June 19: ORD

Today is June 19th. It's the 170th day of the year. 195 days remain. It's week 25 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 80 and the normal low is 59. I've calculated the 32-year averages at 80 and 59.

On the hot side, in 1995 the high was 94 with the first of two 70s lows of 71. In 1988 the high was 93 with the second 70s low of 71. Another hot high was 92 in 1986. The record high of 102 was set in 1953. The record warmest low of 75 occurred back in 1931. 25 of the past 32 highs (78%) were in the: 70s (8) and 80s (17). Three highs were in the hot 90s and four were in the cool 60s.

In looking back through the years to the first June at O'Hare in 1959, the following instances were notable: In 1965 the high was 82 with a low of 48, a 34 degree spread. In 1962 the high was a cool 67 degrees. In 1961 the high was 84 with a low of 52, a 32 degree spread. In 1959 the high was 82 with a low of 50, a 32 degree spread.

More recently, both spreads were large: 31 degrees in 1997 (85/54) and 30 degrees in 1991 (87/57).

On the cool side, in 2004 the high was 64 with a low of 48. In 1980 the high was 69 with the record low of 43. Another cool low was 47 in 1985. Other cool highs were 67 in 1992 and 68 in 2003. The record coolest high of 56 occurred back in 1926. 27 of the last 32 lows (84%) were in the: 50s (14) and 60s (13). Three 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 5:17. Sunset is at 20:33 and twilight ends at 21:07. There's a total of 15 hours, 16 minutes of daylight today and 16 hours, 25 minutes between twilights. We gained a minute of daylight from yesterday. Tomorrow twilight begins at 4:42 and sunrise is at 5:17. The moon is waning gibbous. Illumination was 87% at midnight, will be 83% at noon and 80% at midnight tonight. Moonset is at 9:17 this morning. Moonrise is at 23:08 tonight. Moonset is at 10:21 tomorrow morning. Moonlight time is 10 hours, 9 minutes which is 37 minutes longer than yesterday.

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 today. Independence Day is in 15 days.