NEWS: 2019

As 2019 begins, it's raining and 49 degrees F at Baltimore's National Weather Service station at BWI Airport. The wind is from the southwest at 8 miles an hour.

It's the beginning of the International Year of Indigenous Languages, the International Year of Moderation, and the International Year of the Periodic Table of the Chemical Elements, as declared by the United Nations.

Newly elected Republican U.S. Senator Mitt Romney of Utah writes in The Washington Post that U.S. President Donald Trump “has not risen to the mantle of the office.”

About 150 migrants try to come across the U.S. border at the fence at Tijuana, Mexico, but U.S. authorities repel them with tear gas.

Jair Bolsonaro becomes Brazil’s new president, succeeding Michel Temer.

In the Rose Bowl, The Ohio State University defeats the University of Washington 28-23. It is Urban Meyer's last coaching appearance for Ohio State. In the Suger Bowl, Texas defeats Georgia 28-21. In the Vrbo Citrus Bowl, Kentucky defeats Penn State 27-24. In The Fiesta Bow, Louisiana State defeats Cal Fullerton 40-32. In the Outback Bowl, Iowa defeats Mississippi State 27-22.

Baltimore weather at BWI Airport: Light rain in the early morning, then fog, then cloudy, then mostly cloudy; breezy/windy until evening (22-mph sustained wind and 37-mph gust at 10:54 am); High temp. 61° F; Low temp. 41° F; Precipitation: 0.03 inch.   No snow on the ground. (Note: "BWI Airport" is used in this table as shorthand for Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, which has the official National Weather Service weather station for Baltimore.)

The partial U.S. government shutdown enters its 12th day.

U.S. President Donald Trump meets with U.S. Congressional leaders and demands billions of dollars to complete a border wall along the Mexican border, but there is no agreement.

Apple CEO Tim Cook writes in a letter to shareholders that Apple's revenue in the last quarter of 2018 will fall well below expectations due to sagging demand for iPhones.

Daryl Dragon dies at age 76 in Prescott, Arizona.  He was an American musician and songwriter, known as Captain from the pop musical duo Captain & Tennille with his then-wife, Toni Tennille. They had the best-selling pop song of 1975, "Love Wll Keep Us Together." He was born on August 27, 1942 in Los Angeles, CA.

Baltimore weather at BWI Airport: Mostly cloudy, then cloudy; High temp. 45° F; Low temp. 37° F; Precipitation: None.

Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives pass a plan that would reopen the government but not fund the border wall construction proposed by President Donald Trump.

A 5-vehicle crash on Interstate 75 in Florida kills seven people, including five children from Louisiana in a van that was heading to Disney World. Two tractor-trailers crash head-on into each other after one of them crosses the median; three other vehicles plow into them. The vehicles erupt in flames, fed by about 50 gallons of fuel. The crash occurs about a mile south of Alachua, near Gainesville.

Saudi Arabia states its intention to seek the death penalty against  five people suspected of murdering Saudi journalist/Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

China lands a lunar probe on the "dark" side of the moon, the first time a probe has landed on that side.

Baltimore weather at BWI Airport: Cloudy, then mostly cloudy; High temp. 49° F; Low temp. 30° F; Precipitation: None.

After Democratic leaders again refuse his demands for money to complete a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, U.S. President Donald Trump states that he could keep parts of the government shut down for “months or even years."

U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) workers are expected to work without pay during the U.S. government shutdown because their jobs are considered essential, but the TSA says an increasing number of them are not reporting to work.

In Koszalin, Poland, carbon monoxide poisoning caused by fire in an escape room kills five 15-year-old girls. They were in the escape room to celebrate a friend's birthday. The 28-year-old man who ran the escape room is charged with “deliberately creating the danger of a fire in the escape room” and “unintentionally causing the death of people in a fire.”

Baltimore weather at BWI Airport: Mostly cloudy, then clear, then cloudy; light rain in the evening; High temp. 48° F; Low temp. 28° F; Precipitation: 0.04 inch.

Negotiations between White House officials and congressional aides again do not being an end to the partial U.S. government shutdown, which is in its 15th day.

A funeral is held in Newman, California for Ronil Singh, a Newman police officer who was shot to death by a suspected drunk driver on December 26, 2018, during a traffic stop. (The suspected killer was found and arrested two days after the shooting and was said by authorites to be in the U.S. illegally.)

