Daily Weather Briefing for Monday, January 23, 2017

Weather Advisories and Warnings Across the USA
NATIONAL OUTLOOK

Scattered to widespread showers and thunderstorms have continued from overnight across the Tennessee valley, the Southeast and the Mid-Atlantic. An impressive low pressure system will track through the Appalachians/Southeast and lift northeastward along the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast coast. A line of dangerous storms continue to push through southern Florida this morning. The Storm Prediction Center has this area under a moderate risk through 7am today. Heavy rainfall will also be possible with this system and may lead to local flash flooding - especially areas near the southern Appalachians. As the system parallels the East Coast the precipitation will spread into the Northeast. Excessive rainfall will be possible near New Jersey and Long Island by Tuesday morning. Additionally, snow will develop over parts of Maine by this evening and will expand into parts of the Lower Great Lakes and Central Appalachians - becoming a wintry mix of snow, sleet, and or rain/freezing rain overnight Monday into Tuesday.

Much of California, the Great Basin and the Central/Southern Rockies will be in an active wet pattern as a deep upper-level low traverses from the Pacific Northwest eastward to the Central High Plains. Rain and higher elevation snow is expected to develop over California and snow over the western Great Basin will wane by Tuesday morning. Snow and lower elevation rain will develop over parts of the Great Basin, Southwest that will move into parts of the Central/Southern Rockies today and will expand into parts of the Northern/Central High Plains tonight and into Tuesday.

DAY SPONSOR

Carrion Tree Service is underwriting the daily weather briefing and public safety updates for today. they are a fully licensed and insured tree service, specializing in dangerous tree removal, view clearing, pruning, and crane services with a 24 Hour emergency response.

Their phone number is 371-4718. They are located at 120 Depot Street.

They can handle all your tree removal needs in good or bad weather.

LOCAL OVERVIEW

A strong low pressure system will move east across the regions today then northeast up the East Coast through mid week. Mild high pressure will move in Tuesday and Wednesday until a cold front crosses the region Wednesday night.



THREE DAY OUTLOOK




Monday

Patchy fog before noon. Cloudy with highs near the lower 50s. Winds will be out of the west early, then shifting to come from the northwest by 9 am with winds rising over the course of the day, reaching 10 to 15 mph. Gusts will be around 25 moh in the valleys and up to 40 mph or more on the ridges. 70% chance of rain with rain ending before 6 pm tonight and rainfall amounts between a tenth and a quarter of an inch expected.


Monday Night (Wind Advisory in Effect)

Mostly cloudy with lows near the mid to upper 30s. Higher elevations may fall below freezing. Winds out of the northwest 10 to 15 mph (add 5 to 10 mph on top of that for the ridges and higher elevations) with gusts reaching 25 to 30 mph. Scattered power outages are possible and some roads could be blocked due to falling trees. 40% chance of rain, mainly before midnight.




Tuesday (Wind Advisory in Effect Until Noon)

Sunny with highs near the upper 50s and winds out of the northwest 5 to 10 mph.


Tuesday Night

Mostly clear with lows near 40 and variable light winds.




Wednesday

Starting out mostly sunny with increasing clouds and highs near the lower 60s. 30% chance of rain, mainly after noon.


Wednesday Night

Mostly cloudy with lows near the upper 30s. 40% chance of rain.




HAZARDS

Winds are expected to begin increasing this morning and could pose a problem in the way of downed trees and limbs causing scattered power outages and potentially falling in roadways and becoming a traffic hazard. If you plan on being on the roadways after dark tonight, please be on the lookout for debris or trees in the roadway.

The National Weather Service has issued a Wind Advisory for high winds that will be associated with a strong low pressure system that will be passing through the area today, tonight and tomorrow with the strongest winds in Macon County occurring between noon today and and 3 am in the morning.

URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
348 AM EST MON JAN 23 2017

...STRONG WINDS EXPECTED ACROSS THE NORTH CAROLINA MOUNTAINS THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH TUESDAY MORNING...

