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Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Daily Weather Briefing for Wednesday, February 8, 2017


Weather Advisories and Warnings Across the USA

Weather Advisories and Warnings Across the USA

NATIONAL OUTLOOK

...Heavy rain and flooding possible over parts of the Pacific Northwest
and Northern California...

...A wintry mix of snow, rain, and ice is also expected across inland
portions of the Pacific Northwest...

...Heavy snow possible across the Colorado Rockies today...

...A potential for severe thunderstorms over the Eastern Gulf Coast
today...

...Heavy snow will occur across portions of New England tonight and
Thursday...


Yet another strong low pressure system will move towards the Pacific Northwest over the next few days. This will bring another surge of moisture to much of the region, which has already been heavily impacted by heavy rains and high snow amounts. More heavy rain is expected across much of northern California and coastal regions of Washington and Oregon starting this afternoon. Rainfall amounts of 2 to 6 inches are expected in these regions. Furthermore, warmer temperatures will cause melting of large amounts of snow, which will lead to flooding concerns. Flood warnings and watches are in effect for much of northern California, Oregon, and even northern Nevada and southern Idaho. Along the northern periphery of this system, a wintry mix of snow, rain, and ice is expected, with Winter Storm Warnings and Watches stretching from Washington to western Montana.

A continuation of the previous low pressure system to move through the Pacific Northwest will make its way into the Rockies today, bringing another round of heavy snow to this region. Locally, up to 2 feet of snow is expected through this evening in the highest terrain.

And active pattern will also remain in place across the eastern U.S. A strong low pressure system will continue to push northeast of the Great Lakes Region and New England throughout the day, with a cold front expected to sweep through much of Southeast U.S. through tonight. A secondary low will develop along this front tonight, increasing the surge of moisture inland along the Atlantic Coast. Much of the southeast and Mid Atlantic will see heavy rains and thunderstorms today and tonight, with portions of the Eastern Gulf Coast currently under a Marginal to Slight Risk Area from the Storm Prediction Center. Behind the front, colder air will interact with the precipitation. Much of the Great Lakes region will see snow today, transitioning across the Northeast Thursday as the secondary system increases in strength. A transition zone between the rain and snow will result in a wintry mix of rain, snow and ice across portions of the northern Ohio Valley and northern Mid Atlantic Regions during this time.

Meanwhile, a surge of warm air will encompass much of the Gulf Coast and Atlantic Coast ahead of the approaching cold front today. This could once again lead to many locations near the coast reaching or possibly even exceeding either record high minimum temperatures, or record high maximum temperatures for the 8th of February.




GOFUNDME ESTABLISHED FOR FAMILY WHO LOST HOME IN FIRE

A family with three children, two girls, ages 14 and 8, and a boy, age 4, has lost their home due to a fire yesterday. A GOFUNDME has been established to assist the family with clothing and other needs while they are homeless. Visit https://www.gofundme.com/family-of-5-loses-all-in-house-fire to find out more.


LOCAL OVERVIEW

A cold front will cross the region late this afternoon into tonight, bringing showers and a few thunderstorms to the area, with a brief round of snow showers possible along the Tennessee line lasting into Thursday evening. Cool, dry high pressure will spread back in to end the work week before another warming trend commences over the weekend.



THREE DAY OUTLOOK




Wednesday (chance of thunderstorms between 3 pm and 3 am)

Areas of fog in the morning. Mostly cloudy with highs near the mid 60s. Calm winds in the morning giving way to winds out of the southwest 5 to 10 mph in the afternoon. 30% chance of rain with a chance of thunderstorms. Rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch.


Wednesday Night

Mostly cloudy with lows near the mid to upper 30s. Winds out of the southwest 5 to 10 mph shifting to come out of the northwest after midnight and increasing to 10 to 15 mph, gusting to 20 mph. 30% chance of rain, mainly after 2 am with rainfall amounts between a tenth and a quarter of an inch, with higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.




Thursday

Mostly cloudy early with decreasing cloud cover and highs near the mid 40s. Winds out of the northwest 15 to 20 mph, gusting to 35 mph or more.

Thursday Night

Mostly clear with lows near the lower 20s and wind chills reaching into the teens. Winds out of the northwest 5 to 15 mph, gusting to 25 mph.




Friday


Sunny with highs near the lower 50s.


Friday Night

Partly cloudy with lows near the mid 30s.




HAZARDS

Isolated thunderstorms are possible ahead of a cold front this afternoon and evening. The primary threats will be gusty winds and cloud to ground lightning. The National Weather Service has issued a Hazardous Weather Outlook for Macon County, the text of which is posted below for your convenience:

..Wednesday...Severe weather possible. Isolated to scattered thunderstorms are possible as an upper level disturbance moves across the area Wednesday evening into Wednesday night. An isolated severe thunderstorm or two cannot be ruled out... with damaging winds the main threat.

As always, you can check to see what advisories, watches and warnings are in effect for Macon County by visiting http://is.gd/MACONWARN



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.


Adult Planetarium Programs at the Library

Shows at 2 pm and 6 pm on Thursday, February 9th
For more information, visit the blog at http://thunderpigblog.blogspot.com/2017/01/adult-planetarium-programs-at-library.html



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 February 6, 2017



North Carolina

High Temperature 82ºF in Wilmington, New Hanover County in 1965
Low Temperature -17ºF in Blowing Rock, Watauga County in 1895
Greatest One-Day Rainfall 4.05 inches in Morehard City, Carteret County in 2013
Greatest One-Day Snowfall 20.2 inches in Lexington, Davidson County in 1905

Macon County

High Temperature 69ºF at the Coweeta Experimental Station in 1943
Low Temperature -17ºF in Highlands in 1895
Greatest One-Day Rainfall 2.50 inches in Franklin in 1878
Greatest One-Day Snowfall 4.5 inches in Highlands in 1995


Astronomy


Twilight Begins: 7:00 am
Sunrise: 7:26 am
Sunset 6:09 pm
Twilight Ends: 6:36 pm
Day Length: 11 hours 36 minutes



Moon Phase: 

Waxing Gibbous with 93% of the visible disk illuminated at 11:19 pm
Moonset 5:21 am
Moonrise 3:59 pm
Moonset 6:14 am tomorrow

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 9:15 am
Sets 9:37 pm
Brightness -4.5 Magnitude
Distance 0..486 AU
Constellation: Pisces

MARS
Rises 9:40 am
Sets 9:57 pm
Brightness 1.2 Magnitude
Distance: 1.901 AU
Constellation: Pisces



Morning Events and Planets

Chart shows sky at 4 am tomorrow morning





MERCURY
Rises 6:37 am
Sets 4:32 pm
Brightness -0.1 Magnitude
Distance 1.287 AU
Constellation: Capricornus

SATURN 


Rises 4:04 am
Sets 1:50 pm
Brightness 1.4 Magnitude
Distance: 10.586 AU
Constellation: Ophiuchus

JUPITER
Rises 11:04 pm
Sets 10:23 am
Brightness -2.0 Magnitude
Distance: 4.937 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]





CROWD FUNDING OR DAY SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES

If you receive value from what Macon Media provides to the community, please consider becoming a supporter and contribute at least a dollar a month.

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. Serious inquiries only.

Thank You to the people who have been sending in donations and those businesses who are underwriting coverage of news and events. You have kept Macon Media online.

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 4:53 am on Feb 8, 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.



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