Macon County Activity Bus Catches Fire, Students Safe
An activity bus owned by the Macon County Schools was transporting students back to Macon County yesterday afternoon when it caught fire in Haywood County on I-40 near mile marker 31. All students were safely evacuated from the bus before it was consumed by flames. An image and statement from the Macon County School Superintendent are posted below:
Earlier today, Macon County Schools Bus # 8112 was traveling back to Franklin from an Upward Bound trip. The driver of the bus heard a loud pop which appeared to be a blown tire. The driver pulled the bus safely to the shoulder of the road to begin moving students off the bus. Smoke then appeared. The smoke was quickly followed by flames. All students and the driver safely exited the bus prior to the flames. Thank you to Haywood County Schools for loaning a bus to our group so they could return to Franklin. Again, all students and our driver are safe. Thank you to everyone that has contacted our district and offered their assistance as well as checked on our students. As you know, this situation could've been much worse.
Video of the bus on fire was posted to the WNC Road Warriors Facebook Group. [LINK]
More video and photos are posted on the WLOS website. [LINK]
LOCAL OUTLOOK
High pressure will build in and persist through at least the middle of next week. As the high moves to near Bermuda in midweek, the southerly flow of air will bring warmer temperatures.
WEATHER SPONSOR
Adams Products, a Division of Oldcastle is underwriting the daily weather briefing & public safety updates for the month.
Open 7:30 AM to 4:00 PM, M-F, located at 895 Hickory Knoll Road, Franklin, NC. Visit our Facebook page at:
https://www.facebook.com/Adams.Oldcastle.Franklin.NC/
All your masonry needs are available. Our phone number is 828.524.8545, the public is welcome, we’ll help with your with your next project.
Weather Almanac for April 29th (1872-2016)
Record weather events for this date in Macon County
Highest Temperature 90°F in Franklin in 1970
Lowest Temperature 26°F in Highlands in 1992
Greatest Rainfall 3.10 inches in Franklin in 2014
Greatest One-Day Snowfall No measurable snowfall has been recorded on this date since record keeping began in Macon County
Record Weather Events for April (1872-2017)
Highest Temperature 91°F in Franklin on April 26, 1986
Lowest Temperature 13°F in Highlands on April 1, 1987
Greatest Rainfall 7.00 inches in Highlands on April 7, 1895
Greatest One-Day Snowfall 9.5 inches in Franklin on April 4, 1987
THREE DAY OUTLOOK
The images below represent the daily forecast at 8 am for today, tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. Click on any of them to enlarge.
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FRANKLIN AREA
TODAY (Outdoor burning not recommended)
Areas of frost before 8am. Otherwise, sunny, with a high near 65. Calm wind becoming northwest 5 to 8 mph in the morning. A dry air mass moving into the area today will help push relative humidity values below 30% this afternoon. This combined with dry fuels will create elevated fire danger conditions. Winds will become gusty as mixing begins this morning but should diminish during the afternoon.
Please refer to your local burn permitting authorities on whether you can burn today. If you do burn, use extreme caution since fires can quickly get out of hand under these conditions.
TONIGHT
Clear, with a low around 34. West northwest wind around 6 mph becoming calm in the evening.
MONDAY
Areas of frost before 8am. Otherwise, sunny, with a high near 73. Light and variable wind.
MONDAY NIGHT
Clear, with a low around 41. Light west southwest wind.
TUESDAY
Sunny, with a high near 78.
TUESDAY NIGHT
Mostly clear, with a low around 46.
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OTTO AREA
TODAY (outdoor burning is no recommended)
Areas of frost in the morning. Otherwise, sunny, with a high near 66. North northwest wind 3 to 8 mph. A dry air mass moving into the area today will help push relative humidity values below 30% this afternoon. This combined with dry fuels will create elevated fire danger conditions. Winds will become gusty as mixing begins this morning but should diminish during the afternoon.
Please refer to your local burn permitting authorities on whether you can burn today. If you do burn, use extreme caution since fires can quickly get out of hand under these conditions.
TONIGHT
Clear, with a low around 35. West northwest wind around 6 mph becoming calm in the evening.
MONDAY
Areas of frost before 8am. Otherwise, sunny, with a high near 73. Calm wind becoming southwest around 5 mph in the afternoon.
