NEWS: 1987

As 1987 begins, it's clear and 33 degrees F at Baltimore's weather station (at BWI Airport). The wind is from the northeast at 3 miles an hour.

It's the beginning of the International Year of Shelter for the Homeless, as proclaimed by the United Nations.

Meryl Davis is born in Royal Oak, Michigan. She  is a former competitive ice dancer. With partner Charlie White, she is the 2014 Olympic champion, the 2010 Olympic silver medalist, a two-time (2011, 2013) World champion, five-time Grand Prix Final champion (2009–2013), three-time Four Continents champion (2009, 2011, 2013) and six-time U.S. national champion (2009–2014). They also won a bronze medal in the team event at the 2014 Winter Olympics. Davis and White teamed up in 1997 and they are currently the longest lasting dance team in the United States. They are the first American ice dancers to win the World title, as well as the first Americans to win the Olympic title. At the 2006 NHK Trophy, they became the first ice dancing team to earn level fours on all their elements. In 2014, Davis won the eighteenth season of Dancing with the Stars with partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy.

Baltimore weather at BWI Airport: Clear, becoming cloudy; snow (0.3") and rain in the evening; breezy in the evening; High temp. 38 F; Low temp. 28 F; Precipitation: 0.85 inch (liquid).  A trace of snow on the ground.

In Chase, Maryland, 16 people are killed and 164 others injured when an Amtrak passenger train collides with Conrail locomotives that are on the same track. The Amtrak train was bound from Washington, D.C. to Boston, MA. (The Conrail locomotive crew failed to stop at signals and entered the Amtrak train's track just before it arrived, and it was determined that the accident would have been avoided had they stopped at the signals. Additionally, they tested positive for marijuana. The Conrail engineer served four years in a Maryland prison for his role in the crash.)

Baltimore weather at BWI Airport: Clear, becoming cloudy, then clear; High temp. 41 F; Low temp. 23 F; Precipitation: None.

BWI Airport gets 12.3 inches of snow, the greatest snowfall on one day for BWI Airport in 1987.

1.75 inches of (liquid) precipitation falls in Baltimore, the largest-ever amount in Baltimore on any January 22nd (up to this point)  since recordkeeping began in 1871.

Baltimore weather at BWI Airport: Cloudy; snow (12.3 inches) from mid-morning until mid-evening, then cloudy, then partly cloudy; breezy/windy in the afternoon and evening (28 mph sustained wind & 44 mph gust at 5:00 pm); High temp. 32° F; Low temp. 26° F, Precip.: 1.75 inches (liquid).  12 inches of snow on the ground.

The low temperature in Baltimore reaches 3 degrees F, the lowest-ever temperature in Baltimore on any January 27th (up to this point) since recordkeeping began in 1871.

Baltimore weather at BWI Airport: High temp. 28° F; Low temp. 3° F, Precip.: None.  17 inches of snow on the ground.

The low temperature in Baltimore reaches -3 degrees F, the lowest-ever temperature in Baltimore on any January 28th (up to this point) since recordkeeping began in 1871.

Baltimore weather at BWI Airport: High temp. 30° F; Low temp. -3° F, Precip.: None.  13 inches of snow on the ground.

Baltimore weather at BWI Airport: A trace of snow; High temp. 40° F; Low temp. 31° F, Precip.: Trace (liquid).  8 inches of snow on the ground.

The total precipitation for Baltimore during January 1987 is 5.85 inches, including melted snow and ice, almost double the normal amount of 3.08 inches. The average daily high temperature for Baltimore during January 1987 is 39.6 degrees F, below the average of 43.2 degrees.  The average daily low temperature for Baltimore during Jasnuary 1987 is 25.3 degrees F, just below the normal of 25.4 degrees.  A total of 25.1 inches of snow falls at Baltimore's official weather station during January 1987, well above the normal of 6.4 inches.

Gary Hart withdraws from the race for the U.S. Democratic presidential nomination. He was dogged by questions about his personal life and relationship with model Donna Rice.

Eddie Murray of the Orioles hits home runs both righthanded and lefthanded in the same game against the Chicago White Sox.

Eddie Murray of the Orioles becomes the first player in Major League history to hit home runs from both sides of home plate in two consecutive games, May 8 and 9, against the White Sox.

All 183 passengers and crew on board LOT Polish Airlines Flight 5055 are killed when the Ilyushin Il-62M airplane serving the flight crashes on the outskirts of Warsaw, Poland, around 56 minutes after departure from Warsaw. The plane had attempted to return to Warsaw after an engine explosion due to seized bearings caused a fire which greatly impaired control of the plane and eventually engulfed much of the plane.

The Orioles hit 6 home runs in one game, a team record.  They beat the Angels, 8-7.

West German pilot Mathias Rust lands his small airplane on a bridge near Red Square in Moscow, USSR, without authorization. Rust said he wanted to create an "imaginary bridge" to the East, and that his flight was intended to reduce tension and suspicion between the two Cold War sides. Later, Rust was sentenced to four years in prison for violation of border crossing and air traffic regulations, and for provoking an emergency situation upon his landing. After 14 months in prison, he was paroned by Andrei Gromyko, the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, and released.

Tim Raines of the Montreal Expos goes 5-for-5 with 4 extra-base hits and the cycle in a 10-7 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Darryl Strawberry of the New York Mets drives in five runs with four extra-base hits to lead to Mets to a 23-10 victory over the Chicago Cubs.

An Air Force jet crashes into a Ramada Inn hotel near Indianapolis (Indiana) International Airport, killing ten people. The plane's jet engine flames out and the pilot is unable to restart it. The pilot ejects safely after attempting an emergency landing and before the plane crashes into the hotel.

Baltimore weather at BWI Airport: Variable cloudiness, then cloudy; High temp. 68 F, Low temp. 48 F; Precipitation: None.

Six inches of snow falls in Baltimore, the greatest amount of snow for Baltimore on any November 11th (up to this point) since recordkeeping began in 1871.

Baltimore receives 1.34 inches of precipitation (rain, plus snow and other frozen precipitation melted down to liquid), the greatest amount of precipitation in Baltimore on any November 11th (up to this point) since recordkeeping began in 1871.

Jerry Turner dies at age 58 of esophageal cancer in Baltimore. He was a television news anchorman at WJZ-TV (Channel 13) in Baltimore. He began working at the station in August 1962, starting the 6:00 PM newscast with Al Sanders in 1977. He was born Jerry Jackson Joiner on August 6, 1929 in Meridian, Mississippi.

Dale Riordan dies at age 39 of leukemia. He was a vice president at Fannie Mae, a mortgage-financing company, and lived in Washington, D.C. He was born on July 4, 1948.

Baltimore weather at BWI Airport: Clear to mostly cloudy, then cloudy, then mostly cloudy; breezy at times in the afternoon and evening; High temp. 48 F; Low temp. 18 F; Precipitation: None.

The total precipitation for Baltimore during December 1987 is 2.07 inches, including melted snow and ice.

Total precipitation for Baltimore in 1987 is 41.08 inches, about an inch below normal.