News and Weather Briefing for Tuesday, July 21, 2020 Video of Macon County Board of Education Included

OUTLOOK

Ridging aloft will largely remain intact through early next week, providing hot and humid conditions with heat concerns. Scattered afternoon to evening thunderstorms are expected through at least Friday.

The Macon County Board of Education met last night. The main topic was COVID-19 and how best to teach students and provide a safe environment in the next school year.

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 Wednesday Night


Today

Showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly after 3pm. Increasing clouds, with highs ranging from near 80 in the higher elevations to near 90 in the lower elevations. Calm winds. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth 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 3am. Mostly cloudy, with lows in the 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.

Wednesday

A slight chance of showers, then showers and thunderstorms likely after 10am. Partly sunny, with highs ranging from the upper 70s in the higher elevations to the upper 80s in the lower elevations. Calm winds. Chance of precipitation is 70%.

Wednesday Night

Showers and thunderstorms likely before 11pm, then a chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with lows in the 60s. Chance of precipitation is 60%.


Hazards

Hazardous weather is not expected today.


Air Quality



Air quality should be in the upper range of green today for the county and in the upper range of green for the ridgetops.

Hot and humid weather is expected to persist today, with continued chances for afternoon showers and thunderstorms. With high pressure continuing to sit offshore, south to southwesterly flow will continue, helping to bring relatively clean air to the region. Although there will be chances for showers and storms, there should be sufficient afternoon sunshine to allow for ozone to reach the low to mid Code Yellow range in parts of the Charlotte area, with values in the mid to upper Code Green range elsewhere. Should a surface temperature inversion set up in the overnight and early morning hours, light winds and limited vertical mixing could allow for the buildup of fine particle pollution at the surface. Readings in the low Code Yellow range are possible over the Piedmont, Sandhills, and northern Coastal Plain with values in the mid to upper Code Green range anticipated elsewhere; the highest values are anticipated in the early morning hours.






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 Tue Jul 21 2020

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

1. A tropical wave is producing a large area of disorganized showers and thunderstorms over much of Cuba, the central and northwestern Bahamas, southern Florida, and the adjacent Atlantic and Caribbean waters. Gradual development of this system is possible while it moves west-northwestward during the next few days. This system is expected to move over the southeastern Gulf of Mexico by late today, the central Gulf on Wednesday, and the northwestern Gulf on Thursday and Friday. An Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft is scheduled to investigate the system this afternoon, if necessary.

* Formation chance through 48 hours...low...30 percent.
* Formation chance through 5 days...low...30 percent.

2. Showers and thunderstorms have increased and become a little better organized in association with a low-pressure system located about midway between the west coast of Africa and the Lesser Antilles. Environmental conditions are expected to be somewhat conducive for development, and a tropical depression could form during the next couple of days while the low moves westward at around 10 mph over the tropical Atlantic. By the weekend, however, less favorable conditions should limit additional development.

* Formation chance through 48 hours...medium...40 percent.
* Formation chance through 5 days...medium...40 percent.

3. A weak trough of low pressure has moved inland along the central and upper Texas coasts. Although further weakening of this system is expected, isolated heavy rainfall could still occur over portions of southeastern Texas and southern Louisiana during the next day or two. These rains could result in localized flash flooding.

* Formation chance through 48 hours...low...near 0 percent.
* Formation chance through 5 days...low...near 0 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 99,778 people in North Carolina are infected, 1,634 have died, and infections are widespread, the NCDHHS website [LINK] reports 101,046 confirmed cases from 1,423,888 targeted tests, and 1,086 hospitalized and 1,642 deaths in the state. The Johns Hopkins Dashboard [LINK] reports 101,231 people infected and 1,677 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 20th (they have stopped releasing data to the media and public on the weekends since they are not testing on the weekends) and graph by Macon Media of data from May 30th to July 20th [LINK]



Please note there is a gap for Saturdays and Sundays starting this past weekend since the health department will no longer be reporting numbers on those days.




401 Detected Cases (+20 since Friday)
124 Active Positive (-2 since Friday)
256 Recovered (+22 in one day since Friday)
1 Death (unchanged since Friday)

Testing Data for Macon County

3733 MCPH Tests (+77 since Friday)
976 Tests by Others (+26 since Friday)
4706 Total Tests (+106 since Friday)
325 Tests Pending Results (+35 since Friday)


Infographic from Johns Hopkins University [LINK]





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



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Published at 6:45am Tuesday, July 22, 2020