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**note** The Local and State News Segment has been moved below the Macon Calendar Segment.
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Weather
Hazards and Tropical Weather
Almanac
Macon Calendar
Local and StateNews
National News Roundup
COVID-19 News and Updates
Science and Technology
On This Day
Support Macon Media
OUTLOOK
Cool high pressure builds into the region today. A Gulf low pressure system will track across the Southeastern US coast Tuesday into early Wednesday leading to increased rain chances mainly along and south of I-85. Relatively quiet weather expected during the last half of the week. Temperatures will gradually warm towards the end of the workweek, becoming well above normal next weekend.
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Local Weather
National Weather Map for Today
General forecast through Wednesday Night
Franklin area
Today
Mostly sunny, with highs near 50. Light and variable winds.
Tonight
Mostly cloudy, with lows around 30. Calm winds.
Tuesday
Partly sunny, with highs in the mid 50s. Calm winds.
Tuesday Night
Mostly cloudy, with lows around 30. Calm winds.
Wednesday
Sunny, with highs in the mid 50s.
Wednesday Night
Mostly clear, with lows in the mid 20s.
Highlands Plateau
Today
Mostly sunny, with highs in the lower 40s. Winds out of the north around 5 mph becoming calm.
Tonight
Mostly cloudy, with lows around 30. Calm winds.
Tuesday
Partly sunny, with highs in the mid 40s. Light and variable winds.
Tuesday Night
Mostly cloudy, with lows in the mid 30s. Calm winds in the evening increasing to come out of the northwest 5 to 10 mph after midnight.
Wednesday
Sunny, with highs near 50.
Wednesday Night
Mostly clear, with lows around 30.
Otto area
Today
Mostly sunny, with highs near 50. Calm winds in the morning increasing to come out of the southeast around 5 mph.
Tonight
Mostly cloudy, with lows around 30. Calm winds.
Tuesday
Partly sunny, with highs in the low-to-mid 50s. Calm winds.
Tuesday Night
Mostly cloudy, with lows around freezing. Light winds out of the north.
Wednesday
Sunny, with highs in the mid 50s.
Wednesday Night
Mostly clear, with lows in the upper 20s.
Nantahala area
Today
Mostly sunny, with highs in the upper 40s. Calm winds.
Tonight
Mostly cloudy, with lows in the mid 30s. Calm winds.
Tuesday
Partly sunny, with highs near 50. Calm winds.
Tuesday Night
Partly cloudy, with lows in the mid 30s. Calm winds.
Wednesday
Sunny, with highs near 50.
Wednesday Night
Mostly clear, with lows around 30.
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Hazards and Tropical Weather
...Areas of Dense Fog This Morning...
Hazardous weather is not expected today.
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Almanac
Air Quality
Air quality is in the upper range of green for most of the county, with the ridges and other higher elevations today being in the upper range of green.
Fire and Smoke Map
Pollen
Pollen levels are expected to be in the low range (1.2 out of 12) today with a mixed trace of sources being the main culprit. Tomorrow is expected to be in the low range (0.3 out of 12).
Record Weather Events for December 20th
Record weather events for this date in Macon County
(1872-2016)
Highest Temperature 72°F in Highlands in 1931
lowest Temperature -1°F in Franklin in 1981
Greatest One-Day Rainfall 3.06 inches in Highlands in 1957
Greatest One-Day Snowfall 2.0 inches in Highlands in 1903
Record weather events for December in Macon County
Highest Temperature 78°F in Franklin on Dec 31, 1951
Lowest Temperature -12°F in Highlands on Dec 30, 1917
Greatest Rainfall 6.00 inches in Highlands on Dec 14, 1901
Greatest One-Day Snowfall 12.0 inches in Franklin on Dec 21, 1876
All-time record weather events for Macon County
Highest Temperature 101°F in Franklin on Jul 29, 1952
Lowest Temperature -19°F in Highlands on Jan 21, 1985
Greatest Rainfall 21.15 inches in Highlands on Jul 29, 1879
Greatest One-Day Snowfall 25.5 inches at the Coweeta Experimental Station on Mar 13, 1993
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Macon Calendar
(send your event to calendar@maconmedia.com)
Experiencing Nature Through Expanded Senses
"Friends of the Greenway is hosting an indoor "Experiencing Nature Through Expanded Senses" with leader, Diane Wildermuth. Sessions will be held at FROG Quarters on December 15 at 10:30 AM or 12:30 PM. Contact Diane at 421-5539 or dswnatureguide@outlook.com for additional information or to register."
