June 2: ORD

Today is June 2nd. It's the 154th day of the year. 212 days remain. It's week 22 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. Before this, the official site of record was on the south side of Chicago at Midway International Airport (MDW), beginning on Wednesday, July 1, 1942. From Friday, January 1, 1926 through Tuesday, June 30, 1942, the official site was at the University of Chicago. Before that, the official site was at various locations in Chicago going back to Monday, October 16, 1871. Observations taken from October 15, 1870 to October 8, 1871 were lost in the Great Chicago Fire.

According to the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), the normal high is 75 and the normal low is 54. I've calculated the 33-year averages at 73 and 54.

On the warm side, in 1990 (O'Hare's warmest June 2nd) the high was 85 with a low of 64. In 2007 the high was 81 with a low of 65 (O'Hare's warmest low of the date). The record high of 92 was set in 1944 at Midway after first being set in 1895. The record warmest low of 73 occurred in 1943 at Midway. 31 of the past 33 highs (94%) were in the: 60s (9), 70s (14) and 80s (8). Two highs  were in the cool 50s. O'Hare's co-warmest highs of the date are 87 degrees in 1963 and 1972.

In looking back through the years to the first June at O'Hare in 1959, the following instances were notable: In 1972 the high was a hot 87 degrees. In 1969 the high was a cool 57 with a low of 48, a cool day. In 1967 the high was 78 with a low of 45, a 33 degree spread. In 1966 the high was 78 with a cold low of 38, a 40 degree spread. In 1965 the high was a cool 63 degrees. In 1964 the low was a cold 39 degrees. In 1963 the high was a hot 87 degrees. In 1962 the high was a cool 58 degrees. In 1961 the high was 82 with a low of 50, a 32 degree spread.

More recently, there were additional large spreads of 31 degrees in 1992 (77/46), 31 degrees in 1998 (78/47) and 30 degrees in 2008 (86/56). The one small spread was seven degrees in 1993 (58/51).
 
On the cool side, in 1986 (O'Hare's co-coolest June 2nd) the high was 60 with a low of 45. In 2003 the high was 68 with the record low of 38 (O'Hare's co-coolest low of the date), a 30 degree spread. The former record low of 43 occurred in 1910. In 2001 the high was 56 (O'Hare's coolest high of the date) with a low of 50, a six degree spread. The other cool highs were 58 in 1993 and 60 three years ago, in 2009. The record coolest high of 51 occurred in 1929 at the University of Chicago. 20 of the last 33 lows (61%) were in the 50s. Eight lows (24%) were in the cold: 30s (1) and 40s (7). Five lows (15%) were in the warm 60s. O'Hare's co-coolest June 2nd was in 1969 as the high was 57 with a low of 48. O'Hare's co-coolest low is 38 degrees in 1966.

The following astronomical data is provided by the United States Naval Observatory. In Crystal Lake, twilight begins at 4:45 and sunrise is at 5:19. Sunset is at 20:24 and twilight ends at 20:58. There's a total of 15 hours, 5 minutes of daylight today and 16 hours, 13 minutes between twilights. We neither gained or lost any minutes of daylight from yesterday. Tomorrow twilight begins at 4:44 and sunrise is at 5:18. The moon is waxing gibbous, heading towards the full Strawberry (a.k.a. Rose or Hot) moon in two mornings at 6:12. Illumination was 93% at midnight, will be 96% at noon and 98% at midnight tonight. Moonset was at 3:38 this morning. Moonrise is at 18:38 tonight. Moonset is at 4:27 tomorrow morning. Moonlight time is 9 hours which is 34 minutes shorter than yesterday. 

Spring began on March 12th and runs for 84 days through June 3rd. Warm Spring began on April 13th and runs for 52 days through June 3rd. High temperatures in this period are usually in the 50s, 60s and 70s. Highs in the 80s and 90s occur infrequently. Flag Day is in 12 days.