MONDAY NIGHT
Clear, with a low around 42. Light and variable wind.
TUESDAY
Sunny, with a high near 77.
TUESDAY NIGHT
Mostly clear, with a low around 47.
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HIGHLANDS AREA
TODAY (outdoor burning is not recommended)
Sunny, with a high near 56. North northwest wind 7 to 10 mph. A dry air mass moving into the area today will help push relative humidity values below 30% this afternoon. This combined with dry fuels will create elevated fire danger conditions. Winds will become gusty as mixing begins this morning but should diminish during the afternoon.
Please refer to your local burn permitting authorities on whether you can burn today. If you do burn, use extreme caution since fires can quickly get out of hand under these conditions.
TONIGHT
Clear, with a low around 38. Light and variable wind.
MONDAY
Sunny, with a high near 63. Calm wind becoming west southwest around 6 mph in the morning.
MONDAY NIGHT
Clear, with a low around 46. West northwest wind around 6 mph.
TUESDAY
Sunny, with a high near 68.
TUESDAY NIGHT
Mostly clear, with a low around 50.
--------------------------------------------
NANTAHALA AREA
TODAY (outdoor burning is not recommended)
Patchy frost before 8am. Otherwise, sunny, with a high near 58. Light north wind becoming north northwest 5 to 9 mph in the morning. A dry air mass moving into the area today will help push relative humidity values below 30% this afternoon. This combined with dry fuels will create elevated fire danger conditions. Winds will become gusty as mixing begins this morning but should diminish during the afternoon.
Please refer to your local burn permitting authorities on whether you can burn today. If you do burn, use extreme caution since fires can quickly get out of hand under these conditions.
TONIGHT
Clear, with a low around 37. North northwest wind around 6 mph becoming calm in the evening.
MONDAY
Sunny, with a high near 68. Calm wind becoming west around 6 mph in the afternoon.
MONDAY NIGHT
Clear, with a low around 43. West wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening.
TUESDAY
Sunny, with a high near 72.
TUESDAY NIGHT
Mostly clear, with a low around 50.
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GOES 16 - Band 15 - 12.3 µm - Dirty Longwave Window - IR
12:52 am to 3:47 am this morning
HAZARDS
Hazardous weather is not expected today. Frosts and Freezing temperatures are expected overnight in some locations in Macon County this weekend. If you've gone ahead and planted too early, then you might want to consider bringing your sensitive plants indoors or covering them.
A Hazardous Weather Outlook from the National Weather Service is posted below for your convenience.
NWS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
..TODAY...Frost/freeze possible.
..MONDAY...Frost/freeze possible.
Macon Media maintains a Severe Weather Preparedness Page at http://thunderpigblog.blogspot.com/p/breaking-news-hub.html for those who are interested.
As always, you can check to see what advisories, watches, and warnings are in effect for Macon County by visiting http://is.gd/MACONWARN
3:47 am this morning
MACON CALENDAR
If you have an event you wish to be added to this calendar, please send the information, along with a flyer in pdf format or a high-quality photo, to editor@maconmedia.com. If you want text published, please include a paragraph with your photo, flyer or graphics. Please include date(s) and time(s).
There is no charge for civic, educational or nonprofit groups, except for groups or events that receive funding from the TDA, TDC, and EDC, where full rates apply.
TRIMONT CHRISTIAN ACADEMY COMMUNITY YARDSALE
Want to sell all those extra items collecting dust around your house?
Join the indoor community yard sale at Trimont Christian Academy. Trimont will be doing community-wide advertising for this event.
IMAGE HERE
OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD
I am writing to thank the residents of Franklin, Highlands, and Macon County for spreading joy to children around the world this Christmas. Through the generosity of the Macon County community, 4,636 shoeboxes were collected; and the Western North Carolina Area Team was able to exceed our goal by collecting 20,038 shoebox gifts for Operation Christmas Child, the world’s largest Christmas project of its kind. The International total for 2017 was 11,012,840 shoeboxes!
As National Volunteer Week (April 15 – 21) approaches, I wanted to pass along information about an opportunity for Macon County residents to join a local volunteer team with Operation Christmas Child. This project of the international Christian relief organization, Samaritan’s Purse, sends gift-filled shoeboxes to millions of children in need each year and gives local residents the opportunity to make a worldwide impact. “National Volunteer Week is a great time to become a part of this international project,” said June Trull, who heads up the Western North Carolina Area Team of Operation Christmas Child.“Joining an Operation Christmas Child Area Team is an amazing way to give back year-round and share God’s love with children in need.”
