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Weather
Hazards and Tropical Weather
Almanac
Macon Calendar
On This Day
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GENERAL OUTLOOK
High pressure will continue to dominate the Southeast through Sunday. The hot upper ridge over the Great Plains and Midwest will then expand across the East through the first half of next week, resulting in climbing temperatures and continued dry conditions. A weak, dry cold front may push in from the northeast midweek.
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Local Weather
General Forecast Through Monday Night
Franklin Area
Today
Patchy fog before 9am. Otherwise, sunny, with highs near 90. Light and variable winds.
Tonight
Mostly clear, with lows in the mid 60s. Winds out of the south around 5 mph becoming calm before midnight.
Monday
Patchy fog before 9am. Otherwise, sunny, with highs in the lower 90s. Light winds out of the northwest.
Monday Night
Partly cloudy, with lows in the mid 60s. Calm winds.
Tuesday
Mostly sunny and hot, with highs in the mid 90s.
Tuesday Night
Partly cloudy, with lows in the upper 60s.
`Highlands Plateau
Today
Sunny, with highs near 80. Light and variable winds in the morning increasing to come out of the south around 5 mph in the afternoon.
Tonight
Mostly clear, with lows in the lower 60s. Winds out of teh southeast around 5 mph becoming light and variable before midnight.
Monday
Patchy fog before 8am. Otherwise, sunny, with highs in the mid 80s. Winds out of the northwest around 5 mph becoming calm by midmorning.
Monday Night
Partly cloudy, with lows in the mid 60s. Winds out of the north 3 to 5 mph.
Tuesday
Mostly sunny, with highs in the mid-to-upper 80s.
Tuesday Night
Partly cloudy, with lows in the mid 60s.
Otto and South Central Macon County
Today
Patchy fog before 9am. Otherwise, sunny, with highs in the upper 80s. Calm winds in the morning increasing to come out of the south around 5 mph in the afternoon.
Tonight vMostly clear, with lows in the mid 60s. Winds out of the south around 5 mph becoming calm before midnight.
Monday
Patchy fog before 8am. Otherwise, sunny, with highs in the lower 90s. Light winds out of the northwest.
Monday Night
Partly cloudy, with lows in the mid-to-upper 60s. Calm winds.
Tuesday
Mostly sunny and hot, with highs in the mid 90s.
Tuesday Night
Partly cloudy, with lows in the upper 60s.
Nantahala Area
Today
Sunny, with highs in the low-to-mid 80s. Calm winds.
Tonight
Mostly clear, with lows in the mid 60s. Light winds out of the south.
Monday
Sunny, with highs in the mid 80s. Light and variable winds.
Monday Night
Partly cloudy, with lows in the mid-to-upper 60s. Light and variable winds.
Tuesday
Mostly sunny, with highs in the upper 80s.
Tuesday Night
Partly cloudy, with lows in the upper 60s.
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Hazards and Tropical Weather
Hazardous weather is not expectyed today.
Latest US Drought Monitor Map for North Carolina.
Space Weather
A 1,2,3-Punch of Solar Storms Speed to Earth | Space Weather News 04 August 2023
Back to Top • The Atlantic hurricane season has begun: What we know and what we don’t [ARS TECHNICA]
TROPICAL WEATHER OUTLOOK
• The official hurricane season for the Atlantic basin is from June 1 to November 30, but tropical cyclone activity sometimes occurs before and after these dates, respectively. The peak of the Atlantic hurricane season is September 10, with most activity occurring between mid-August and mid-October.
Tropical Weather Outlook
NWS National Hurricane Center Miami FL
200 AM EDT Sun Aug 20 2023
For the North Atlantic...Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico:
Active Systems:
The National Hurricane Center is issuing advisories on Tropical Depression Six, located several hundred miles east of the northern Leeward Islands.
1. Central Tropical Atlantic (AL98):
Showers and thunderstorms continue to show signs of organization in association with a broad area of low pressure located several hundred miles west-northwest of the Cabo Verde Islands. However, recent satellite wind data indicate the surface circulation is elongated and lacks a well-defined center. Environmental conditions still appear generally favorable for development, and a short-lived tropical depression is likely to form later today or tonight while it moves west-northwestward at about 10 mph over the central tropical Atlantic. By Monday, upper-level winds are forecast to strengthen over the system, and further development is not expected. For additional information on this system, including gale warnings, see High Seas Forecasts issued by the National Weather Service.
* Formation chance through 48 hours...high...70 percent.
* Formation chance through 7 days...high...70 percent.