Baltimore weather at BWI Airport: Light rain & light drizzle, and fog at times in the morning; then cloudy; light rain in the early afternoon; then cloudy, then clear; breezy from afternoon to early evening (18-mph susteined wind & 30-mph gust at 1:54 pm); High temp. 50°F; Low temp. 44°F; Precipitation: 0.02 inch.

The U.S. partial government shutdown stays in effect as negioiations again fail to provide funding for a U.S.-Mexico border wall.

John Bolton, the U.S. national security adviser, says that U.S. troops will not leave northeastern Syria until Islamic State militants are defeated and Kurdish fighters are protected.

“Bohemian Rhapsody," a movie about Freddie Mercury's life, is named the best drama picture at the Golden Globes. It wins over "A Star Is Born" which was more heaviluy favored.

Baltimore weather at BWI Airport: Clear, then partly to mostly cloudy, then clear, then partly cloudy; breezy/windy until evening (17-mph sustained wind & 32-mph gust at 1:54 pm); High temp. 54°F; Low temp. 35°F; Precipitation: None.

A man who tried to attack an officer in Arizona who then was shot by the officer claims it was a lone wolf attack for Islamic State.

The government of Gabon quashes a coup d'état by soldiers. The attempt takes place while the country's president, Ali Bongo, was undergoing medical treatment in Morocco.

The government of Guatemala denounces the UN-backed International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) and gives it 24 hours to leave the country.

Sudanese Interior Minister Ahmed Bilal Osman announces that 816 protesters have been arrested amidst anti-government protests held across the country since December of 2018.

Clemson defeats Alabama 44–16 in the College Football Playoff National Championship. The Tigers win their second national championship in three seasons, and third overall.

Baltimore weather at BWI Airport: Partly to mostly cloudy, then cloudy, then mostly cloudy, then cloudy, then light rain late in the evening; High temp. 37°F; Low temp. 32°F; Precipitation: Trace.

U.S. President Donald Trump, in a televised address, asks Democrats in Congress to fund his border wall construction and end the 18-day-old partial government shutdown.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio says that the city will spend up to $100 million each year to extend health-care coverage to those without insurance, including those in the U.S. illegally.

Baltimore weather at BWI Airport: Light rain in the early morning, then cloudy, then mostly cloudy, then heavy rain with wind gusting to 40 mph at 9:34 pm; then light rain, then mostly cloudy; High temp. 52°F; Low temp. 35°F; Precipitation: 0.16 inch.

Joining several other Democrats in the race, Senator Kamala Harris of California announces her intention to run in the 2020 U.S. presidential election.

U.S. President Donald Trump walks out of negotiations with congressional leaders. Efforts to end the 18-day-old partial U.S. government shutdown fall into deeper disarray as there is no agreement to provide funding for President Trump's proposed border-wall construction.

Remnants of a Dassault Mirage 2000D fighter jet are found in Jura, France, after the aircraft with two pilots onboard disappeared from radar.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and his wife MacKenzie announce that they are getting divorced.

Diplomatic offices in Melbourne, Australia, are evacuated after suspicious packages are found.

Former Israeli minister Gonen Segev pleads guilty to spying for Iran, in exchange for an 11-year prison sentence.

Scientists announce through the Nature journal, the discovery of 13 deep-space fast radio bursts (FRBs), named FRB 180814, by the CHIME radio telescope in British Columbia, Canada.

Baltimore weather at BWI Airport: Partly to mostly cloudy, then light rain with snow, then light snow in afternnoon (a trace of snow); then cloudy to mostly cloudy, then light snow in late evening, then partly cloudy; breezy/windy (22-mph sustained wind & 35-mph gust at at 9:54 pm); High temp. 50°F; Low temp. 29°F; Precipitation: Trace (liquid).  No snow on the ground.

Jayme Closs, a 13-year-old girl from Barron, Wisconsin, escapes from a house she had been held captive in for 88 days about 70 miles away in Gordon, Wisconsin.  (A 21-year-old man, Jake Patterson, shot and killed Jayme's parents and then abducted her on October 15, 2018. Patterson is later convicted of two counts of murder and is sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.)

U.S. President Donald Trump tours a portion of the border between the U.S. and Mexico. He says that “a lot of the crime in our country is caused by what’s coming through here.”

