NEWS: 2012

As 2012 begins, it's clear and 44 degrees F at Baltimore's National Weather Service station at BWI Airport. The wind is from the west at 3 miles an hour.

It's the start of the International Year of Cooperatives, and the International Year of Sustainable Energy for All, as declared by the Nnited Nations.

Baltimore weather at BWI Airport: Clear, becoming cloudy, then partly cloudy; light rain showers late in the afternoon; breezy late in the evening (17-mph sustained wind and 28-mph gust at 10:54 pm); High temp. 57° F; Low temp. 31° F; Precipitation: 0.03 inch.  No snow on the ground.

Frederica Sagor Maas dies at age 111 in La Mesa, California. She was a dramatist, playwright, screenwriter, memoirist, and author. She lived in three different centuries: the 19th, the 20th, and the 21st. Just before her death, she was the 44th oldest verified living person in the world. She was born on July 6, 1900 in New York, NY.

Baltimore weather at BWI Airport: Mostly cloudy, then cloudy, then mostly cloudy, then clear, then mostly to partly cloudy; breezy at midday (23-mph gust at 11:54 am); High temp. 46° F; Low temp. 26° F; Precipitation: None.

Baltimore weather at BWI Airport: High temp. 66° F; Low temp. 30° F; Precip.: None.

The total precipitation for Baltimore during January 2012 is 2.54 inches, including melted snow and ice, below the normal amount of 3.08 inches. The average daily high temperature for Baltimore during January 2012 is 47.9 degrees F, above the normal of 43.2 degrees.  The average daily low temperature for Baltimore during January 2012 is 28.6 degrees F, above the normal of 25.4 degrees.  A total of 1.3 inches of snow falls at Baltimore's official weather station at BWI Airport during January 2012, below the normal amount of 6.4 inches.

Catonsville weather: Heavy rain; 60° F at 11:59 PM; Precip: 2.06 inches.

Baltimore weather at BWI Airport: Heavy rain; High temp. 81° F; Low temp. 60° F; Precipitation: 1.55 inches.

R.A. Dickey becomes the first major-league baseball pitcher in 24 years to pitch consecutive one-hitters and Ike Davis hits a grand slam in the New York Mets' 5-0 victory over the Orioles. The previous pitcher to throw consecutive one-hitters was Dave Stieb for the Toronto Blue Jays in September 1988.

Aaron Hill hits a solo homer in the seventh inning to become the fifth Arizona Diamondbacks player to hit for the cycle, lifting Arizona to a 7-1 win over the Seattle Mariners.

The Baltimore area (as well as much of the rest of the mid-Atlantic) is ravaged in the evening by a line of severe thunderstorms containing very strong winds, termed a derecho. Wind gusts of nearly 70 mph topple hundreds of trees and knock out electrical power to more than half of electricity customers in the region. (For many of these customers, power remains out for 24 hours to a week or more.)

Baltimore weather at BWI Airport: Clear, then variably cloudy, then cloudy; a thunderstorm late in the evening; very windy late in the evening (37 mph sustained wind and 66 mph gust at 11:02 PM); High temp 103° F; Low temp. 71° F; Precipitation: 0.51 inches.

With their 10-1 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers, the Houston Astros finish July 2012 with 3 wins and 24 losses. Only 4 teams -- the 1988 Orioles (1-21 in April), the 1916 Philadelphia Athletics (2-28 in July), the 1982 Minnesota Twins (3-26 in May), and the 1943 Philadelphia Athletics (3-26 in August) have compiled worse months in major-league baseball history. (The months of March and October are not considered, since so few regular-season games are played during those months.)

The total precipitation for Baltimore during July 2012 is 3.27 inches.

Hundreds of pilgrims are evacuated from the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in southern France following severe flooding in the area.

The SV Estelle, a schooner attempting to breach the Israeli blockade of Gaza claiming to deliver humanitarian aid, is boarded by Israeli soldiers and diverted to the port of Ashdod by Israeli naval ships; Israel says no aid is found aboard. Passengers offer no resistance.

Jewish-American linguist, philosopher and human rights campaigner Noam Chomsky visits Gaza for the first time and attends a seminar alongside Gazan thinkers and intellectuals

Overnight clashes in southeastern Turkey leave 9 people dead, including 6 security officers and 3 suspected Kurdish militants.

Suspected members of Boko Haram attack the northern Nigerian city of Potiskum, destroying several buildings and leaving at least 23 people dead.

Tens of thousands of protesters march through London, Glasgow and Balfast in a series of demonstrations against UK government austerity measures.

Crown Prince Guillaume (the hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg) marries the Belgian Countess Stephanie de Lannoy in Luxembourg. (Royals and regular citizens attend a special service at Notre Dame Cathedral celebrating the marriage the day after the civil ceremony took place.)

Baltimore weather: Clear, then increasing cloudiness, High temperature 65 degrees F, Low temperature 48 degrees F, Precipitation: None.

Hurricane Sandy ("Superstorm Sandy") is felt in the Baltimore region and in all of Maryland, as well as in wide areas of the mid-Atlantic and Northeast. Very strong winds and heavy rain cause flooding in some areas, with widespread tree-limb damage and power outages.

Baltimore receives 5.51 inches of precipitation, the most in Baltimore on any October 29th (up to this point) since recordkeeping began in 1871. This is also the record for the most precipitation in Baltimore on any single day in October (up to this point) since recordkeeping began.

Baltimore weather: Cloudy; rain (heavy at times) all day; windy; high winds in the evening (40 mph sustained wind and 59-mph gust at 8:54 pm); extremely low barometric pressure (28.34 inches at 10:47 pm); High temp. 54 F; Low temp. 46 F; Precipitation: 5.51 inches.

The total precipitation for Baltimore during December 2012 is 3.11 inches, including melted snow and ice.

Total precipitation for Baltimore in 2012 is 37.42 inches, about four and a half inches below normal.