2. Eastern Caribbean (AL90):
An area of low pressure over the far eastern Caribbean Sea is producing showers and thunderstorms with some signs of organization. Additional development of this system is expected, and a tropical depression is likely to form during the early or middle part of this week. The system is forecast to move westward to west-northwestward at 10 to 15 mph over the eastern and central Caribbean during the next couple of days, then turn northward and move over the southwestern Atlantic Ocean by midweek. Regardless of development, heavy rainfall is possible over portions of the Lesser Antilles during the next couple of days. Interests in the eastern and central Caribbean should monitor the progress of this system.
* Formation chance through 48 hours...medium...50 percent.
* Formation chance through 7 days...high...70 percent.
3. Western Gulf of Mexico:
An area of disturbed weather located over the Straits of Florida and the southern Florida peninsula will move into the Gulf of Mexico later today, where a broad area of low pressure is expected to form early this week. Some slow development of this system could occur thereafter as it moves westward at about 15 to 20 mph, and a tropical depression could form as it approaches the western Gulf of Mexico coastline by Tuesday.
* Formation chance through 48 hours...low...30 percent.
* Formation chance through 7 days...medium...50 percent.
4. Eastern Tropical Atlantic:
A large area of disorganized showers and thunderstorms over the far eastern tropical Atlantic is associated with a tropical wave. Environmental conditions appear conducive for gradual development of this system, and a tropical depression could form later this week while it moves west-northwestward across the eastern tropical Atlantic.
* Formation chance through 48 hours...low...near 0 percent.
* Formation chance through 7 days...medium...40 percent.
TROPICAL TIDBITS
Tropical Tidbits is a website run by Macon Media's favorite no-nonsense tropical forecaster, Levi Cowan. He does not post material just to get clicks or to sensationalize the storms he covers to "make them more exciting." He is reliable and sober, unlike The Weather Channel crowd of Drama Queen Meteorologists.
Levi typically posts videos late in the afternoon or early before midnight on Youtube. [Youtube Channel]
[Saturday] Hurricane Hilary Nearing Landfall; Watching Multiple Atlantic Systems (08-19-2023)
Hilary Poised to Become Storm of Record for California (August 19th, 2023) | hurricanetrack
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Almanac
PM2.5 AQI is 51 (MODERATE/CODE YELLOW) for most of the county, and the ridges and other higher elevations PM2.5 AQI is 51 (MODERATE/CODE YELLOW)
Fire and Smoke Map
Pollen levels are expected to be in the medium-high range (8.3 out of 12) today with Ragweed, Chenopods, and Grasses being the main culprits. Tomorrow is expected to be in the medium-high range (8.7 out of 12).
Record Weather Events for August 20th
Record weather events for this date in Macon County
(1872-2016)
Highest Temperature 99°F in Franklin in 1983
Lowest Temperature 48°F iat the Coweeta Experimental Station in 1943
Greatest One-Day Rain 2.41 inches in Highlands in 1935
Greatest One-Day Snowfall (no snowfall has been recorded on this date since record-keeping began in 1871)
Weather Extremes for Macon County for the month of August Data available from 1872
Highest Temperature 99°F in Franklin on 08-09-1980
Lowest Temperature 40°F at the Coweeta Experimental Station on 08-29-1968
Greatest Rainfall 9.68 inches in Highlands on 08-13-1940
Greatest Snowfall snowfall has not been recorded during August in Macon County)
Record Weather Events for August 20th in North Carolina
Highest Temperature 106°F in Chapel Hill, Orange County in 1988
Lowest Temperature 39°F in Banner Elk, Avery County in 1943
Greatest One-Day Rain 4.61 inches in Belhaven, Beaufort County in 1961
Greatest One-Day Snowfall (no snowfall has been recorded on this date since 1872)
Weather Extremes for North Carolina for the month of August Data available from 1940
Highest Temperature 110°F in Fayetteville, Cumberland County on 08-21-1983
Lowest Temperature 31°F in Banner Elk, Avery County on 08-23-1930
Greatest Rainfall 12.43 inches in Morehead City, Carteret County on 08-12-1955
Greatest Snowfall (no snowfall has been recorded during August in the state)
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Macon Calendar
(send your event to calendar@maconmedia.com)
Saturdays in August from 11am to 1pm
Frog Quarters Music Schedule (located at 573 East Main Street in Franklin)
8/19/23—Charley Simmons—Award-winning finger-style guitarist of Utah and 2 other states. You’ll be amazed at the sounds this guy gets out of a guitar! The late Chet Atkins has given this guy his blessings. 8/26/23—Zip Robertson—A Singer/Songwriter who’s journeyed from Ky to FL and up to Western NC bringing us lucky listeners acoustic music to touch our hearts. Welcome Zip!