Nicolas Maduro begins his second term as President of Venezuela. Other countries in the Americas say he is a dictator and cut back their diplomatic ties to Venezuela.

Baltimore weather at BWI Airport: Partly cloudy, then mostly cloudy, then clear; windy/breezy (29-mph sustained wind & 40-mph gust at 11:54 am); High temp. 37° F; Low temp. 27° F; Precipitation: None.

Baltimore weather at BWI Airport: Clear, then partly to mostly cloudy, then clear, then becoming mostly cloudy; breezy at midday (23-mph gust at 12:54 pm); High temp. 38° F; Low temp. 24° F; Precipitation: None.

The partial U.S. government shutdown is in its 22nd day. It is the longest shutdown of its kind in U.S. history.

A staff shortage related to the partial U.S. government shutdown forces a terminal at Miami International Airport in Florida to close during part of the weekend.

Julián Castro enters the Democratic U.S. presidential race. He was U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under U.S. President Barack Obama from 2014 to 2017.

Four people are killed and 40 injured when a bakery in Paris, France, explodes after a natural-gas leak.

At least 21 miners die after a roof collapses in a coal mine in Shenmu, China.

At least 17 are killed and 12 others are injured in a fire at a drug rehabilitation clinic in Guayaquil, Ecuador. Officials said the blaze took hold after patients set mattresses on fire in a bid to escape the facility.

Taiwanese premier William Lai announces his resignation and former premier Su Tseng-chang succeeds him.

All editions of Wikipedia are blocked in Venezuela by state-owned CANTV amid an ongoing political crisis.

Baltimore weather at BWI Airport: Mostly cloudy, becoming cloudy; light snow beginning at 4:42 pm and lasting the rest of the day; occasional moderate snow in late evening (a total of 1.8 inches of snow); High temp. 35° F; Low temp. 23° F; Precipitation: 0.16 inch (liquid).  One inch of snow on the ground.

BWI Airport gets 4.8 inches of snow, the greatest snowfall for BWI Airport in 2019.

Baltimore weather at BWI Airport: Light snow with occasional moderate snow and occasional fog; snow ending at 9:51 pm (total snowfall 4.8 inches); then cloudy; occasionally breezy in the evening (17-mph gust at 9:05 pm); High temp. 31° F; Low temp. 27° F; Precipitation: 0.37 inch (liquid).  5 inches of snow on the ground.

In Chicago, Illinois, actor Jussie Smollett tells police that he was attacked outside his apartment building by two men in ski masks. He reports they talked to him using racial and homophobic slurs and said, "This is MAGA country," a reference to President Donald Trump's slogan "Make America Great Again." He claims they used their hands, feet, and teeth as weapons in the assault. According to a statement released by the Chicago Police Department, the two suspects then "poured an unknown liquid" on Smollett and put a noose around his neck. Smollett says that he fought them off. Smollett is treated at Northwestern Memorial Hospital; not seriously injured, he is released "in good condition" later that morning. The police were called after 2:30 a.m.; when they arrive around 2:40 a.m., Smollett has a white rope around his neck. Smollett says that the attack may have been motivated by his criticism of the Trump administration and that he believes that the alleged assault is linked to the threatening letter that was sent to him earlier that month. (On December 9, 2021, a jury finds him guilty of five out of six charges of disorderly conduct relating to filing four false police reports, but not before charges against him are dropped and then later reinstated.)

Baltimore weather at BWI Airport: Rain and light snow (0.3" of snow); High temp. 38° F; Low temp. 24° F; Precip.: 0.24 inch (liquid).  No snow on the ground.

Baltimore weather at BWI Airport: High temp. 21° F; Low temp. 5° F; Precip.: None.  No snow on the ground.

The total amount of precipitation for Baltimore during January 2019 is 3.15 inches, including melted snow and ice, above the normal amount of 3.08 inches. The average daily high temperature for Baltimore during January 2019 is 41.6 degrees F, below the normal of 43.2 degrees. The average daily low temperature for Baltimore during January 2019 is 25.4 degrees F, exactly normal.  A total of 7.8 inches of snow falls at Baltimore's official weather station at BWI Airport during January 2019, above the normal amount of 6.4 inches.

Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden states that he does not believe that he has ever interacted inappropriately with women.

The total precipitation for Baltimore during March 2019 is 4.14 inches.

