Today is Wednesday, the 19th of August of 2026,
August 19 is the 231st day of the year
134 days remain until the end of the year.
34 days until autumn begins
The sun will rise in San Francisco at 6:29:08 am
and sunset will be at 7:56:20 pm.
We will have 13 hours and 27 minutes of daylight today
The solar transit will be at 1:12:44 pm.
Water temperature in San Francisco Bay today is 66°F.
The first high tide was at 5:12 am at 3.98 feet
The first low tide will be later this morning at 9:55 am at 2.89 feet
The next high tide will be this afternoon at 4:14 pm at 5.73 feet
and the final low tide at Ocean Beach tonight will be at 11:48 pm at 1.02 feet
The Moon is currently 45 going on 46% visible
We can call it the First Quarter Moon
It will be a perfect 50% visible moon later today at 7:46 pm
Today is....
'Black Cow' Root Beer Float Day
International Bow Day
International Orangutan Day
International Talk Like Jar Jar Binks Day
National Aviation Day
National Hot and Spicy Food Day
National Medical Dosimetrist's Day
National Potato Day
National Soft Ice Cream Day
World Humanitarian Day
World Photo Day
Today is also....
Afghan Independence Day, commemorates the Treaty of Rawalpindi in 1919, granting independence from Britain in Afghanistan
August Revolution Commemoration Day in Vietnam
Birthday of Crown Princess Mette-Marit in Norway
Manuel Luis Quezón Day in Quezon City and other places in the Philippines named after Manuel L. Quezon
If today is your birthday, Happy Birthday To You! You share your special day with....
1870 – Bernard Baruch, American businessman and philanthropist (died 1965)
1871 – Orville Wright, American engineer and pilot, co-founded the Wright Company (died 1948)
1878 – Manuel L. Quezon, Filipino soldier, lawyer, and politician, 2nd President of the Philippines (died 1944)
1883 – Coco Chanel, French fashion designer, founded the Chanel Company (died 1971)
1902 – Ogden Nash, American poet (died 1971)
1906 – Philo Farnsworth, American inventor, invented the Fusor, key figure in the invention of television (died 1971)
1919 – Malcolm Forbes, American publisher and politician (died 1990)
1921 – Gene Roddenberry, American screenwriter and producer (died 1991)
1930 – Frank McCourt, American author and educator (died 2009)
1939 – Ginger Baker, English drummer and songwriter (died 2019)
1940 – Johnny Nash, American singer-songwriter (died 2020)
1940 – Jill St. John, American model and actress
1943 – Edwin Hawkins, American gospel musician, choir master and composer ("Oh Happy Day"), born in Oakland, California (d. 2018)
1946 – Bill Clinton, American lawyer and politician, 40th and 42nd Governor of Arkansas, 42nd President of the United States
1948 – Tipper Gore, American activist and author, former Second Lady of the United States
1952 – Jonathan Frakes, American actor and director
1959 – Ivan Neville, American singer-songwriter
1965 – Kyra Sedgwick, American actress and producer
1966 – Lee Ann Womack, American singer-songwriter
.....and on this day in history....
295 BC – The first temple to Venus, the Roman goddess of love, beauty and fertility, is dedicated by Quintus Fabius Maximus Gurges during the Third Samnite War.
1839 – The French government announces that Louis Daguerre's photographic process is a gift "free to the world".
1848 – California Gold Rush: The New York Herald breaks the news to the East Coast of the United States of the gold rush in California (although the rush started in January).
1934 – The first All-American Soap Box Derby is held in Dayton, Ohio.
1953 – Cold War: The CIA and MI6 help to overthrow the government of Mohammad Mosaddegh in Iran and reinstate the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
1960 – Sputnik program: Korabl-Sputnik 2: The Soviet Union launches the satellite with the dogs Belka and Strelka, 40 mice, two rats and a variety of plants.
1964 – Syncom 3, the first geostationary communication satellite, is launched. Two months later, it would enable live coverage of the 1964 Summer Olympics.
1989 – Polish president Wojciech Jaruzelski nominates Solidarity activist Tadeusz Mazowiecki to be the first non-communist prime minister in 42 years.
1989 – Several hundred East Germans cross the frontier between Hungary and Austria during the Pan-European Picnic, part of the events that began the process of the Fall of the Berlin Wall.
1999 – In Belgrade, Yugoslavia, tens of thousands of Serbians rally to demand the resignation of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia President Slobodan Milošević.
2004 – Google Inc. has its initial public offering on Nasdaq.
2017 – Tens of thousands of farmed non-native Atlantic salmon are accidentally released into the wild in Washington waters in the 2017 Cypress Island Atlantic salmon pen break.