Frog Quarters is open 9a to 2p, Wednesdays thru Saturdays—beside the River Bridge. We are the Non-Profit supporting the Greenway with monies from sales from our Coffee and Gift Shop, Memberships and Donations. As always, thank you for your support!
Mountain Findings
432 Spruce Street (physical)
Highlands, North Carolina 28741
Web: MountainFindings.org
Mountain Findings (a thrift store) is open every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from 10 am to 1 pm until October 2023.
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National News Briefing Catalina Island residents, visitors advised to leave ahead of Hilary | KABC-TV (Los Angeles, CA)
• State of emergency declared as Hurricane Hilary bears down on California, residents evacuate [Los Angeles Times]
Dangerous hurricane taking aim at Southern California | ABC World News Tonight
• Affidavits reveal what evidence police used to raid Kansas newspaper [KSHB-TV (Kansas City, MO)]
• City of Pembroke tells charity to dismantle community garden [CBC]
• Rail whistleblowers fired for voicing safety concerns despite efforts to end practice of retaliation [AP News]
• Trump Wasn’t Invited to This Georgia Event, but His Presence Was Still Felt [New York Times]
• FBI searching for Proud Boy after he disappears days before January 6 sentencing [CNN]
International News Headlines
Deadly Russian Missile Strikes Ukrainian City, Injures More Than 100 | WSJ News
• Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, August 19, 2023 [Institute for the Study of War]
• Niger coup leader proposes three-year transition to civilian rule [AL Jazeera]
• North Korea hackers target US-South Korea drills: Seoul [DW News]
• New shooting mars election campaign in Ecuador [BBC News]
• Kishida visits Fukushima nuclear plant before contentious water release [Kyodo News]
• Russia's lunar lander hit by unspecified 'emergency situation' [Jerusalem Post]
Washington Week with The Atlantic full episode, 8/18/23
Brooks and Marcus on Trump's Georgia indictment and upcoming GOP debate | PBS NewsHour
Washington Today (8-17-23): DHS Sec Mayorkas says new ICE & CISA headquarters to be built in DC
Global National: Aug. 19, 2023 | NWT, BC brace for more wildfires as crisis escalates across Canada
NBC Nightly News Full Broadcast - August 19
PBS NewsHour full episode, (August 19, 2023)
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On This Day
August 20th is the 232nd day of the year (233rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 133 days remain until the end of the year.
Historical Events
Historical Events
(Please note that the Wikipedia articles often contain a bibliography and links to where you can learn more about a historical event)
AD 14 – Agrippa Postumus, maternal grandson of the late Roman emperor Augustus, is executed by his guards under mysterious circumstances while in exile.
636 – Battle of Yarmouk: Arab forces led by Khalid ibn al-Walid take control of the Levant away from the Byzantine Empire, marking the first great wave of Muslim conquests and the rapid advance of Islam outside Arabia.
• [Wikipedia: Battle of the Yarmuk]
• Battle of Yarmouk [(Part 1/2) ⚔️ Storm gathers in the Middle East] [(Part 2/2) ⚔️ Byzantine - Rashidun Clash at Yarmouk]
• [Battle of Yarmouk 636 (Early Muslim Invasion) ]
• [Muslim conquest of the Levant]
917 – Battle of Acheloos: Tsar Simeon I of Bulgaria decisively defeats a Byzantine army.
1083 – Canonization of the first King of Hungary, Saint Stephen and his son Saint Emeric celebrated as a National Day in Hungary.
1191 – Richard I of England initiates the Massacre at Ayyadieh, leaving 2,600–3,000 Muslim hostages dead.
• [Massacre at Ayyadieh]
• [Massacre at Ayyadieh (1191) // Richard Lionheart and Saladin // As told by Baha-ad-din]
1308 – Pope Clement V pardons Jacques de Molay, the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, absolving him of charges of heresy.
1391 – Konrad von Wallenrode becomes the 24th Grand Master of the Teutonic Order.
1467 – The Second Battle of Olmedo takes places as part of a succession conflict between Henry IV of Castile and his half-brother Alfonso, Prince of Asturias.
1519 – Philosopher and general Wang Yangming defeats Zhu Chenhao, ending the Prince of Ning rebellion against the reign of the Ming dynasty's Zhengde Emperor.
1672 – Former Grand Pensionary Johan de Witt and his brother Cornelis are lynched by an angry mob in The Hague.
1707 – The first Siege of Pensacola comes to an end with the failure of the British to capture Pensacola, Florida.