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido takes to the streets to call for a military uprising against Nicolas Maduro. In the U.S., the Trump administration quickly declares enthusiastic support.

The total precipitation for Baltimore during April 2019 is 1.46 inches, less than half the normal amount for April.

A longtime city employee of Virginia Beach, Virginia, shoots and kills 12 people on three floors of a municipal building there before police shoot and kill him. Officials say that DeWayne Craddock resigned by e-mail hours before his mass shooting.

The total precipitation for Baltimore during May 2019 is 5.51 inches.

The Colorado Rockies and the San Diego Padres score a combined 92 runs in their 4-game series ending on this date, setting a record for the most combined runs scored in a 4-game series. On this date, the Padres defeat the Rockies 14-13.

A Babe Ruth Yankees baseball jersey from 1928-1930 sells for $5.64 million at auction, setting a record price paid for a piece of sports memorabilia.

At the trading deadline, the Arizona Diamondbacks send pitcher Zack Greinke and cash to the Houston Astros for minor leaguers Seth Beer, J.B. Bukauskas, Joshua Rojas, and Corbin Martin, a rookie right-handed pitcher. (Zack Greinke, the 2009 Cy Young Award-winning pitcher, will have an 8-1 ecord for the Astros in 2019, helping them to the American League championship. He joins the Astros' very talented pitching lineup including Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole, the winner and runner-up, respectively, of the Cy Young Award in 2019.)

The total precipitation for Baltimore during July 2019 is 3.85 inches.

The Ravens defeat the Seattle Seahhawks at Seattle, 30-16. The Ravens are 5-2 this season.

Three American soldiers with the 3rd Infantry Division are killed and three others are injured in a training accident at Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, Georgia.

Tornadoes strike North Texas as part of an outbreak.

U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper says American troops withdrawing from Syria will go to western Iraq, where the U.S. military will continue to conduct operations against the Islamic State to prevent its resurgence.

Joko Widodo is officially inaugurated as president of Indoesnia for the second time and will serve until 2024.

In Chile, because of protests, curfew is extended to Concepcion and Valparaiso Region, including Santiago. Nine million people are under a state of emergency, equal to 52 percent of the country's population.

Three people are found dead in a supermarket that had been set on fire in San Bernardo, Chile.

The government of Bangladesh announces it will begin moving thousands of Rohingya refugees from crowded camps to the flood-prone island of Thengar Char starting early November. The government hopes to relocate 100,000 refugees by the end of the operation, which has been criticised by rights groups as an "inevitable" humanitarian crisis.

Baltimore wether: Light to moderate rain for most of the day. High temperature 57 degrees F, Low temperature 49 degrees F. Precipitation: 1.35 inches

An airplane crashes shortly after takeoff in Chamberlain, South Dakota, killing nine of the 12 people on board and seriously injuring the other three.

The total precipitation for Baltimore during November 2019 is 1.10 inches, including melted snow and ice. This amount is about 1/3 of the normal amount for November.

The impeachment report on U.S. President Donald Trump, commissioned by the U.S. House of Representatives, is unveiled to its key members.

Eddie Johnson, Chief of the Chicago Police Department who was planning to retire, is fired after being found asleep at the steering wheel of his car.

As part of a 2-week meeting in Madrid, Spain, concerning global warming, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres urges representatives of nearly 200 countries not to give up in the fight against climate change.

Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives lay out their impeachment case against U.S. President Donald Trump. A House Judiciary Committee report says Trump "betrayed the Nation by abusing his high office to enlist a foreign power in corrupting democratic elections."

Boeing says it will temporarily stop producing the 737 Max jetliner as it awaits approval to get the plane back into the air. All 737 Max planes have been grounded since March 2019 after two fatal crashes.

"Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker" has its world premiere in Hollywood, California. It is the concluding movie of the third trilogy in the "Star Wars" movie franchise.

The New Orleans Saints beat the Indianapolis Colts 34 to 7 as Drew Brees becomes the National Football League's all-time leader in touchdown passes thrown. He threw four TD passes in the game, He now has 541, supassing Peyton Manning's 539.

The total precipitation for Baltimore during December 2019 is 3.57 inches, including melted snow and ice.

Total precipitation for Baltimore in 2019 is 38.13 inches, about 3 and a half inches below normal.

The U.S. economy has positive growth during all of 2019. The U.S. Gross Domestic Product rises 2.2 percent.