Operation Christmas Child has delivered more than 157 million gift-filled shoeboxes to children in more than 160 countries since 1993. This year, the local Western North Carolina Area Team hopes to collect 21,000 shoebox gifts to contribute to the 2018 global goal of reaching more than 11 million children in need.
Operation Christmas Child is a project of Samaritan’s Purse, an international Christian relief and evangelism organization headed by Franklin Graham. The mission of Operation Christmas Child is to demonstrate God’s love in a tangible way to children in need around the world, and together with the local church worldwide, to share the Good News of Jesus Christ.
Thank You
Brenda Hackett
Samaritan's Purse
Media Support
Western North Carolina Area Team
Operation Christmas Child
828-369-6674/ bjandhack@hotmail.com
samaritanspurse.org/occnewsroom
Uptown Gallery classes
(These are on-going classes – repeat weekly)
Free classes and open studio times are being offered at the The Uptown Gallery in Franklin. Join others at a painting open studio session every Tuesday from 6:30 pm – 9:00 pm or on Thursday from 11:00 am – 3:00 pm.
Bring your own materials and join an on-going drawing course led by gallery artists on Fridays, from 11am – 2 pm. For information on days open, hours and additional art classes and workshops, contact the gallery on 30 East Main Street at (828) 349 – 4607.
National Alliance on Mental Illness
Appalachian South
Meets each Thursday at 7pm
The First Methodist Church Outreach Center
at the intersection of Harrison Ave. and West Main Street
(directly across from Lazy Hiker Brewery)
Come join our weekly support group for anyone suffering from mental illness and their family or friends. This includes Depression, Bipolar,8chizophrenia, PTSD, Substance Abuse, Etc.
Here you will find:
— others living with mental health challenges YOU ARE NOT ALONE
- learn coping skills and ?find hope in shared experience
- help learning how to break down stigma and guilt surrounding mental health
- how to live life with the expectation of a better a better future
Kay (706)970-9987 Denise (828)347-5000)
SYRINGE EXCHANGE PROGRAM
On January 1, 2017, the Syringe Exchange Program of Franklin began operating a comprehensive harm reduction program to address the opioid epidemic that is impacting western NC. Opioid overdose reversal kits including naloxone are available free of charge. If you have any questions about our services or if you know someone interested in volunteering, please contact Stephanie Almeida at 828-475-1920.
Sun and Moon
Not enough time to post this material today
Sky Guides for this week
Sky and Telescope Magazine
Astronomy Magazine
There will be three solar and two lunar eclipses in 2018. [LINK]
Heavens Above has an Android App that will assist you in observing the sky and even has a satellite tracker that will let you know when the International Space Station and dozens of other satellites are overhead. [LINK]
Stellarium is also an app that will assist you in observing the sky. It is available in both Android [LINK] and iOS versions. [LINK]
CROWDFUNDING OR DAY SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
If you receive value from what Macon Media provides to the community, please consider becoming a supporter and contribute at least a dollar a month.
If you have a business or event you are interested in sponsorship opportunities or underwriting coverage, send an email to editor@MaconMedia.com for more information. Serious inquiries only. Macon Media rewards early sponsors/underwriters with lifetime guaranteed low rates while newer sponsors/underwriters pay higher rates based on the date they first support Macon Media.
Thank You to the people who have been sending in donations and those businesses who are underwriting coverage of news and events. You have kept Macon Media online. You have made it possible for Macon Media to begin purchasing state of the art equipment and begin work on building a real website with features not employed by any local news outlets.
You can find out more information on how to do that and some of what I plan to accomplish if I reach certain levels of funding at https://www.patreon.com/MaconMedia
4:30 am on April 29 2018
#WNCscan #MaconWx #MaconSafety
Data and information sources: Sources (except where otherwise credited): heavens-above.com, Ian Webster's Github, National Centers for Environmental Prediction, The National Weather Service, National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, Penn State University Electronic Wall Map, The State Climate Office of North Carolina, Storm Prediction Center, U.S. Naval Observatory, and the Weather Prediction Center.
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