June 15: ORD

Today is June 15th. It's the 166th day of the year. 199 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 80 and 59.

On the hot side, in 1994 the high was the record high of 95 with the record warmest low of 78. The record high of 95 also occurred 40 years earlier in 1954 and in 1952. In 1979 the high was 89 with a low of 72. In 1988 the high was 93 with a low of 67. Another warm high was 91 in 2007. 26 of the past 32 highs (81%) were in the: 70s (11) and 80s (15). Three highs were in the hot 90s. Three highs were in the cool: 50s (1) and 60s (2).

In looking back through the years to the first June at O'Hare in 1959, the following instances were notable: In 1967 the high was 91 with a low of 74, a hot day. In 1965 the high was 67 with a low of 45, a cool day. In 1962 the high was 82 with a low of 50, a 32 degree spread. In 1961 the high was 63 with a low of 43, a cool day.

More recently, both spreads were large: 39 degrees in 1997 (82/43) and 32 degrees in 1995 (89/57).

On the cool side, in 1989 the high was 57 (the only 50s high) with a low of 53, a spread of just 4 degrees. A decade later, in 1999, the high was 63 with a low of 52. The record low of 43 was set in 1997. The former record low of 46 occurred eight decades before in 1917. The only other 40s low was 49 in 1980. The record coolest high of 52 occurred in 1917 (year of the aforementioned former record low). 28 of the last 32 lows (88%) were in the: 50s (15) and 60s (13). Two lows were in the cool 40s and two were in the warm 70s.

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 full today as the full Strawberry moon at 15:14. Other names for this moon are Rose and Hot. Illumination was 100% at midnight, will be 100% at noon and 100% at midnight tonight. Moonset is at 4:56 this morning. Moonrise is at 20:38 tonight. Moonset is at 5:59 tomorrow morning. Moonlight time is 8 hours, 18 minutes which is two minutes shorter than yesterday. Moonlight time is today 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. Father's Day is in four days. Independence Day is in 19 days.