Darien Morning Briefing, Aug. 3

Today is Wednesday, Aug. 3, the 215th day of 2011. Keep an umbrella handy — there's a chance of showers and thunderstorms late in the day.

HEADLINES

EVENTS & REMINDERS

• Farmers Market: The Darien Farmers Market is open for business from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the municipal parking lot off of Mechanic Street (across from Goodwives Shopping Center).
• Sing Your Heart Out: If you've got an original poem or song lyrics, drop by the at 2 p.m. for a chance to put them to music using GarageBand.
• Love is Never Silent: Also at 2 p.m., the library hosts a free screening of Love is Never Silent. The 1985 picture stars Mare Winningham, Cloris Leachman, and Sid Caesar.
• Get Puzzled: Help the library solve the world's largest jigsaw puzzle in record time for a chance to be entered into the Guinness Book of World Records.

GOVERNMENT MEETINGS

• Environmental Protection Commission: 7:30 p.m., room 206 [agenda]

FORECAST

• Wednesday: A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms after 3 p.m. Partly sunny, with a high near 80. North wind 5 to 9 mph becoming south. Chance of precipitation is 20 percent.
• Wednesday night: A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Cloudy, with a low around 67. Southeast wind around 6 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50 percent. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible. 

TIDES & TIMES

• High tide: 2:25 a.m. (8.24')
• Sunrise: 5:51 a.m.
• Low tide: 8:50 a.m. (-0.5)
• High tide: 2:5405 p.m. (8.5')
• Sunset: 8:08 p.m.
• Low tide: 9:21 p.m. (-0.2')

TODAY IN HISTORY

• 1492: Christopher Columbus sets sail from Palos de la Frontera, Spain.
• 1852: Yale and Harvard face off in a boat race, the first American intercollegiate athletic event. Harvard wins.
• 1914: Germany declares war against France (World War I).
• 1949: The National Basketball Association is founded in the United States.
• 1972: The U.S. Senate ratifies the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
• 2005: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad becomes President of Iran.

Forecast obtained from the National Weather Service; tide information obtained from saltwatertides.com (calibrated to Long Neck Point); 'Today in History' items compiled from Wikipedia and other sources.