THE POLAR EXPRESS™ Train Ride
THE POLAR EXPRESS™ with the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad is back in 2021! The 1¼ hour round-trip passenger excursion comes to life as the train departs the Bryson City depot for a journey through the quiet wilderness for a special visit at the North Pole. Set to the sounds of the motion picture soundtrack, guests on board will enjoy warm cocoa and a treat while listening and reading along with the magical story. Children’s faces show the magic of the season when the train arrives at the North Pole to find Santa Claus waiting. Santa will board THE POLAR EXPRESS™, greeting each child and presenting them with a special gift as in the story, their own silver sleigh bell. Christmas carols will be sung as they return back to the Bryson City Depot. For tickets, see [GSMR.com]
Dillsboro Lights & Luminaries
Adapted from an old Scandinavian custom of lighting the way for the Christ child, more than 2,500 candles in small white bags line the streets and every storefront is aglow with Christmas lights and decorations. Shopkeepers and restaurants are open late. See Santa and Mrs. Claus as they ride through town in their pickup truck. Write a letter to Santa and drop it off at his special mailbox. Live music on Front Street. For more information, see [Visit Dillsboro]
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Local and State News
COVID-19 Numbers for Macon County: [November 15, 2021]
• President's Column: The Most Important Gifts Aren’t Wrapped Up in Boxes, They’re Held in the Heart [Macon Media]
• NC Supreme Court says new trial is in order for man accused of threatening DA [WLOS-TV]
• NC Supreme Court Ruling [2021-NCSC-164 (PDF)]
• Few take part in weekly coronavirus testing in Wake schools [WRAL-TV]
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National and World News Roundup
• Sen. Joe Manchin says he won't support Biden's Build Back Better social spending bill [USA Today]
Bushcraft Bear: La Palma Volcano Report for December 17th, 2021
The signs of life of the La Palma volcano are getting weaker. Magma “solidifies” inside the volcano.
• The data that shows Boomers are to blame for the labor shortage [CNN]
• Food suppliers blame inflation for price hikes. Lawmakers say they're padding the bill. [NBC News]
• Russian court accidentally documents Moscow’s military presence in Donbas [The Kyiv Independent]
• US Congress passes import ban on Chinese Uyghur region [BBC News]
• High school featured on ESPN is investigated, deemed 'scam' by Ohio Department of Education [ESPN]
The Secret History of the Credit Card (full documentary) | FRONTLINE
Meet The Press Broadcast (FULL) - Dec. 19
NBC Nightly News Full Broadcast - December 19th, 2021
PBS NewsHour Full Episode December 19th, 2021
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COVID-19 News and Updates
Since it looks like we may be in for a new wave of infections, here is a section on COVID-19. It will include local, regional, state, national, and global items.
COVID-19 Numbers for Macon County: [November 18, 2021]
• WHO Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dashboard [World Health Organization]
Globally, as of 5:14pm CET, 17 December 2021, there have been 271,963,258 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 5,331,019 deaths, reported to WHO. As of 16 December 2021, a total of 8,337,664,456 vaccine doses have been administered.
In United States of America, from 3 January 2020 to 5:14pm CET, 17 December 2021, there have been 49,833,416 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 792,371 deaths, reported to WHO. As of 10 December 2021, a total of 465,812,616 vaccine doses have been administered.
