News and Weather Briefing for Wednesday, July 15, 2020

OUTLOOK

A strong upper-level ridge of high pressure will linger atop the region into the weekend. This will support ongoing hot and increasingly humid conditions. Expect chances for showers and thunderstorms to gradually increase by Friday.

News Brief

The Macon County Board of Commissioners met last night [LINK]

Cheoah Ranger District designates two trails for Kids in Parks Program [LINK]

Macon Media published a COVID-19 Update that included the latest COVID-19 numbers from Macon County Public Health [LINK]


Most Recent Local Government Meetings

The Franklin Town Council met on July 6th. [LINK]

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 Friday Night


Today

Areas of fog in the morning. Otherwise, cloudy through mid-morning, then clearing, with highs ranging from near 80 in the higher elevations to near 90 and the lower 90s in the lower elevations. Calm winds increasing to come out of the south around 5 mph by midmorning.

Tonight

Partly cloudy, with lows in the 60s. Calm winds.

Thursday

A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 4pm. Mostly sunny, with highs ranging from near 80 in the higher elevations to near 90 in the lower elevations. Calm winds.

Thursday Night

Mostly cloudy, with lows ranging from the lower 60s in the higher elevations to the upper 60s in the lower elevations.

Friday

Showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly after 4pm. Partly sunny, with highs ranging from the upper 70s in the higher elevations and the upper 80s in the lower elevations. Light winds out of the southwest. Chance of precipitation is 60%.

Friday Night

A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly before 10pm. Mostly cloudy, with lows in the 60s.


Hazards

Isolated showers and a few thunderstorms will be possible later this afternoon and into this evening. Cloud to ground lightning and brief heavy rain could occur with any storm today.


Air Quality



Air quality should be in the middle range of yellow today for the county and mid-to-upper yellow range for the ridgetops.

Partly cloudy skies are expected statewide tomorrow with winds becoming light out of the east, as high pressure builds offshore. Warm and humid conditions will prevail statewide otherwise. Ozone readings may build well into the Code Yellow range over and west of Charlotte tomorrow towards Lincolnton, Kings Mountain and Hickory, with lower readings still in the Code Yellow range over the rest of the Mountains, Foothills and Piedmont. Code Green conditions will be possible over the Coast. Particle pollution readings in the lower Code Yellow range will also be possible over the western half of the state tomorrow with Code Green conditions expected to the east.

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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Weather Sponsor



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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 Wed Jul 15 2020

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

Tropical cyclone formation is not expected during the next 5 days.


End Daily Weather Segment

---

---

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 87,528 people in North Carolina are infected, 1,510 have died, and infections are widespread, the NCDHHS website [LINK] reports 89,484 confirmed cases from 1,254,846 targeted tests, and 1,109,040 hospitalized and 1,510 deaths in the state. The Johns Hopkins Dashboard [LINK] reports 90,000 people infected and 1,579 deaths.

North Carolina Coronavirus Map and Case Count [LINK] https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/north-carolina-coronavirus-cases.html

Data from Macon County Public Health as of July 14th and graph by Macon Media of data from May 30th to July 14th [LINK]




340 Detected Cases (+4 in one day)
116 Active Positive (-1 in one day)
223 Recovered (+5 in one day)
1 Death (unchanged)

Testing Data for Macon County

3500 MCPH Tests (unchanged)
963 Tests by Others (unchanged)
4463 Total Tests (unchanged)
369 Tests Pending Results (-79 in one day)



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



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Published at 5:30am on Wednesday, July 15, 2020