Daily Weather Briefing for Saturday, January 28, 2017

Weather Advisories and Warnings Across the USA
NATIONAL OUTLOOK

Strong northwest flow has taken hold across much of the central and eastern continental U.S. Friday, with generally dry and benign weather expected through the weekend. The caveat to this will be for areas downwind of the Great Lakes, where lake effect snow bands will likely develop. A reinforcing cold front will drop south across the Great Lakes region by Saturday morning, enhancing the surge of cold air over this region. The heaviest snow will occur east of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, where lake effect snow warnings remain in effect. Some localized areas could see snow amounts in excess of a foot. Northwest flow may also create some upslope snow showers in parts of the central and northern Appalachian Mountains through this weekend as well. A winter weather advisory is already in effect for parts of the northern Appalachians through Friday night.

Across the Intermountain West, a large dome of high pressure and light winds will result in some of the coldest conditions across the continental U.S., especially during the overnight periods. Generally clear to partly cloudy skies and subsidence aloft should deter any snow across the region. Additionally, a strong inversion developing across this region could lead to deteriorating air quality for valley locations. This area of high pressure will continue to build across the far western U.S. In fact, portions of California and the Great Basin could reach or even break monthly high pressure records for January. A few locations in California are also very close to reaching their all time highest pressure records. This type of a pattern will cause any approaching northern Pacific weather systems to deflect northward before reaching the western coast.



LOCAL OVERVIEW

A broad upper level trough will persist over the eastern part of the country for the next few days keeping temperatures near normal if not slightly below. At the same time... pockets of upper level energy will help generate intermittent snow showers across the western North Carolina mountains through early next week. Conditions could be favorable for a winter weather event on Friday.



THREE DAY OUTLOOK




Saturday

Sunny with highs near the mid 40s and winds out of the northwest 5 to 10 mph switching to come out of the west in the early afternoon hours. Wind gusts expected to be in the 20 mph range in the valleys. Peak wind gusts are expected to occur around 10 am or so.


Saturday Night

Partly cloudy with lows near the mid to upper 20s and winds out of the southwest becoming light and variable before midnight.




Sunday

Partly sunny with highs near the low 40s and calm winds early rising to come out of the northwest 5 to 10 mph by mid morning. 20% chance of precipitation with rain and snow showers possible throughout the day. Less than an inch of accumulation is expected in the valleys.

Sunday Night

Mostly cloudy with lows near the mid 20s with winds out of the northwest 5 to 10 mph. 30% chance of rain/snow showers, with snow falling after 6 pm. Less than an inch of accumulation expected in the valleys.




Monday

Mostly sunny with highs near the mid 30s. 20% chance of snow showers, mainly before 10 am.


Monday Night

Mostly clear with lows near the low to mid 20s.




HAZARDS

No hazardous weather expected. (Snow flurries, heavy at time through the weekend and early Monday are in the forecast. Less than an inch accumulation in the valleys is expected.



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 28, 2017



North Carolina

High Temperature 85ºF in Willard, Pender County in 1918
Low Temperature -24ºF on Mount Mitchell, Yancey County in 1986
Greatest One-Day Rainfall 5.04 inches in Idlewild, Ashe County in 1998
Greatest One-Day Snowfall 28.0 inches on Mount Mitchell, Yancey County in 1998

Macon County

High Temperature 78ºF at the Coweeta Experimental Station in 1999
Low Temperature -10ºF in Highlands in 1897
Greatest One-Day Rainfall 2.60 inches in Highlands in 1918
Greatest One-Day Snowfall 9.5 inches in Highlands in 1904


Astronomy


Twilight Begins: 7:08 am
Sunrise: 7:35 am
Sunset 5:58 pm
Twilight Ends: 6:25 pm
Day Length: 11 hours 17 minutes

Moon Phase: Waxing Crescent with 1% of the Moon's visible disk illuminated
Moonrise 7:53 am
Moonset 6:53 pm

Observing the Skies

Evening Events and Planets

Chart shows sky at 8:30 pm tonight



Venus and Mars are the bright evening planets.

VENUS
Rises 9:42 am
Sets 9:38 pm
Brightness -4.4 Magnitude
Distance 0.565 AU
Constellation: Pisces

MARS
Rises 10:03 am
Sets 10:01 pm
Brightness 1.1 Magnitude
Distance: 1.827 AU
Constellation: Pisces



Morning Events and Planets

Chart shows sky at 4 am on Sunday, January 29th at 4 am




MERCURY
Rises 6:19 am
Sets 4:03 pm
Brightness 0.0 Magnitude
Distance 1.16 AU
Constellation: Sagittarius

SATURN 
Rises 9:36 am
Sets 2:29 pm
Brightness 1.4 Magnitude
Distance: 10.726 AU
Constellation: Ophiuchus

JUPITER
Rises 11:47 pm
Sets 11:06 am
Brightness -2.0 Magnitude
Distance: 5.103 AU
Constellation: Virgo


Sky Guides for this week (Jan 27- Feb 4)

Sky and Telescope Magazine 
Astronomy Magazine



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]





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Published at 3:48 am on Jan 28, 2017

#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.