 101 with a low of 74. In 1983 the high was 100 with a low of 73. The other hot high was 95 in 2001. The other warm low was 76 in 2002. The record warmest low of 80 occurred in 1972. 23 of the last 31 highs (74%) were: 70s (13) and 80s (10). The past two years have had highs in the 70s. Then three consecutive 80s from '05-'07 and a high of 90 in 2004. Eight highs were in the warmer: 90s (6) and 100s (2).

In looking back through the years to the first July at O'Hare in 1959, the following instances were notable: In 1974 the high was a cool 71. In 1973 the high was 79 with a low of 72, a seven degree spread. In 1972 the high was 93 with a warm low of 79, a hot day. 1972 had the same temperatures two days in a row (on the 21st & 22nd) and is the year of the record warmest low (80 at Midway). In 1966 the high was 84 with a cool low of 48, a 36 degree spread.

More recently, there was a large spread of 30 degrees in 1984 (93/63) and a small spread of four degrees in 1997 (71/67).

On the cool side, in 2000 the high was 72 with a low of 53. The other cool highs were 71 in both 1992 and 1997. The low was also 53 in 1996. The record low of 49 and record coolest high of 68 were set on the same day back in 1947, a day that was 15 and a half degrees below normal. 18 of the last 31 lows (58%) were 60s. Seven lows were in the cooler 50s. Six lows were in the warmer 70s.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight began at 5:04 and sunrise was at 5:36. Sunset is at 20:23 and twilight ends at 20:55. There's a total of 14 hours, 47 minutes of daylight today and 15 hours, 51 minutes between twilights. Tomorrow twilight begins at 5:05 and sunrise is at 5:37. The moon is waxing gibbous. Illumination was 86% at midnight, will be 90% at noon and 93% at midnight tonight. Moonset was at 2:14 this morning. Moonrise is at 18:10. Moonset is at 3:10 tomorrow morning. Moonlight time is 8 hours, 4 minutes which is five minutes shorter than yesterday and is the shortest for the next several days.

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