Today is Friday, the 20th of February of 2026
February 20 is the 51st day of the year
314 days remain until the end of the year
27 days until spring begins
Sunrise at 6:52:45 am
and sun sets this afternoon at 5:55:18 pm.
We will have 11 hours and 2 minutes of daylight
The solar transit will be at 12:24:01 pm.
Water temperature in San Francisco Bay today is 53.8°F.
The first high tide was at 12:25 am at 5.71 feet
The first low tide will be at 6:25 am at 1.03 feet
The next high tide at 12:29 pm at 5.08 feet
and the next low tide at 6:27 pm at 0.81 feet
The Moon is currently 11 going on 12% visible
It's a Waxing Crescent
We'll have the First Quarter Moon in 4 days on Tuesday the 24th of February of 2026
Today is....
Clean Out Your Bookcase Day
Friday Fish Fry Day
Love Your Pet Day
National Caregivers Day
National Cherry Pie Day
National Comfy Day
National Day of Solidarity with Muslim, Arab and South Asian Immigrants
National Handcuff Day
National Leadership Day
National Muffin Day
National Student Volunteer Day
National Tartar Sauce Day
National Woman's Heart Day
Northern Hemisphere Hoodie Hoo Day
Today is also....
Day of Heavenly Hundred Heroes in Ukraine
World Day of Social Justice
On this day in Black History....
1895: Frederick Douglass, the renowned abolitionist, orator, and advisor to presidents, died of a heart attack at his home in Washington, D.C..
1926: Negro History Week, the precursor to Black History Month, was celebrated for the first time. Founded by Carter G. Woodson, it was originally scheduled to coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass.
1929: Wallace Thurman's play Harlem opened in New York City, becoming the first successful play by a Black playwright on Broadway.
1956: Civil rights leaders, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, and Ralph Abernathy, had arrest warrants issued against them for their roles in organizing the Montgomery bus boycott.
1963: Baseball legend Willie Mays signed a record-breaking $100,000-per-year contract with the San Francisco Giants.
IF today is your birthday, Happy Birthday To You! You share your special day with these imporant figures in Black History....
1895 Jimmy Yancey, American boogie-woogie jazz and blues pianist, born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 1951) [birth year disputed - documentation ranges from 1894-1903]
1927 – Ibrahim Ferrer, Cuban singer and musician (died 2005)
1927: Sidney Poitier was born in Miami, Florida. He later became the first Black man to win the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Lilies of the Field.
1933: Iconic singer and civil rights activist Nina Simone was born in Tryon, North Carolina.
1937 Nancy Wilson, American Grammy Award-winning R&B and jazz vocalist ("Guess Who I Saw Today"; "(You Don't Know) How Glad I Am"), and actress, born in Chillicothe, Ohio (d. 2018)
1952 – Emmett Ashford becomes the first African-American umpire in organized baseball by being authorized to be a substitute umpire in the Southwestern International League.
1963: Charles Barkley, future NBA Hall of Famer and Olympic gold medalist, was born in Leeds, Alabama.
1984 – Trevor Noah, South African comedian, actor, and television host
1988: Rihanna, Barbadian R&B and pop singer-songwriter ("Umbrella"; "Only Girl (In The World)"; "We Found Love"; "Diamonds"), born in Saint Michael, Barbados
also on this day in history....
1792 – The Postal Service Act, establishing the United States Post Office Department, is signed by United States President George Washington.
1816 – Rossini's opera The Barber of Seville premieres at the Teatro Argentina in Rome.
1824 – William Buckland formally announces the name Megalosaurus, the first scientifically validly named non-avian dinosaur species
1872 – The Metropolitan Museum of Art opens in New York City.
1877 – Tchaikovsky's ballet Swan Lake receives its premiere at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.
1905 – The U.S. Supreme Court upholds the constitutionality of Massachusetts's mandatory smallpox vaccination program in Jacobson v. Massachusetts.
1909 – Publication of the Futurist Manifesto in the French journal Le Figaro.
1931 – The U.S. Congress approves the construction of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge by the state of California.
1935 – Caroline Mikkelsen becomes the first woman to set foot in Antarctica.
1943 – The Saturday Evening Post publishes the first of Norman Rockwell's Four Freedoms in support of United States President Franklin Roosevelt's 1941 State of the Union address theme of Four Freedoms.
1971 – The United States Emergency Broadcast System is accidentally activated in an erroneous national alert.
1998 – American figure skater Tara Lipinski, at the age of 15, becomes the youngest Olympic figure skating gold-medalist at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.
Today's birthdays include....
1902 – Ansel Adams, American photographer and environmentalist (died 1984)
1906 – Gale Gordon, American actor (died 1995)
1914 – John Charles Daly, South African–American journalist and game show host (died 1991)
1924 – Gloria Vanderbilt, American actress, fashion designer, and socialite (died 2019)
1925 – Robert Altman, American director and screenwriter (died 2006)
1926 – María de la Purísima Salvat Romero, Spanish Roman Catholic nun; later canonized (died 1998)
1927 – Roy Cohn, American lawyer and political activist (died 1986)
1934 – Bobby Unser, American race car driver (died 2021)
1935 – Ellen Gilchrist, American novelist, short story writer, and poet (died 2024)
1941 – Buffy Sainte-Marie, Canadian singer-songwriter and producer
1942 – Phil Esposito, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and manager
1946 – Sandy Duncan, American actress, singer, and dancer[40]
1946 – J. Geils, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2017)
1949 – Ivana Trump, Czech-American socialite and model (died 2022)
1950 – Walter Becker, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (died 2017)
1954 – Patty Hearst, American actress and author
1960 – Joel Hodgson, American comedian, actor, and screenwriter
1966 – Cindy Crawford, American model and businesswoman
1967 – Kurt Cobain, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 1994)
2003 – Olivia Rodrigo, American actress and singer