.A departing upper/mid level low will yield an increasingly strong low level pressure gradient over the next 24 hours. This will result in strong northwesterly winds across the mountains of western North Carolina late this afternoon through Tuesday morning.



...WIND ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 6 PM THIS EVENING TO NOON EST TUESDAY...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG HAS ISSUED A WIND ADVISORY... WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 6 PM THIS EVENING TO NOON EST TUESDAY.

* LOCATIONS...THE MOUNTAINS OF WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA.

* HAZARDS...VERY WINDY CONDITIONS.

* TIMING...GUSTY NORTHWEST WINDS WILL INCREASE THROUGH LATE AFTERNOON TODAY... MAXIMIZING OVERNIGHT TONIGHT BEFORE WEAKENING INTO LATE MORNING TUESDAY.

* WINDS...NORTHWEST 30 TO 40 MPH WITH GUSTS UP TO 50 MPH.

* IMPACTS...STRONG WINDS MAY BLOW DOWN LIMBS... TREES... AND POWER LINES. SCATTERED POWER OUTAGES ARE EXPECTED. LIMITED VISIBILITIES WILL MAKE TRAVEL VERY DIFFICULT.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A wind advisory means that winds of 35 mph are expected. Winds this strong can make driving difficult... Especially for high profile vehicles. Use extra caution.

Stay tuned to noaa weather radio or your favorite source of weather information for the latest updates. Additional details can be found at www.Weather.Gov/gsp.



MACON CALENDAR

If you have an event you wish to be added to this calendar, please send the information, along with a flyer of photo, to editor@maconmedia.com
There is no charge for civic, educational or non profit groups.



MARDI GRAS DINNER TO BENEFIT REACH OF MACON COUNTY

A Mardi Gras Dinner to benefit REACH of Macon COunty will be held at Root + Barrel Kitchen on Main Street on Tuesday, February 28th at 6:30 pm.
Reserved tickets are $75 and open seating is $60.
More information is on the flyer posted here.





Weather Extremes Almanac for January 21, 2017



North Carolina

High Temperature 82ºF in New Bern, Craven County in 1937
Low Temperature -11ºF in Spruce Pine, Mitchell County in 1936
Greatest One-Day Rainfall 4.30 inches in Nantahala, Macon County in 1971
Greatest One-Day Snowfall 21.0 inches on Mount Mitchell, Yancy County in 2016

Macon County

High Temperature 72ºF in Highlands in 1927
Low Temperature -2ºF in Highlands in 2003
Greatest One-Day Rainfall 4.30 inches in Nantahala in 1971
Greatest One-Day Snowfall 8.7 inches in Highlands in 2016


Astronomy


Twilight Begins: 7:11 am
Sunrise: 7:38 am
Sunset 5:53 pm
Twilight Ends: 6:20 pm
Day Length: 11 hours 09 minutes

Moon Phase: Waning Crescent with 25% of the Moon's visible disk illuminated
Moonrise: 3:53 am
Moonset 2:30 pm

Observing the Skies

Evening Events and Planets

Chart shows sky at 8:30 pm tonight



Venus and Mars are the bright evening planets, but both are close to the western horizon, so don't dally too long before you get out to see them.

Venus -4.4 Magnitude Distance 0.601 AU COnstellation: Pisces
Mars 1.00 Magnitude Distance: 1.793 AU Constellation: Pisces

Morning Events and Planets

Chart shows sky at 4 am on Tuesday, Jan 24th




Mercury 0.0 Magnitude Distance 1.084 AU Constellation: Sagittarius (does not rise until after daybreak)
Saturn 1.4 Magnitude Distance: 10.783 AU Constellation: Ophiuchus
Jupiter -1.9 Magnitude Distance: 5.182 AU Constellation: Virgo

Earth Sky has an article on the eclipses of 2017. [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]





CROWD FUNDING OR DAY SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES

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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.

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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

Published at 4:50 am on Jan 22, 2017 (I know it's late, I didn't wake up until 3 am)

#WNCscan #MaconWx #MaconSafety


Be kind to one another.


Data and information sources: Sources (except where otherwise credited): heavens-above.com, 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.