News and Weather Briefing for Thursday, July 8, 2020

OUTLOOK

A weak area of low pressure will continue to slowly drift along the North Carolina coast today, then track northeast along the East Coast through the weekend, possibly becoming a tropical storm. Typical midsummer weather can be expected across the region over the next week, with hot, humid conditions and isolated to scattered afternoon and evening showers and thunderstorms each day.



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News Briefing

The Franklin Town Council held their monthly meeting for July 2020. Video and supporting documents are on the website. [LINK] 
Most Recent Local Government Meetings

The Macon County Board of Commissioners met on June 2nd. [LINK]

The Franklin Town Council met on June 1st. Members of the public and local media outlets were allowed in the town hall. [LINK]



General Forecast Through Saturday Night


Today

Showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly after 4pm. Patchy fog before 9am. Otherwise, partly sunny, with highs in the mid-70s in the nigher elevations and the mid-80s in the lower elevations. Calm winds. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.

Tonight

Showers and thunderstorms likely before midnight, then a slight chance of showers between midnight and 1am. Partly cloudy, with lows in the mid-60s. Calm winds. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.

Friday

Showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly after 3pm. Partly sunny, with highs in the upper 70s to near 80 in the higher elevations and the upper 80s in the lower elevations. Calm winds in the morning increasing to come out of the west around 5 mph in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 60%.

Friday Night

Showers and thunderstorms likely before 5am, then a slight chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with lows in the 60s. Chance of precipitation is 60%.

Saturday

Mostly sunny, with highs ranging from the upper 70s in the higher elevations to the upper 80s in the lower elevations. Calm winds in the morning increasing to come out of the northwest around 6 mph in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

Saturday Night

Mostly clear, with lows in the 60s.

Hazards

Scattered to numerous showers and thunderstorms are expected to develop across the mountains this afternoon and into the evening. The main threats will be cloud-to-ground lightning, gusty winds, and heavy downpours. A storm or two may become strong enough to produce damaging winds. Also, slow-moving storms may cause localized flooding.

Air Quality



Air quality should be in the upper range of Green today for the county.

Friday and Saturday, the weak area of low pressure will finally depart to the north and east, leaving behind a light pressure gradient. This will result in mostly sunny skies, temperatures warming into the lower 90s and very light winds - all conditions conducive to ozone formation. As a result, expect ozone to respond into the low to possibly mid Code Yellow range across many of the metropolitan locations. Particle pollution levels may also begin to elevate with Code Yellow concentrations possible across the state on Friday.

GSP Radar Down for Scheduled Maintenence Until July 15th

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
101 PM EDT TUE JUL 7 2020

...GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG RADAR WILL BE DOWN UNTIL JULY 15...

BEGINNING TUESDAY, JULY 7, THE KGSP WSR-88D RADAR OPERATED BY THE NOAA NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREER, SC, WILL BE DOWN FOR APPROXIMATELY SEVEN DAYS FOR THE REPLACEMENT OF THE GENERATOR, FUEL TANKS, AND ACCOMPANYING COMPONENTS. THIS ACTIVITY IS IMPORTANT TO SUPPORT THE RADAR'S OPERATION DURING PERIODS OF COMMERCIAL POWER OUTAGES, SPECIFICALLY WHEN HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS PRESENT.

DURING THE DOWNTIME, ADJACENT RADARS CAN BE USED FOR RADAR INFORMATION. FOR DIRECT ACCESS TO ANY OF THESE SURROUNDING RADARS, GO TO THE FOLLOWING WEB PAGE: HTTPS://RADAR.WEATHER.GOV/INDEX.HTM

THE RADAR IS SCHEDULED TO RETURN TO SERVICE ON JULY 15.





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Adams Products, a Division of Oldcastle is underwriting the daily weather briefing & public safety updates for the month.

Open 7:30 AM to 4:00 PM, M-F, located at 895 Hickory Knoll Road, Franklin, NC. Visit our Facebook page at:
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Tropical Weather
(The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1st through November 30th)








Tropical Weather Outlook
NWS National Hurricane Center Miami FL
200 AM EDT Thu Jul 9 2020

For the North Atlantic...Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico:

1. Surface observations along with satellite and radar data indicate that an area of low pressure located about 50 miles east of Wilmington, North Carolina, is gradually becoming better defined. The associated showers and thunderstorms are still disorganized, however, and are mostly confined to the east of the center. The low is expected to move northeastward or north-northeastward near or just offshore of the North Carolina Outer Banks later today and then along the mid-Atlantic coast tonight and Friday. Environmental conditions are expected to be conducive for development, and a tropical or subtropical cyclone will likely form later today or tonight.

Regardless of development, the system is expected to produce locally heavy rainfall that could cause some flash flooding across portions of eastern North Carolina, the coastal mid-Atlantic, and southern New England during the next few days. Gusty winds are also possible along the North Carolina Outer Banks today, and along the mid-Atlantic and southern New England coasts Friday and Saturday. Interests in these areas should monitor the progress of this system and refer to products from your local National Weather Service office. An Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft is scheduled to investigate this system later today, if necessary.

* Formation chance through 48 hours...high...80 percent.
* Formation chance through 5 days...high...80 percent.


End Daily Weather Segment

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Begin COVID-19 Update



Here are some numbers from the CDC, the NCDHHS, and the Johns Hopkins Dashboard. Macon Media prefers the Johns Hopkins Dashboard because the counts include those non-residents that are left out of the CDC and NCDHHS numbers.

The CDC website [LINK] reports 75,875 people in North Carolina are infected, 1,420 have died, and infections are widespread, the NCDHHS website [LINK] reports 77,310 confirmed cases from 1,096,682 targeted tests, and 994 hospitalized and 1,441 deaths in the state. The Johns Hopkins Dashboard [LINK] reports 77,687 people infected and 1,462 deaths.

North Carolina Coronavirus Map and Case Count [LINK]

Data from Macon County Public Health as of July 2nd and graph by Macon Media of data from May 30th to July 7th [LINK]




310 Detected Cases (+16 in one day)
112 Active Positive (-1 in one day)
197 Recovered (+15 in one day)
1 Death (unchanged)

Testing Data for Macon County

3265 MCPH Tests (+105 in one day)
933 Tests by Others (unchanged)
4198 Total Tests (+105 in one day)
339 Tests Pending Results (+22 in one day)




Resources for Reliable Information about the Corona Virus (COVID-19) [LINK]



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Published at 7:00am Thursday, July 09, 2020