• [Wikipedia: Siege of Pensacola (1707)]
• [Queen Anne's War]
1710 – War of the Spanish Succession: A multinational army led by the Austrian commander Guido Starhemberg defeats the Spanish-Bourbon army commanded by Alexandre Maître, Marquis de Bay in the Battle of Saragossa.
1775 – The Spanish establish the Presidio San Augustin del Tucson in the town that became Tucson, Arizona.
1794 – Northwest Indian War: United States troops force a confederacy of Shawnee, Mingo, Delaware, Wyandot, Miami, Ottawa, Chippewa, and Potawatomi warriors into a disorganized retreat at the Battle of Fallen Timbers.
• [Battle of Fallen Timbers]
• [From Fallen Timbers to the Treaty of Greenville]
• [Battle of Fallen Timbers & Treaty of Greenville APUSH Review]
1852 – Steamboat Atlantic sank on Lake Erie after a collision, with the loss of at least 150 lives.
1858 – Charles Darwin first publishes his theory of evolution through natural selection in The Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London, alongside Alfred Russel Wallace's same theory.
• [Link to Journal]
• [Khan Academy]
• [Natural Selection: Charles Darwin & Alfred Russel Wallace]
1866 – President Andrew Johnson formally declares the American Civil War over.
1882 – Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture debuts in Moscow, Russia.
• [Wikipedia: 1812 Overture]
• [5 truly explosive performances of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture]
• [1812 Overture performed by the Hallé Orchestra, conducted by Mark Elder at the Royal Albert Hall during the Nations Favourite Prom 2004]
1910 – Extreme fire weather in the Inland Northwest of the United States causes many small wildfires to coalesce into the Great Fire of 1910, burning approximately 3 million acres (12,000 km2) and killing 87 people.
1914 – World War I: Brussels is captured during the German invasion of Belgium.
1920 – The first commercial radio station, 8MK (now WWJ), begins operations in Detroit.
1920 – The National Football League is organized as the American Professional Football Conference in Canton, Ohio
1926 – Japan's public broadcasting company, Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai (NHK) is established.
1938 – Lou Gehrig hits his 23rd career grand slam, a record that stood for 75 years until it was broken by Alex Rodriguez.
1940 – In Mexico City, exiled Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky is fatally wounded with an ice axe by Ramón Mercader. He dies the next day.
• [Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky assassinated in Mexico]
• [Wikipedia Bio: Leon Trotsky]
• [Wikipedia Bio: Ramón Mercader]
1940 – World War II: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill makes the fourth of his famous wartime speeches, containing the line "Never was so much owed by so many to so few".
1944 – World War II: One hundred sixty-eight captured allied airmen, including Phil Lamason, accused by the Gestapo of being "terror fliers", arrive at Buchenwald concentration camp.
1944 – World War II: The Battle of Romania begins with a major Soviet Union offensive.
1948 – Soviet Consul General in New York, Jacob M. Lomakin is expelled by the United States, due to the Kasenkina Case.
1955 – Battle of Philippeville: In Morocco, a force of Berbers from the Atlas Mountains region of Algeria raid two rural settlements and kill 77 French nationals.
1960 – Senegal breaks from the Mali Federation, declaring its independence.
1962 – The NS Savannah, the world's first nuclear-powered civilian ship, embarks on its maiden voyage.
• [Wikipedia: NS Savannah]
• [NS Savannah - Under Way (1959)]
• [N.S. Savannah Association]
• [NS Savannah Control / Engine Room Tour]
• [NS Savannah in Drydock in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania November 17, 2019]
1968 – Cold War: Warsaw Pact troops invade Czechoslovakia, crushing the Prague Spring. East German participation is limited to a few specialists due to memories of the recent war. Only Albania and Romania refuse to participate.
1975 – Viking program: NASA launches the Viking 1 planetary probe toward Mars.
1977 – Voyager program: NASA launches the Voyager 2 spacecraft.
• [VOYAGER 2 - Launch ] (Fun Fact: The Voyager 2 was launched before Voyager 1)
• [Voyager 2 Trajectory through the Solar System]
• [Voyager 2 Page at JPL]
1986 – In Edmond, Oklahoma, U.S. Postal employee Patrick Sherrill guns down 14 of his co-workers and then commits suicide.
1988 – "Black Saturday" of the Yellowstone fire in Yellowstone National Park
• [Wikipedia: Yellowstone fires of 1988]
• [Yellowstone Aflame: The Great Yellowstone Fires of '88 • 60 FPS 1989]
• [The Story Behind the Yellowstone Fires of 1988 | Retro Report | The New York Times]
1988 – Iran–Iraq War: A ceasefire is agreed after almost eight years of war.
