A year in photos: Best local shots of 2019

Protesters with Extinction Rebellion staged a sit-in beneath a sailboat blockade at the intersection of K and 16th streets in D.C. on Sept. 23, 2019. Environmental activists pressured lawmakers to declare a climate change emergency by paralyzing morning traffic in the nation’s capital. (WTOP/Alejandro Alvarez)

A Washington Nationals fan mocks the departure of Bryce Harper for the Philadelphia Phillies in 2018, one year before Nationals’ first World Series victory. Thousands of fans flocked to downtown D.C. on Nov. 2, 2019 to give the Washington Nationals a jubilant hero’s welcome after their first World Series win. (WTOP/Alejandro Alvarez)

Left-wing antifascist protesters march down D.C.’s F Street on July 6, 2019, in an attempt to disrupt a far-right rally in Freedom Plaza. Trump supporters and anti-fascist organizers held dueling rallies across the street from each other, leading to high tensions as D.C. and U.S. Park Police largely held the peace. (WTOP/Alejandro Alvarez)

D.C. immigrant advocacy groups and their allies rallied in Columbia Heights and Adams Morgan on June 29, 2019, demanding Mayor Muriel Bowser and the D.C. Council enforce the city’s status as a “sanctuary city” and not cooperate with federal law enforcement in detaining undocumented migrants. (WTOP/Alejandro Alvarez)

A freak summer thunderstorm brought golf ball-sized hail to a swath of the region ranging from Montgomery County, Maryland, to Northwest D.C. on June 6, 2019. Pictured above is an almost wintry scene on a quaint Woodley Park side street. Photos posted on social media platforms showed hailstones bigger than quarters shredding leaves off trees and leaving dents in vehicles. (WTOP/Alejandro Alvarez/Alejandro Alvarez)

The Venezuelan Embassy in Georgetown was occupied by self-proclaimed “embassy protectors” for weeks in April and May, determined to keep the building in the hands of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro during an attempted putsch by opposition leader Juan Guaidó. Four protesters were ultimately arrested. (WTOP/Alejandro Alvarez)

The Jefferson Memorial is seen from the Eastern Shore of the Tidal Basin on March 30. Though not the only place to take in the blossoms, the Tidal Basin is by far the most popular — and with excellent weather that Sunday evening, parts of the area were standing room only. See more photos from this year’s cherry blossom festival. (WTOP/Alejandro Alvarez)

A special edition Ryan Zimmerman bobblehead in Marvel superhero form made its debut at a preseason tour of Nationals Park on March 21, 2019. New food and merchandise options were introduced for fans in 2019, with impeccable timing. (WTOP/Alejandro Alvarez)

A wall of red adorns the steps to the National Archives on Nov. 2, 2019, as the Washington Nationals parade down Constitution Avenue following their World Series victory. (WTOP/Alejandro Alvarez)

Montgomery County, Maryland, students led hundreds in a mass walkout from schools on March 14, 2019 in a bid for tougher gun laws. Pictured above is an energized group of students facing the White House with signs supporting increased gun control measures. (WTOP/Alejandro Alvarez)

Bruce Alan and Joan Jones — the voices of WTOP during morning rush hour — conduct an off-air practice run from the new main studio on 5425 Wisconsin Avenue. The year 2019 was a big one for WTOP, whose new studio debuted state-of-the-art software and equipment, assembled and tested over the course of months to ensure a seamless transition from the old building at midnight on Feb. 4. (WTOP/Alejandro Alvarez)

Thousands gathered in downtown D.C. on Jan. 19, 2019, for the third installment of the annual Women’s March. Though attendance was down compared to the previous two marches, in part due to widely publicized criticism of the group’s leadership over charges of anti-Semitism, the Women’s March still drew tens of thousands to Freedom Plaza. (WTOP/Alejandro Alvarez)

A lone car heads north on Beach Drive, seen from the Duke Ellington Memorial Bridge between Woodley Park and Adams Morgan, during the D.C. region’s first major snowfall of 2019 on Jan. 13. Roads were passable but still slick amid a wonderland of blanketed trees in Rock Creek Park. (WTOP/Alejandro Alvarez)

A young boy at the gates to the National Zoo, which closed indefinitely with the rest of the Smithsonian system on Jan. 2 during what would drag on to become the longest government shutdown in the nation’s history. (WTOP/Alejandro Alvarez)

In one of the most dramatic weather stories of the year, motorists became stranded on a flooded section of Canal Road during a torrential rainfall event on July 8, 2019 — prompting the National Weather Service to issue a rare flash flood emergency, a warning reserved only for exceptional flood events in urban areas.

