- 33rd Day of 2015 332 Remaining
- Spring Begins in 46 Days
- Sunrise:7:11
- Sunset:5:34
- 10 Hours 23 Minutes
- Moon Rise:4:50pm
- Moon Set:6:07am
- Phase: 99%
- Full Moon February 3 @ 3:10pm
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:9:19am/11:03pm
- Low:3:30am/4:14pm
- Rainfall:
- This Year to Date:15.14
- Last Year:2.43
- Avg YTD:13.94
- Annual Avg:23.80
- Holidays
- Ground Hog Day
- Crepe Day
- Heavenly Hash Day
- Marmot Day
- Sled Dog Day
- Brew Hog Day
- Kiwifruit Day
- World Play Your Ukulele Day
- World Wetlands Day
- On This Day
- 1536 --- The Argentine city of Buenos Aires was founded.
- 1812 --- Staking a tenuous claim to the riches of the Far West, Russians establish Fort Ross on the coast north of San Francisco. Russia's Alaskan colonists found it difficult to produce their own food because of the short growing season of the far north. Officials of the Russian-American Company reasoned that a permanent settlement along the more temperate shores of California could serve both as a source of food and a base for exploiting the abundant sea otters in the region. To that end, a large party of Russians and Aleuts sailed for California where they established Fort Ross (short for Russia) on the coast north of San Francisco.
- 1847 --- The first woman of a group of pioneers commonly known as the Donner Party dies during the group's journey through a Sierra Nevada mountain pass. The disastrous trip west ended up killing 42 people and turned many of the survivors into cannibals. A total of 87 people joined up in South Pass, Wyoming, in October 1846 to make a trip through the Sierra Nevada Mountains to California. Most of the pioneers were farmers who had little experience with wilderness travel. Two large families, the Donners and the Reeds, were at the heart of the traveling group, with 7 adults and 16 children. George Donner was the group's unofficial leader. The pioneers left Wyoming on October 27, and were soon faced with the early onset of a harsh winter. They had only a book as a guide and this led them through a mountain pass south of modern-day Salt Lake City. Without any path to follow, it took the group 16 days to go only 36 miles. Eventually, they were forced to leave their wagons--loaded with hundreds of pounds of flour and bacon--and their cattle behind. Trapped by snow, they were forced to make camp for the winter near a small lake (now known as Donner Lake) northwest of Lake Tahoe. With starvation setting in, a group of 15 adults (known as the Forlorn Hope) attempted to get to Sutter's Fort near San Francisco--100 miles away--for help. About half of the group died in the harsh conditions and the others were forced to eat their fallen companions' remains to survive. Finally, the seven remaining members of the expedition were able to reach a Native American village. News of their arrival spread quickly, and a rescue party was sent from Sutter's Fort to reach the rest of the Donner Party, still stuck in the mountains. By the time the rescue was complete, nearly half of the Donner Party, including George Donner, was dead.
- 1848 --- The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is signed, ending the Mexican-American War in favor of the United States. The Treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo added an additional 525,000 square miles to United States territory, including the area that would become the states of Texas, California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona, as well as parts of Colorado and Wyoming. Controversy during and after the war pitted President James K. Polk in a political war against two future presidents: Zachary Taylor and Abraham Lincoln.
- 1848 --- The first Chinese emigrants arrived in San Francisco.
- 1876 --- The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, which comes to be more commonly known as the National League (NL), is formed. The American League (AL) was established in 1901 and in 1903, the first World Series was held. The first official game of baseball in the United States took place in June 1846 in Hoboken, New Jersey. In 1869, the Cincinnati Red Stockings became America’s first professional baseball club. In 1871, the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players was established as the sport’s first “major league.” Five years later, in 1876, Chicago businessman William Hulbert formed the National League of Professional Baseball Clubs to replace the National Association, which he believed was mismanaged and corrupt. The National League had eight original members: the Boston Red Stockings (now the Atlanta Braves), Chicago White Stockings (now the Chicago Cubs), Cincinnati Red Stockings, Hartford Dark Blues, Louisville Grays, Mutual of New York, Philadelphia Athletics and the St. Louis Brown Stockings.
- 1887 --- Groundhog Day, featuring a rodent meteorologist, is celebrated for the first time at Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. According to tradition, if a groundhog comes out of its hole on this day and sees its shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter weather; no shadow means an early spring.
- 1892 --- William Painter received a patent for the crown-cork bottle cap with a cork seal. It was used up until the 1970s, when the cork liner was replaced with a plastic liner.
- 1922 --- The James Joyce novel "Ulysses" was published in Paris on the author's 40th birthday.
- 1925 --- Sears, Roebuck & Co. expanded its’ catalog business by opening its first retail store in the Merchandise building (its headquarters in Chicago, Illinois).
- 1943 --- The remainder of Nazi forces from the Battle of Stalingrad surrendered in a major victory for the Soviets in World War II.
- 1970 --- Antiwar protestors take legal action in an attempt to prove that the Dow Chemical Company is still making napalm. Dow had claimed that it had stopped making napalm. Members of the antiwar movement filed suit against the Dow Chemical Company in a Washington, D.C., court. The plaintiffs were trying to force the company to disclose all government contracts to prove that the company was still making napalm.
- 1971 --- One week after toppling the regime of Ugandan leader Milton Obote, Major General Idi Amin declares himself president of Uganda and chief of the armed forces. Amin, head of the Ugandan army and air force since 1966, seized power while Obote was out of the country.
- 1980 --- Details of ABSCAM, an FBI operation to uncover political corruption in the government, are released to the public. Thirty-one public officials were targeted for investigation, including Representative John Murphy of New York, five other representatives, and Harrison Williams, a senator from New Jersey. In the operation, FBI agents posed as representatives of Abdul Enterprises, Ltd., a fictional business owned by an Arab sheik. Under FBI video surveillance, the agents met with the officials and offered them money or other considerations in exchange for special favors, such as the approval of government contracts for companies in which the sheik had invested. Senator Williams, and Representatives Murphy, Michael J. Myers, Richard Kelly, and John W. Jenrette Jr., were ultimately convicted of bribery and corruption. All but Richard Kelly, who had his conviction overturned in 1982 on the basis that the FBI had unlawfully entrapped him, left Congress. John Murphy, whose term ended in 1981, was saved the fate of expulsion suffered by Williams and Myers. John Jenrette resigned in 1980.
- 1990 --- South African President F.W. de Klerk lifted a ban on the African National Congress and promised to free Nelson Mandela.
- 1991 --- The 24 Hours of Daytona endurance auto race begins on February 2, 1991; when it ends the following day, driver Hurley Haywood will collect his fifth win, the most victories of any driver in the event's history.
- 1993 --- Willie Nelson and the IRS settle their longstanding tax feud. The U.S. government kept $3.6 million in assets it had already seized and Nelson would have to pay $5.4 million of the $13.1 million balance.
- 1999 --- Hugo Chávez Frías took office. He had been elected president of Venezuela in December 1998.
- 2007 --- The world's leading climate scientists said global warming has begun, is "very likely" caused by humans and will be unstoppable for centuries.
- 2011 --- Supporters of President Hosni Mubarak charged into Cairo's central square on horses and camels brandishing whips while others rained firebombs from rooftops in what appeared to be an orchestrated assault against protesters trying to topple Egypt's leader of 30 years.
- Birthdays
- Stan Getz
- Tom Smothers
- James Joyce
- Jascha Heifetz
- Ayn Rand
- George Halas
- Gale Gordon
- Graham Nash
- Farrah Fawcett
- Brent Spiner
