- 56th Day of 2013 / 309 Remaining
- 23 Days Until The First Day of Spring
- Sunrise:6:46
- Sunset:6:00
- 11 Hours 14 Minutes of Daylight
- Moon Rise: 6:17pm
- Moon Set:6:21am
- Full Moon
- The Next Full Moon
- February 25 @ 12:28pm
- Full Snow Moon
- Full Hunger Moon
Since the heaviest snow usually falls during this month, native tribes of the north and east most often called February’s full Moon the Full Snow Moon. Some tribes also referred to this Moon as the Full Hunger Moon, since harsh weather conditions in their areas made hunting very difficult.
- Tides
- High: 9:14am/11:11pm
- Low:2:50am/4:06pm
- Rainfall (measured July 1 – June 30)
- This Year:14.35
- Last Year:6.87
- Normal To Date:17.64
- Annual Seasonal Average:23.80
- Holidays
- National Chocolate Covered Peanuts Day
- National Chili Day
- National Day-Kuwait
- Revolution Day-Suriname
- On This Day In …
- 1836 --- Sure as shootin’, Samuel Colt received a patent for a pistol that used a revolving cylinder containing powder and bullets in six individual tubes. (Pre-assembled loads [cartridges] came later.) Up to that time, the single-shot flintlock pistol had been the fastest firearm around. Colt’s Patent Fire Arms Manufacturing Company was incorporated in 1855 and some 30 million Colt pistols and rifles have been sold since.
- 1862 --- The U.S. Congress passes the Legal Tender Act, authorizing the use of paper notes to pay the government's bills. This ended the long-standing policy of using only gold or silver in transactions, and it allowed the government to finance the enormously costly Civil War long after its gold and silver reserves were depleted.
- 1870 --- Hiram R. Revels, R-Miss., became the first black member of the United States Senate as he was sworn in to serve out the unexpired term of Jefferson Davis.
- 1913 --- The 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, giving Congress the power to levy and collect income taxes, was declared in effect.
- 1928 --- The Federal Radio Commission issued the first U.S. television license to Charles Jenkins Laboratories in Washington, DC. The first commercial TV license was issued in 1941.
- 1940 --- The New York Rangers and the Montreal Canadiens played in the first hockey game to be televised in the U.S. The game was aired on W2WBS in New York with one camera in a fixed position. The Rangers beat the Canadiens 6-2.
- 1943 --- This day was commonly thought to be George Harrison's birthday. In 1992, Harrison was reported to have said, "I only learned recently after all these years that the date and time of my own birth have always been off by one calendar day and about a half hour on the clock." His birthday is actually February 24.
- 1948 --- Under pressure from the Czechoslovakian Communist Party, President Eduard Benes allows a communist-dominated government to be organized. Although the Soviet Union did not physically intervene (as it would in 1968), Western observers decried the virtually bloodless communist coup as an example of Soviet expansion into Eastern Europe. The political scene in Czechoslovakia following World War II was complex, to say the least. Eduard Benes was head of the London-based Czech government-in-exile during the war, and returned to his native land in 1945 to take control of a new national government following the Soviet withdrawal in July of that year. National elections in 1946 resulted in significant representation for leftist and communist parties in the new constituent assembly. Benes formed a coalition with these parties in his administration.
- 1957 --- Buddy Holly and the Crickets recorded "That'll Be The Day." The song would be their first hit. A previously recorded version, on July 22, 1956, was produced poorly and the vocals were performed differently.
- 1964 --- 22-year-old Cassius Clay shocks the odds-makers by dethroning world heavyweight boxing champ Sonny Liston in a seventh-round technical knockout. The dreaded Liston, who had twice demolished former champ Floyd Patterson in one round, was an 8-to-1 favorite. However, Clay predicted victory, boasting that he would "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee" and knock out Liston in the eighth round. The fleet-footed and loquacious youngster needed less time to make good on his claim--Liston, complaining of an injured shoulder, failed to answer the seventh-round bell. A few moments later, a new heavyweight champion was proclaimed. Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. was born in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1942. He started boxing when he was 12 and by age 18 had amassed a record of over 100 wins in amateur competition. In 1959, he won the International Golden Gloves heavyweight title and in 1960 a gold medal in the light heavyweight category at the Summer Olympic Games in Rome. Clay turned professional after the Olympics and went undefeated in his first 19 bouts, earning him the right to challenge Sonny Liston, who had defeated Floyd Patterson in 1962 to win the heavyweight title.
- 1966 --- Nancy Sinatra was high-stepping this day with a gold record award for the hit, “These Boots are Made for Walkin’”. When she cracked open the wooden-framed award to check out the gold disk inside, she heard “Pink Shoe Laces” by Dodie Stevens. Nancy was reported to have been incensed.
- 1986 --- In the face of mass demonstrations against his rule, Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos and his entourage are airlifted from the presidential palace in Manila by U.S. helicopters. Elected in 1966, Marcos declared martial law in 1972 in response to leftist violence. In the next year, he assumed dictatorial powers. Backed by the United States, his regime was marked by misuse of foreign support, repression, and political murders. In 1986, Marcos defrauded the electorate in a presidential election, declaring himself the victor over Corazon Aquino, the wife of an assassinated rival. Aquino also declared herself the rightful winner, and the public rallied behind her. Deserted by his former supporters, Marcos and his wife, Imelda, fled to Hawaii in exile, where they faced investigation on embezzlement charges. He died in 1989.
- 1999 --- William King was sentenced to death for the racial murder of James Byrd Jr in Jasper, TX. Two other men charged were later convicted for their involvement.
- Birthdays
- Enrico Caruso
- George Harrison
- Tea Leoni
- Carrot Top
- Sean Astin
- Pierre August Renoir
- Vyachelslav M Molotov
- Zeppo Marx
- Jim Backus
- Ralph Stanley
- Adelle Davis