Five Things to Start Your Day: Feb. 8

1. FORECAST:

Friday: Patchy light snow/ flurries during the morning hours becoming steadier & heavier between 3-5pm. Poor travel by late afternoon. Highs from 27-33. Northeast wind 15-35mph.

Saturday: Snow slowly ramps down! Early snow tapers to flurries by mid/late afternoon. Blustery & cold with highs in the low 20s - at best. Storm totals approach 16-24" in many areas including Boston. (Special map has more detail--so does my twitter feed)

Sunday: Sunny skies. Awesome skiing. Highs in the mid 30s.

2. BLIZZARD COVERAGE: We'll update what's going on in your towns at these links:

• Sudbury
• Acton

3. WHAT TO CELEBRATE TODAY: Today is Boy Scout Day. Boy Scout Day celebrates the birthday of Scouting in America. On February 8, 1910, Chicago publisher William Dickson Boyce filed incorporation papers in the District of Columbia to create the Boy Scouts of America.

4. AND IF YOU'RE REALLY BRAVE ... : Today is also Kite Flying Day. Ben Franklin was perhaps the most well known kite flyer. He flew a kite in a thunderstorm and discovered electricity. Not sure how safe it would be to fly one in today's blizzard.

5. THIS DAY IN HISTORY:

• 1693 — College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va., received its charter, becoming the second institution of higher learning in the United States.
• 1870 — The National Weather Service was established under the U.S. Army Signal Corps.
• 1915 — D. W. Griffith's controversial epic, The Birth of a Nation premiered in Los Angeles.
• 1924 — The gas chamber was used for the first time as a method of execution in the United States. Gangster Gee Jon was put to death at the Nevada State Prison in Carson City.
• 1960 — The payola (pay for broadcast airplay) hearings opened in the U.S. House of Representatives. Dick Clark would testify in April.
• 1980 — President Jimmy Carter revealed his plan to reinstate selective service draft registration.