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Hazards and Tropical Weather
Almanac
Macon Calendar
Local and StateNews
National News Roundup
COVID-19 News and Updates
Science and Technology
On This Day
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OUTLOOK
Light to moderate showers will continue across the area today into Friday. By Saturday night, a strong cold front will push into the area and move east through the weekend. Seasonally cool and dry high pressure builds in Monday through the middle of the next week.
If you are planning to atrtend an outdoor New Year's Eve celebration, take an umbrella and a weather app to keep you advised about thunderstorms.
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Local Weather
National Weather Map for Today
General forecast through Saturday Night
Franklin Area Forecast
Today
A chance of rain between 1pm and 4pm, then a chance of showers after 4pm. Patchy fog before 9am. Otherwise, partly sunny, with highs in the mid-to-upper 60s. Calm winds in the morning increasing to come out of the south around 5 mph in the afternoon. Chance of rain is 30%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.
New Year's Eve
Showers and thunderstorms likely before 10pm, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm between 10pm and 3am, then showers likely after 3am. Patchy fog. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with lows in the mid 50s. Light winds out of the south. Chance of rain is 70%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except highser amounts possible in thunderstorms.
New Year's Day
Showers, with thunderstorms also possible after 4pm. highs near 70. Light winds out of the southwest early shifting to come out of the southwest 5 to 10 mph by midmorning. Chance of rain is 80%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except highser amounts possible in thunderstorms.
Saturday Night
Showers and possibly a thunderstorm. Lows in the mid 40s. Winds out of the southwest 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain is 90%.
Sunday
Showers, mainly before 4pm. Highs in the lower 60s. Chance of rain is 80%.
Sunday Night
A chance of rain showers before 11pm, then a chance of snow showers before midnight. Mostly cloudy, with lows around 20. Chance of precipitation is 40%.
Highlands Area Forecast
Today
A 40 percent chance of rain, mainly after 2pm. Partly sunny, with highs near 60. Winds out of the northwest 5 to 10 mph in the morning increasing to come out of the southwest in the afternoon. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.
New Year's Eve
Showers likely, mainly after 7pm. Patchy fog. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with lows in the mid 50s. Winds out of the southwest 5 to 10 mph, with gusts as highs as 20 mph. Chance of rain is 70%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.
New Year's Day
Showers. highs in the low-to-mid 60s. Winds out of the southwest 10 to 15 mph, with gusts as highs as 20 mph. Chance of rain is 90%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.
Saturday Night
Showers, with thunderstorms also possible after 1am. Lows around 50. Winds out of the southwest 10 to 15 mph, with gusts as highs as 25 mph. Chance of rain is 90%.
Sunday
Showers, mainly before 4pm. highs in the mid 50s. Chance of rain is 80%.
Sunday Night
A chance of rain showers before 10pm, then a chance of snow showers after 10pm. Partly cloudy, with lows in the mid 20s. Chance of precipitation is 40%.
Otto Area Forecast
Today
A chance of rain between 11am and 4pm, then a chance of showers after 4pm. Partly sunny, with highs in the mid 60s. Calm winds in the morning increasing to come out of the south around 5 mph in the afternoon. Chance of rain is 40%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.
New Year's Eve
Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm. Patchy fog. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with lows in the mid 50s. Winds out of the south around 5 mph. Chance of rain is 70%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except highser amounts possible in thunderstorms.
New Year's Day
Showers. highs near 70. Winds out of the southwest 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain is 80%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible.
Saturday Night
Showers and possibly a thunderstorm. Lows in the upper 40s. Winds out of the southwest 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain is 90%.
Sunday
Showers, mainly before 4pm. highs near 60. Chance of rain is 80%.
Sunday Night
A 40 percent chance of showers turning to snow before midnight. Partly cloudy, with lows in the mid 20s.
Nantahala Area Forecast
Today
A slight chance of rain between 11am and 1pm, then a chance of showers after 1pm. Partly sunny, with highs in the mid 60s. Calm winds in the morning increasing to come out of the southwest around 5 mph in the afternoon. Chance of rain is 40%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.
