June 22: ORD

Today is June 22nd. It's the 173rd day of the year. 192 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 81 and the normal low is 59. I've calculated the 32-year averages at 82 and 60.

On the hot side, in 1988 the high was the record high of 97 with a low of 66, a 31 degree spread. In 1995 the high was 93 with a low of 69. 1988 and 1995 were two of our hottest summers. The other 90s highs were 92 in 1983, 92 in 2002 and 91 in 1989. The record warmest low of 76 occurred back in 1923. 23 of the past 32 highs (72%) were in the: 70s (8) and 80s (15). Five highs (16%) were in the hot 90s and four (12%) 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 1974 the high was a cool 65 with a low of 52, a cool day. In 1972 the high was a cool 67 with a low of 49, a cool day. In 1969 the high was a cool 66 with a low of 59, a seven degree spread. In 1965 the high was 88 with a low of 52, a 36 degree spread. In 1963 the high was 77 with a cold low of 36, a 41 degree spread and cool day. That low of 36 was colder than the official low.

More recently, there were three large spreads: 31 degrees in 1993 (87/56), 31 degrees in 2003 (85/54) and 30 degrees in 1994 (88/58). There was a small spread of seven degrees in 1991 (67/60).

On the cool side, in 1992 the high was 65 with a low of 41. A decade earlier, in 1982, the high was 69 with a low of 46. The other cool highs were 67 in 1991 and 69 in 2001. The record low of 40 was set way back in 1875. The record coolest high of 55 occurred way back in 1881. 30 of the last 32 lows (94%) were in the: 50s (12) and 60s (18). Two lows were in the cool 40s. Our most recent 40s low (41 in 1992) occurred 19 years ago and it was just a degree warmer than the record low.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 4:43 and sunrise is at 5:17. Sunset is at 20:33 and twilight ends at 21:08. There's a total of 15 hours, 16 minutes of daylight today and 16 hours, 25 minutes between twilights. We gained no minutes of daylight from yesterday. Tomorrow twilight begins at 4:43 and sunrise is at 5:17. The moon is waning gibbous and reaches last quarter tomorrow at 6:48. Illumination was 62% at midnight, will be 57% at noon and 52% at midnight tonight. Moonset is at 12:22 this afternoon. Moonrise is at 0:20 tomorrow morning. Moonset is at 13:21 tomorrow afternoon. Moonlight time is 12 hours, 22 minutes which is 57 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. Independence Day is in 12 days.