June 14: ORD

Today is June 14th. It's the 165th day of the year. 200 days remain. It's week 24 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 79 and the normal low is 57. I've calculated the 32-year averages at 82 and 60.

On the hot side, in 1987 the high was the record high of 99 with a low of 68, a 31 degree spread. In 1988 the high was 94 with a low of 71. In 1981 the high was 88 with the record warmest low of 75. In 1991 the high was 93 with a low of 69. Three years later, in 1994, the high was 94 with a low of 66. In 2001 the high was 91 (our most recent 90s high) with a low of 68. Highs were 91 in both 1983 and 1992. The high was 90 in 1995. 28 of the past 32 highs (88%) were in the: 70s (9), 80s (11) and 90s (8). Four highs were in the cool 60s. Interestingly, the year after our most recent 90s high (91 in 2001), the high was just 67 in 2002. This also happened in 1983. The high that year was 91. The year later (1984), the high was just 69.

In looking back through the years to the first June at O'Hare in 1959, the following instances were notable: In 1978 the high was a cool 67 degrees. In 1969 the high was a cool 65 degrees. In 1967 the high was 89 with a warm low of 70, a warm day. In 1963 the high was a cool 67 degrees. In 1962 the high was 77 with a low of 47, a 30 degree spread. In 1961 the high was a cool 65 degrees. In 1960 the high was a cool 60 with a low of 54, a six degree spread.

More recently, both spreads were large: 31 degrees in 1983 (91/60) and 31 degrees in 1995 (90/59).

On the cool side, in 1997 the high was 68 with the record low of 45 (the former record low of 47 occurred in 1985). In 1986 the high was 65 with a low of 54. Another cool high was 67 in 2002. The record coolest high of 58 occurred way back in 1875. 28 of the last 32 lows (88%) were in the: 50s (13) and 60s (15). Two lows were in the cool 40s and two were in the warm 70s.

Sunday's high of 64 and low of 50 (mean of 57) was the third coolest June 12th of at least the last 33 years. The coolest June 12 remains 1985 (high of 57, low of 40). The second coolest (by just half a degree over this year) remains 2000 (high of 60, low of 53).

Saturday's high of 62 and low of 52 (mean of 57) was the second coolest June 11th of at least the last 33 years. It was just half a degree cooler than 1980 (a nice high of 74 with a cold low of 41, a mean of 57.5). 1985 remains the coolest June 11 as the high that day was a very cool 56 with a low of 48 for a mean of 52.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 4:42 and sunrise is at 5:16. Sunset is at 20:31 and twilight ends at 21:06. There's a total of 15 hours, 15 minutes of daylight today and 16 hours, 24 minutes between twilights. We gained no minutes of daylight from yesterday. Tomorrow twilight begins at 4:42 and sunrise is at 5:16. The moon is waxing gibbous and will be full tomorrow as the full Strawberry moon at 15:14. Other names for this moon are Rose and Hot. Illumination was 97% at midnight, will be 98% at noon and 100% at midnight tonight. Moonset is at 4:00 this morning. Moonrise is at 19:40 tonight. Moonset is at 4:56 tomorrow morning. Moonlight time is 8 hours, 20 minutes which is 17 minutes shorter than yesterday. Moonlight time is nearly at it's least for the next several days.

Summer began June 4 and runs for 110 days through September 21. High temperatures in this period are usually in the 70s and 80s. Highs in the 60s, 90s and 100s occur infrequently. Flag Day is today. Father's Day is in five days.