A townhouse behind the Hechinger shopping center is seen after a large tree fell into it on April 20, 2019, following a confirmed tornado that touched down near Reston, Virginia. The National Weather Service confirmed the tornado — though relatively weak — produced damage along a 4-mile path. (WTOP/Dave Dildine)

Lightning is seen over the Jefferson Memorial during a storm over downtown D.C. on July 6, 2019. (WTOP/Dave Dildine)

WTOP reporter Dave Dildine stopped to take a photo of this bridge in Rock Creek Park in D.C., after a snowfall on Jan. 17, 2019. Moments later, he saved a woman from drowning in the icy waters and freezing to death.

An Allied Party Rental truck is parked next to one of two Bradley Fighting Vehicles nearby the Lincoln Memorial for President Donald Trump’s ‘Salute to America’ event honoring service branches on Independence Day, Tuesday, July 2, 2019, in Washington. President Donald Trump promised military tanks along with “Incredible Flyovers & biggest ever Fireworks!” for the Fourth of July. (AP/Andrew Harnik)

The U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels fly over the National Mall during President Donald Trump’s “Salute to America” on July 4, 2019. The event drew criticism for its involvement of military hardware and politicized backdrop, though the festivities themselves remained largely apolitical. (WTOP/Dave Dildine)

Maryland Senate President Mike Miller speaks in the House of Delegates on April 9, 2019, in remembrance of the late Speaker Michael Busch — the longest-serving speaker in state history — who died at the age of 72 following a bout with pneumonia. (WTOP/Kate Ryan)

Members of the Maryland State Police Honor Guard carry the casket of House Speaker Michael Busch into church for his funeral service in early April. Maryland lost its longest-running speaker to a bout of pneumonia this year. (WTOP/Kate Ryan)

Northeast D.C. residents march for road safety after the death of a cyclist at the intersection of 12th Street and Florida Avenue. Bike advocates spent much of 2019 pressuring the region’s local governments to uphold their commitment to make roads safer, placing “ghost bikes” at deadly crossroads memorializing stricken cyclists. (WTOP/Kate Ryan)

An overturned tanker on the American Legion Bridge leaked fuel for days in early March, leading to travel hell on the Capital Beltway’s Inner Loop — even by D.C. standards. (Courtesy Virginia Department of Transportation)

An image of a 363-foot Saturn V rocket used in the Apollo 11 mission blast off is projected on the D.C. Monument during the 50th anniversary of the Apollo moon landing festivities at the National Mall in D.C., Friday July 19, 2019. (AP/Jose Luis Magana)

Demonstrators hold signs and chant outside the Governor’s Mansion at the Capitol in Richmond, Va on Feb. 2, 2019, as they call for the resignation of Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam after photo of a person wearing blackface was discovered in his medical school yearbook.

A Washington Nationals fan celebrates by climbing a street sign outside Nationals Park early Thursday, Oct. 31, 2019, in D.C. after the Nationals defeated the Houston Astros in Game 7 of the baseball World Series in Houston.

The historic building that once housed the original Adas Israel Synagogue — the oldest synagogue in the District — was moved from its storage location at the corner of 3rd and G streets, to 3rd and F streets. Watch video. (WTOP/Melissa Howell)

A military honor guard moves the casket of Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., into Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol in D.C, Thursday Oct. 24, 2019, for a memorial service. The Maryland congressman and civil rights champion died Thursday Oct. 17, at age 68 of complications from long-standing health issues.

Members of the Ghaisar family protest outside the Department of Justice in downtown D.C. on April 1. Ghaisar, 25, was shot and killed in 2017 by U.S. Park Police following a vehicle chase on the GW Parkway in Virginia. This November, the Justice Department declined to pursue federal charges against the two officers involved. (WTOP/Nick Iannelli)

Dominion Energy CEO Thomas Farrell and Gov. Ralph Northam sit on one of Virginia’s first 50 electric school buses. Dominion Energy announced plans to replace diesel school buses with electric ones. (WTOP/Megan Cloherty)

Pets celebrated LGBT pride at the 2019 Capital Pride Parade. This year’s pride parade in downtown D.C. drew thousands, though festivities in Dupont Circle were somewhat marred due to a false report of gunfire that triggered a stampede. (Shannon Finney Photography)