News and Weather Briefing for Wednesday, October 14, 2020

OUTLOOK

High pressure will slide off the East coast Thursday. Developing southerly flow ahead of the next cold front will support scattered showers by Friday. Much colder air will filter in behind the front this weekend with frost possible across the mountains.








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News Brief

Possible COVID-19 exposures at weekend volleyball game [LINK]

The Macon County Board of Commissioners met last night for their regular October meeting. A livestreamed video is available on MaconMedia.com and on Facebook.

The Commissioners voted 5-0 to contract with Kim Carpenter, the County Attorney of Swain County, at a rate of $200 per hour to fill in as interim county attorney for Macon County for a period not more than 60 days beginning on November 1st. The current county attorney, Chester Jones, will be retiring on October 31st. [LINK]

The NC State Board of Election reminds us that voter intimidation is against the law [LINK] 



Here are the latest COVID-19 Numbers from Macon Public Health, along with a chart to show you the long-term trends since May 30, 2020, when the health department started releasing numbers to the public.

Cases

699 Detected
(+4 from Monday and +35 from last Tuesday and +125 in four weeks)

32 Active
(-1 from Monday and unchanged from last Tuesday and +19 in four weeks)

660 Recovered
(+5 from Monday and +35 from last Tuesday and +106 in four weeks)

7 Deaths
(unchanged from Monday and unchanged from last Tuesday and unchanged in four weeks)


Testing

5968 by MCPH
(unchanged from Monday and +142 from last Tuesday and +702 in four weeks)

2446 by others
(+44 from Monday and +186 from last Tuesday and +432 in four weeks)

8414 in total
(+44 from Monday and +328 from last Tuesday and +1134 in four weeks)

71 tests pending results
(unchanged from Monday and -7 from last Tuesday and +15 in four weeks)

General forecast through Thursday night


Today

Sunny, with highs ranging from the mid-to-upper 60s in the higher elevations to the mid-70s in the lower elevations. Calm winds in the morning increasing to come out of the south around 5 mph in the afternoon.

Tonight

Mostly clear, with lows ranging from the lower 40s in the higher elevations to near 50 in the lower elevations. Light winds out of the southeast.

Thursday

Mostly sunny, with highs ranging from the mid-to-upper 60s in the higher elevations to the mid-70s in the lower elevations. Calm winds in the morning increasing to come out of the southwest around 5 mph in the afternoon.

Thursday Night

A 20 percent chance of showers. Partly cloudy, with lows ranging from the upper 40s in the higher elevations to the mid-50s in the lower elevations. Calm winds.

Friday

A 30 percent chance of showers, mainly between 10am and 4pm. Partly sunny, with highs ranging from near 60 in the higher elevations to the mid-to-upper 60s in the lower elevations.

Friday Night

Patchy frost after 4am. Otherwise, mostly clear, with lows ranging from near 30 in the higher elevations to the mid-to-upper 30s in the lower elevations.



HAZARDS

Canadian high-pressure building into the area this weekend may support frost and high elevation freeze conditions overnight into the early morning hours.



Air Quality

Air quality is in the middle range of green today for all elevations.

Pollen

Pollen levels are expected to be low-medium (3.7 out of 12) with ragweed, chenopods, and grasses being the main culprits. Tomorrow is expected to be in the low-medium range (3.3 out of 12).


Weather Extremes for Macon County for October 14th

Highest Temperature 83°F in Franklin in 1985
Lowest Temperature 23°F in Highlands in 1988
Greatest One-Day Rainfall 3.67 inches at the Coweeta Experimental Station in 2014 Greatest One-Day Snowfall (no snowfall has been recorded on this date since records began in 1872 

TROPICAL WEATHER
(The North Atlantic Hurricane Season runs from June 1st to Nov 30th)

Tropical Weather Outlook
NWS National Hurricane Center Miami FL
200 AM EDT Wed Oct 14 2020

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

1. A broad area of low pressure located a few hundred miles east of the Windward Islands continues to produce a large area of disorganized showers and thunderstorms, mainly to the east of its center. Strong upper-level winds are expected to inhibit significant development while the system moves west-northwestward over the next couple of days. Regardless of development, the system could produce locally heavy rainfall across portions of the central and northern Lesser Antilles today, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico on Thursday, and Hispaniola on Friday.

* Formation chance through 48 hours...low...10 percent.
* Formation chance through 5 days...low...10 percent.






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Published at 4:50am Wednesday, October 14, 2020