Daily Weather Briefing for Saturday, April 1, 2017

NATIONAL OVERVIEW

...A wintry mix of snow, rain, and ice is expected to continue across the Northeast today, changing to snow tonight...

...Severe thunderstorms are possible across portions of the Southern Plains today, pushing eastward into the Lower Mississippi Valley Sunday...

...Snow will slowly taper off throughout the day across the Western Great Basin, Central and Southern Rockies, and portions of the Southwest...

The potent low pressure system that impacted much of the eastern U.S. is now moving off shore, with high pressure and drier conditions expected to take hold east of the Mississippi River. The one caveat will be the Northeast, where return flow will continue to combine with cold air moving southward from Canada, resulting in a mix of rain, snow, and ice across much of the region. This will eventually change to all snow as temperatures fall below freezing overnight, and then taper off during the day Sunday as the low pressure system continues to propagate eastward and away from the coast.

Another low pressure system will continue to slowly traverse the Southern Plains over the next couple of days. The position of this low will allow for deep warm and moist southerly flow inland from the Gulf of Mexico ahead of the associated cold front. This, in turn, will lead to rain across much of the Southern And Central Plains, as well as embedded thunderstorms. For today, the strongest storms will be along and just east of the dry line which will set up across southwest Texas. The Storm Prediction Center has highlighted much of South-Central Texas northward into Southern Oklahoma as being in a slight risk for severe thunderstorms capable of producing damaging winds and large hail. By tomorrow, the system will move eastward and will merge with another warm front moving onshore. This will increase the severe thunderstorm threat, and may lead to isolated tornadic supercell development. As such, the Storm Prediction Center has highlighted southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana in a moderate risk for severe weather tomorrow. Surrounding areas will be in a enhanced and slight risk for severe weather as well. Please refer to to the Storm Prediction Center's website for more information.

Meanwhile, on the northwest side of the above mentioned area of low pressure, snow is expected to slowly taper off today across the Western Great Basin, Central and Southern Rockies, and portions of the Southwest. Winter Weather Advisories and Winter Storm Warnings are in effect for portions of this region where heaviest snow accumulations are expected.


LOCAL OUTLOOK

Dry and warm high pressure will build across the region through the weekend. Unsettled weather is expected to return early next week with a storm system coming through late Monday and Monday night and then another Wednesday night and Thursday.

Weather Almanac for April 1st (1872-2016)

Record weather events for this date in Macon County

Highest Temperature 88°F in Franklin in 1986
Lowest Temperature 13°F in Highlands in 1987
Greatest Rainfall 2.63 inches at the Coweeta Experimental Station in 1999
Greatest Snowfall 2.5 inches in Franklin in 1881

Climate Normals for April

Cell	Franklin	Coweeta	Highlands
Max Temp	68.5°F	68.3°F	62.4°F
Low Temp	38.9°F	40.5°F	37.5°F
Rain	4.09 inches	5.67 inches	6.47 inches

THREE DAY OUTLOOK




TODAY

Partly sunny with decreasing clouds to become sunny with highs near 70. Calm winds early, then out of the northwest 5 to 10 mph in the morning hours.


TONIGHT

Mostly clear with lows near the upper 30s. Winds out of the northwest calming before midnight.



SUNDAY

Mostly sunny with highs near the mid 70s. Calm winds early, then from the south in the afternoon.

SUNDAY NIGHT

Mostly cloudy with lows near the lower 50s and light winds out of the southeast. Slight chance of rain, mainly after 2 am.



MONDAY

Cloudy and rainy with thunderstorms and highs in the mid to upper 60s.

MONDAY NIGHT

Cloudy and rainy with lows in the lower 50s. Thunderstorms are possible overnight


HAZARDS

No hazardous weather expected today. 

Hazardous Weather Outlook from the National Weather Service 
(issued at 4:56 am)

..Monday...Severe weather possible. A potent upper level system will move atop the region Monday afternoon and overnight. Conditions are expected to be favorable for isolated strong to severe thunderstorms across the region.

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 in pdf format or a high quality photo, to editor@maconmedia.com
There is no charge for civic, educational or non profit groups.

BIRDWALK on APRIL 1st

John and Cathy Sill will lead a bird walk on the Greenway. Meet at the Macon County Public Library parking area at 9:00 am.

BUILDING A RECOVERY COMMUNITY

APRIL 6th at 6 pm in the Drake Education Center at 210 Phillips Street

Donald McDonald will be the main speaker.
For more information, contact Kay 706-970-9987 or Perry 828-200-3000




2016 FIRE SIZE PRESENTATION

The United States Forest Service will be making a presentation will cover the organization of suppression resources, cooperative efforts, suppression repair activities and future Forest Service restoration activities at Tartan Hall on April 6th.

More information is on the blog at http://thunderpigblog.blogspot.com/2017/03/2016-fire-size-presentation-scheduled.html


SYRINGE EXCHANGE PROGRAM

On January 1, 2017, the Syringe Exchange Program of Franklin began operating a comprehensive harm reduction program to address the opioid epidemic that is effecting western NC. Opioid overdose reversal kits including naloxone are available free of charge. If you have any questions about our services or if you know someone interested in volunteering, please contact Stephanie Almeida at 828-475-1920.





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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. 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 4:35 am on April 1, 2017

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