1988 – The Troubles: Eight British soldiers are killed and 28 wounded when their bus is hit by an IRA roadside bomb in Ballygawley, County Tyrone.
1989 – The pleasure boat Marchioness sinks on the River Thames following a collision. Fifty-one people are killed.
1991 – Dissolution of the Soviet Union, August Coup: More than 100,000 people rally outside the Soviet Union's parliament building protesting the coup aiming to depose President Mikhail Gorbachev.
• [Remembering the Overthrow of Gorbachev, 20 Years Later]
• [Attempted coup against Gorbachev collapses]
1991 – Estonia, occupied by and incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1940, issues a decision on the re-establishment of independence on the basis of legal continuity of its pre-occupation statehood.
1993 – After rounds of secret negotiations in Norway, the Oslo Accords are signed, followed by a public ceremony in Washington, D.C. the following month.
1995 – The Firozabad rail disaster claimed 358 lives in Firozabad, India.
1997 – Souhane massacre in Algeria; over 60 people are killed and 15 kidnapped.
1998 – The Supreme Court of Canada rules that Quebec cannot legally secede from Canada without the federal government's approval.
1998 – U.S. embassy bombings: The United States launches cruise missile attacks against alleged al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan and a suspected chemical weapons plant in Sudan in retaliation for the August 7 bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
• [Operation Infinite Reach]
• [News coverage of Operation Infinite Reach (US attacks Sudan/Afghanistan) part 1-WPVI 6abc/WCAU NBC10]
• [Statement on Military Strikes in Sudan and Afghanistan (1998)]
2002 – A group of Iraqis opposed to the regime of Saddam Hussein take over the Iraqi embassy in Berlin, Germany for five hours before releasing their hostages and surrendering.
2006 – Sri Lankan Civil War: Sri Lankan Tamil politician and former MP S. Sivamaharajah is shot dead at his home in Tellippalai.
2007 – China Airlines Flight 120 caught fire and exploded after landing at Naha Airport in Okinawa, Japan.
2008 – Spanair Flight 5022, from Madrid, Spain to Gran Canaria, skids off the runway and crashes at Barajas Airport. Of the 172 people on board, 146 die immediately, and eight more later die of injuries sustained in the crash.
2012 – A prison riot in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, kills at least 20 people.
2014 – Seventy-two people are killed in Japan's Hiroshima Prefecture by a series of landslides caused by a month's worth of rain that fell in one day.
2016 – Fifty-four people are killed when a suicide bomber detonates himself at a Kurdish wedding party in Gaziantep, Turkey.
2020 – Joe Biden gives his acceptance speech virtually for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination at the 2020 Democratic National Convention.
• [Joe Biden Acceptance Speech at 2020 Democratic National Convention]
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Published at 5:00am on Sunday, August 20, 2023
Author: Bobby Coggins
Resources used to compile the information in this article include, but are not limited to the following websites or books: MaconMedia.com, youtube.com, weather.gov, airnow.gov, wikipedia.com, onthisday.com, ncdcr.gov, ncsu.edu, utah.edu, https://www.microbe.tv/twiv/, wolfram.com, biorxiv.org, aps.org, nejm.org, plos.org, cell.com, researchsquare.com, cureus.com, spc.noaa.gov, nhc.noaa.gov, ncdenr.org, medrxiv.org, archive.org, ncpedia.org, nasa.gov, https://ww2days.com, nih.gov, carolinapublicpress.org, microbe.tv, smokymountainnews.com, psypost.org, blogspot.com, pollen.com, franklinnc.com, maconnc.org, spaceweather.com, solarham.com, loc.gov, ncleg.net, senate.gov, house.gov, whitehouse.gov, drudgereport.com, politico.com, realclearpolitics.com, ushmm.org, This Day in North Carolina History, World War II Day By Day, The Holocaust Encyclopedia, The Timetables of History, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The World History and Book of Facts (multiple years), On This Day In History: Over 4,000 facts, The NASA Archives. 60 Years in Space, This Day in North Carolina History, The Smithsonian History of Space Exploration: From the Ancient World to the Extraterrestrial Future, Spaceflight, 2nd Edition: The Complete Story from Sputnik to Curiousity, The Story of Civilization (11 volumes), The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, American History, Volume 1: 1492-1877, American History, Volume 2: 1877 - Present, A Complete Chronolgy of the Second World War. Weather and Almanac 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, National Hurricane Center, Penn State University Electronic Wall Map, The State Climate Office of North Carolina, Storm Prediction Center, U.S. Naval Observatory, University of Utah Department of Atmospheric Sciences, and the Weather Prediction Center.
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