Albert Bourla: Pfizer CEO | Lex Fridman Podcast #249
Dr John Campbell: First Omicron science
• Biden admin eyes a potentially stark shift in messaging around ending the pandemic [CNN]
• Court allows Biden employer vaccine mandate to take effect [Courthouse News Service]
Mayo Clinic expert explains why getting the COVID-19 vaccine is more important than ever
• TWiV 844: Paul Offit on children, COVID, and boosters [Microbe TV: This Week in Virology]
• University of Florida researchers say they were pressured to destroy COVID-19 data in new report [Orlando Weekly]
• U.S. Senators Warren, Booker test positive for COVID-19 [Reuters]
• Outgoing NIH director implores Fox News viewers to stay focused on the real 'enemy' [NPR]
Francis Collins: National Institutes of Health (NIH) | Lex Fridman Podcast #238
• As infections soar, Poland struggles to counter anti-vax sentiment [EuroNews]
• Health officials say omicron variant likely to cause record-high coronavirus cases, hospitalizations in U.S. [Washington Post]
• US donates another 1.78 million Pfizer vaccine doses to Bangladesh [Dhaka Tribune]
• Researchers develop an RNA-based breath test to detect COVID-19 [Brown University]
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Science and Technology News Roundup
• The story of the fight to archive the internet [TechRadarE]
• Five ice-age mammoths unearthed in Cotswolds after 220,000 years [The Guardian]
• Talking about Rocket Lab’s Neutron with Peter Beck [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcuOSXjevGs]
• Microsoft's Bing suspends auto suggest function in China at government's behest [Reuters]
• YouTube TV loses ESPN, other Disney networks after failing to reach new deal [The Verge]
• Shocking no one, Facebook/Meta earns title of the worst company of the year [9 to 5 Mac]
• Intel Chief Discusses Building the Metaverse’s Plumbing [Extreme tech]
• How to Bypass Blocked Sites and Internet Restrictions [Make Use Of]
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On This Day
December 20th is the 354th day of the year (355th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 11 days remain until the end of the year.
Historical Events
(Please note that the Wikipedia articles often contain a bibliography and links to where you can learn more about a historical event)
AD 69 – Priscus enters Rome to claim the title of Emperor for Nero's former general Vespasian.
1192 – Richard I of England is captured and imprisoned by Leopold V of Austria on his way home to England after the Third Crusade.
1334 – Cistercian Jacques Fournier is elected Pope Benedict XII.
1803 – The Louisiana Purchase is completed at a ceremony in New Orleans.
• [Wikipedia: Louisiana Purchase]
• [State papers and correspondence bearing upon the purchase of the territory of Louisiana]
• [The Louisiana Purchase, and our title west of the Rocky Mountains : with a review of annexation by the United States]
1808 – Peninsular War: The Siege of Zaragoza begins.
1832 – HMS Clio under the command of Captain Onslow arrives at Port Egmont under orders to take possession of the Falkland Islands.
1860 – South Carolina becomes the first state to attempt to secede from the United States.
1915 – World War I: The last Australian troops are evacuated from Gallipoli.
1917 – Cheka, the first Soviet secret police force, is founded.
1924 – Adolf Hitler is released from Landsberg Prison.
1941 – World War II: First battle of the American Volunteer Group, better known as the "Flying Tigers", in Kunming, China.
• [Wikipedia: Flying Tigers]
• [Official Website]
• [VIDEO: General Chennault's Flying Tigers]
1942 – World War II: Japanese air forces bomb Calcutta, India.
1943 - German fighter pilot Franz Stiglar encounters a crippled B-17 piloted Charlie Brown in what is known as the "Charlie Brown and Franz Stigler incident."
No Bullets Fly – Charlie Brown and Franz Stigler – Sabaton History 016
SABATON - No Bullets Fly (Animated Story Video)
• [Wikipedia article]
• [Wikipedia: A Higher Call]
• [VIDEO: An extraordinary code of honour]
• [VIDEO: The Franz Stigler and Charlie Brown Incident]
1946 – The popular Christmas film It's a Wonderful Life is first released in New York City.
1948 – Indonesian National Revolution: The Dutch military captures Yogyakarta, the temporary capital of the newly formed Republic of Indonesia.
1951 – The EBR-1 in Arco, Idaho becomes the first nuclear power plant to generate electricity. The electricity powered four light bulbs.
• [Wikipedia: Experimental Breeder Reactor I]
• [VIDEO: Nuclear Pioneers: EBR-I]
• [Official Website: Idaho National Laboratory]
1952 – A United States Air Force C-124 crashes and burns in Moses Lake, Washington, killing 87.
1955 – Cardiff is proclaimed the capital city of Wales, United Kingdom.
1957 – The initial production version of the Boeing 707 makes its first flight.
1967 – A Pennsylvania Railroad Budd Metroliner exceeds 249 kilometres per hour (155 mph) on their New York Division, also present-day Amtrak's Northeast Corridor.
1968 – The Zodiac Killer kills Betty Lou Jenson and David Faraday in Vallejo, California.
1971 – The international aid organization Doctors Without Borders is founded by Bernard Kouchner and a group of journalists in Paris, France.
1973 – The Prime Minister of Spain, Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco, is assassinated by a car bomb attack in Madrid.
