July 8: ORD

Today is July 8th. It's the 189th day of the year. 176 days remain. It's week 27 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 83 and the normal low is 63. I've calculated the 31-year averages at 85 and 64.

On the hot side, in 1981 the high was 94 with a low of 77. Three years ago the high was 94 with a low of 75. The other 90s highs of note were 97 in 1988, 95 in 1990 and 93 in 2002. The record high of 99 was set in 1955. The record warmest low of 78 occurred way back in 1881. 16 of the last 31 highs were 80s. Nine highs were in the warmer 90s. Five highs were in the cooler 70s. The lone 60s high occurred last year at 65 degrees.

In looking back through the years to the first July at O'Hare in 1959, the following instances were notable: In 1969 the high was a cool 71. In 1961 the high was 72 with a cool low of 51, a cool day.

More recently, there was a large spread of 32 degrees in 1983 (85/53) and a small spread of four degrees last year (65/61).

On the cool side, in 1984 the high was 74 with the record low of 48. Last year (2009) was the second coolest July 8th (of the past 31) as the high was 65 with a low of 61. The record coolest high of 60 occurred way back in 1883. 16 of the last 31 lows were 60s. Nine lows were in the cooler: 40s (1) and 50s (8). 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 4:51 and sunrise was at 5:25. Sunset is at 20:32 and twilight ends at 21:06. There's a total of 15 hours, 7 minutes of daylight today and 16 hours, 15 minutes between twilights. Tomorrow twilight begins at 4:52 and sunrise is at 5:26. The moon is waning crescent. Illumination was 16% at midnight, will be 12% at noon and 9% at midnight tonight. Moonrise was at 2:03 this morning. Moonset is at 17:48 and moonrise is at 2:54 tomorrow morning. Moonlight time is 15 hours, 45 minutes which is 24 minutes longer than yesterday.

NASCAR is at the Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, IL tomorrow night (Nationwide Series: The Dollar General 300) and Saturday night (Sprint Cup: The LifeLock 400). Parent's Day is in 17 days. - Bernie -