News and Weather Briefing for Friday, September 4, 2020

OUTLOOK

Hot conditions will continue today ahead of a cold front slowly approaching from the northwest. The cold front will cross the region tonight, with cooler and drier weather settling into the area through the weekend and into early next week. Moisture and temperatures will recover through next week to gradually support a return of thunderstorms. 

NewsBrief 

 North Carolina Will Move to Phase 2.5 Pandemic Restrictions today at 5pm.  Details are published in the Tuesday COVID-19 Update [LINK] 

General Forecast Through Sunday Night 

 Today 

Widespread fog, especially early in the morning. Isolated showers, then scattered showers and thunderstorms after 10am. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with highs ranging from the mid-70s in the higher elevations to the mid-80s in the lower elevations. Calm winds in the morning increasing to come out of the northwest 5 to 10 mph in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.

Friday Night

Scattered showers and thunderstorms before 10pm, then a slight chance of showers between 10pm and 11pm. Patchy fog after 3am. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with lows in the 60s. Light winds out of the northwest. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.

Saturday

Patchy fog in the morning. A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 2pm. Otherwise, partly sunny, with highs ranging from near 70in the higher elevations to near80 in the lower elevations. Calm winds.

Saturday Night

Mostly cloudy, with lows in the 50s. (Squee!!!) Calm winds.

Sunday

Mostly sunny, with highs ranging from the low-to-mid 70s in the higher elevations to the low-to-mid 80s in the lower elevations.

Sunday Night

Mostly clear, with lows in the 50s. (More Squee!!!)

Hazards

Hazardous weather is not expected today. 

Air Quality

Macon County, including the ridgetops, will be in the lower range of yellow today. An H5 ridge will build overhead on today, and the air may begin to become stagnated. Light winds and plentiful afternoon sunshine could again allow for favorable ozone production, though lingering Saharan dust could help to slightly reduce incoming solar radiation which will help to temper the required photochemistry. 

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 Tropical Weather 

(The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1st through November 30th)

Tropical Weather Outlook

NWS National Hurricane Center Miami FL

200 AM EDT Fri Sep 4 2020

For the North Atlantic...Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico:

The National Hurricane Center has issued the last advisory on Nana, which has dissipated near the Guatemala-Mexico border, and is issuing advisories on Tropical Depression Omar, located about 400 miles east-northeast of Bermuda.

1. A non-tropical area of low pressure is located over the north-central Atlantic, about 600 miles south of Cape Race Newfoundland.  This low is expected to move north-northeastward near 15 mph, and some slight subtropical or tropical development of this system is possible before it reaches cooler waters tonight.

* Formation chance through 48 hours...low...20 percent. 

* Formation chance through 5 days...low...20 percent.

2. A broad area of low pressure located over the eastern tropical Atlantic several hundred miles west-southwest of the Cabo Verde Islands is producing disorganized showers and thunderstorms, while moving little.  Gradual development is possible early next week once the larger tropical wave located near the Cabo Verde Islands passes to the north of the system on Sunday.

* Formation chance through 48 hours...low...20 percent. 

* Formation chance through 5 days...medium...40 percent.

3. A tropical wave located near the Cabo Verde Islands is producing an extensive area of disorganized showers and thunderstorms. Development of this system is expected to be slow during the next couple of days while it moves west-northwestward at about 15 mph.  

After that, a tropical depression is more likely to form early next week over the central tropical Atlantic where environmental conditions are forecast to be more conducive for development.

* Formation chance through 48 hours...low...20 percent. 

* Formation chance through 5 days...high...70 percent.

4. Another tropical wave is forecast to move off the west coast of Africa over the weekend.  An area of low pressure is expected to form from the wave early next week.  Gradual development of this low is then expected, and a tropical depression could form while it moves generally westward over the far eastern tropical Atlantic. 

* Formation chance through 48 hours...low...near 0 percent. 

* Formation chance through 5 days...medium...40 percent.

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End Daily Weather Segment

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Begin COVID-19 Update 

 Here is a brief morning update on the latest COVID-19 numbers from the various government agencies and private sources. 

 The COVID-19 Update for yesterday afternoon includes the guidelines for Phase 2.5, which starts today, September 4th at 5pm. [LINK] 

Centers for Disease Control [LINK]

170,553 Detected Cases 

11,568 Detected in the Last 7 Days

1,642 Detected Cases per 100,000 population

26 Reported Deaths per 100,000 population

2,779 Reported Deaths

NC Dept of Health and Human Svcs [LINK]

172,209 Detected Cases out of 2,347,837 tests

2,803 Reported Deaths

858 Reported Current Hospitalizations

CoronaWiki [LINK]

172,201 Detected Cases 2,803 Reported Deaths New York Times North Carolina Coronavirus Map and Case Count [LINK] Data from Macon County Public Health as of yesterday afternoon and graph by Macon Media of data from May 30th to September 1st [LINK] Please note there is a gap for Saturdays and Sundays since the health department will no longer be reporting numbers on those days.

554 Detected Cases (unchanged) 

18 Active Positive (unchanged) 

529 Recovered (unchanged) 

7 Deaths (unchanged) 

Testing Data for Macon County 

5080 MCPH Tests (unchanged) 

1867 Tests by Others (+15 in one day) 

6947 Total Tests (+15 in one day) 

65 Tests Pending Results (-1 in one day)

 Infographic from Johns Hopkins University [LINK]

 

Resources for Reliable Information about the Corona Virus (COVID-19) [LINK] 

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 Published at 4:30am Friday, September 04, 2020