1984 – The Summit Tunnel fire, one of the largest transportation tunnel fires in history, burns after a freight train carrying over one million liters of gasoline derails near the town of Todmorden, England, in the Pennines.
1984 – Disappearance of Jonelle Matthews from Greeley, Colorado. Her remains were discovered on July 23, 2019, located about 24 km (15 mi) southeast of Jonelle's home. The cause of death "was a gunshot wound to the head."
1985 – Pope John Paul II announces the institution of World Youth Day.
1987 – In the worst peacetime sea disaster, the passenger ferry Doña Paz sinks after colliding with the oil tanker 'MT Vector in the Tablas Strait of the Philippines, killing an estimated 4,000 people (1,749 official).
1989 – The United States invasion of Panama deposes Manuel Noriega.
• [Wikipedia: United States invasion of Panama]
• [CBS News - Panama invasion - 1989-12-20]
• [VIDEO: What Prompted The Surprise US Invasion Of Panama? | Secrets Of War | Timeline]
• [Wikipedia: War on drugs]
1991 – A Missouri court sentences the Palestinian militant Zein Isa and his wife Maria to death for the honor killing of their daughter Palestina.
1995 – NATO begins peacekeeping in Bosnia.
1995 – American Airlines Flight 965, a Boeing 757, crashes into a mountain 50 km north of Cali, Colombia, killing 159.
1999 – Macau is handed over to China by Portugal.
2004 – A gang of thieves steal £26.5 million worth of currency from the Donegall Square West headquarters of Northern Bank in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom, one of the largest bank robberies in British history.
2007 – Elizabeth II becomes the oldest monarch of the United Kingdom, surpassing Queen Victoria, who lived for 81 years and 243 days.
2007 – The Portrait of Suzanne Bloch (1904), by the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, and O Lavrador de Café by Brazilian modernist painter Cândido Portinari, are stolen from the São Paulo Museum of Art.
2018 – US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis announces his resignation after disagreements with President Donald Trump
2019 – The United States Space Force becomes the first new branch of the United States Armed Forces since 1947.
• [VIDEO - U.S. Space Force: Origins]
• [Wikipedia: United States Space Force]
• [Official Website]
• [VIDEO: What is Exactly the US Space Force]
2020 – European countries begin closing their borders to the UK after news of a faster-spreading variant of COVID-19 across London and the south-east
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Published at 4:00am on Monday, December 20, 2021
Author: Bobby Coggins
Resources used to compile the information in this article include, but are not limited to the following websites or books: MaconMedia.com, youtube.com, weather.gov, airnow.gov, wikipedia.com, onthisday.com, ncdcr.gov, ncsu.edu, utah.edu, https://www.microbe.tv/twiv/, wolfram.com, biorxiv.org, aps.org, nejm.org, plos.org, cell.com, researchsquare.com, cureus.com, spc.noaa.gov, nhc.noaa.gov, ncdenr.org, medrxiv.org, archive.org, ncpedia.org, nasa.gov, https://ww2days.com, nih.gov, carolinapublicpress.org, microbe.tv, smokymountainnews.com, psypost.org, blogspot.com, pollen.com, franklinnc.com, maconnc.org, spaceweather.com, solarham.com, loc.gov, ncleg.net, senate.gov, house.gov, whitehouse.gov, drudgereport.com, politico.com, realclearpolitics.com, ushmm.org, This Day in North Carolina History, World War II Day By Day, The Holocaust Encyclopedia, The Timetables of History, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The World History and Book of Facts (multiple years), On This Day In History: Over 4,000 facts, The NASA Archives. 60 Years in Space, This Day in North Carolina History, The Smithsonian History of Space Exploration: From the Ancient World to the Extraterrestrial Future, Spaceflight, 2nd Edition: The Complete Story from Sputnik to Curiousity, The Story of Civilization (11 volumes), The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, American History, Volume 1: 1492-1877, American History, Volume 2: 1877 - Present, A Complete Chronolgy of the Second World War. Weather and Almanac data and information sources: Sources (except where otherwise credited): heavens-above.com, Ian Webster's Github, National Centers for Environmental Prediction, The National Weather Service, National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, National Hurricane Center, Penn State University Electronic Wall Map, The State Climate Office of North Carolina, Storm Prediction Center, U.S. Naval Observatory, University of Utah Department of Atmospheric Sciences, and the Weather Prediction Center. Back to Top
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