New Year's Eve
A chance of showers and thunderstorms before 8pm, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm between 8pm and 3am, then showers after 3am. Patchy fog. Lows in the mid-to-upper 50s. Winds out of the southwest 3 to 5 mph. Chance of rain is 80%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
New Year's Day
Showers, with thunderstorms also possible after noon. highs in the mid-to-upper 60s. Winds out of the southwest 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain is 90%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except highser amounts possible in thunderstorms.
Saturday Night
Showers and possibly a thunderstorm. Lows in the upper 40s. Winds out of the southwest 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain is 90%.
Sunday
Showers, mainly before 4pm. highs in the mid 50s. Chance of rain is 80%.
Sunday Night
A chance of rain showers before 11pm, then a chance of snow showers before midnight. Mostly cloudy, with lows in the low-to-mid 20s. Chance of rain is 40%.
Hazardous Weather Outlook
A few showers and isolated thunderstorms may develop this afternoon across northeast Georgia and the Upstate, tracking into western North Carolina south of the I-40 corridor. The main threats will be cloud- to-ground lightning, locally heavy downpours and gusty winds. A storm or two may become severe, producing damaging wind gusts.
Another round of showers with embedded thunderstorms is expected Friday, with a few strong storms possible across the area.
Another dynamic storm system will cross the area over the weekend, bringing yet another round of showers and embedded thunderstorms. A few severe storms may be possible Saturday night into Sunday, with the main threat being damaging wind gusts.
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Hazards and Tropical Weather
Hazardous weather is not expected for today.
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Almanac
Air quality is in the extreme upper range of green for most of the county, with the ridges and other higher elevations today being in the extreme upper range of green.
Fire and Smoke Map
Pollen
Pollen levels are expected to be in the low-medium range (0.3 out of 12) today with Juniper being the main culprit. Tomorrow is expected to be in the low range (0.3 out of 12).
Record Weather Events for December 31st
Record weather events for this date in Macon County
(1872-2016)
Highest Temperature 78°F in Franklin in 1951 lowest Temperature 2°F at the Coweeta Experimental Station in 1983 Greatest One-Day Rainfall 4.34 inches in Highlands in 2012 Greatest One-Day Snowfall 3.0 inches in Franklin in 1963
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)
The 8th Annual NYE (New Years' Eve) Ruby Drop
It's time for the 8th Annual New Years Eve Ruby Drop on Main St. Franklin, NC. This event is hosted by Motor Company Grill and Crabtree General Store. Many Businesses will be open along Main Street offering shopping, dining, live music, and drinks! Motor Co. will be serving dinner inside, as well as heaters and corn hole (weather permitting) on the patio. [SOURCE]
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Local and State News
COVID-19 Numbers for Macon County: [November 15, 2021]
• Officials Encourage Boosters as COVID-19 Hospitalizations Rise [NCDHHS]
• NC reports highest number of new COVID-19 cases in one day [WNCT-TV (Greenville NC) ]
• Get Your Taxes Done for Free: AARP Foundation Tax-Aide Service Provided at Macon County Public Library [Macon Media]
• Asheville business owners see strong sales despite local and national concern over omicron [WLOS-TV Asheville]
• Lost Cove Fire: Rain arrives, firefighters start 'mopping up' remaining hot spots [Asheville Citizen-Times]
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National and World News Roundup
• Anatomy of a death threat (Warning: Graphic Language) [Reuters]
Hundreds of homes destroyed in Boulder County wildfires
• 'Life threatening' wildfires raze at least 600 homes, a shopping mall and a hotel to the ground in Boulder, Colorado: State of emergency declared after 'historic' December blaze sparked 30,000 to evacuate [Daily Mail]
• Fast-moving wildfires burn at least 580 homes near Denver [AXIOS]
• DOE Awards Additional Strategic Petroleum Reserve Exchange Barrels to Bolster Fuel Supply Chain [US Department of Energy]
• Epstein settlement with Giuffre to be made public, affects Prince Andrew case [Reuters]
• Satellite images show Syria port damage after alleged Israel strike [Ynet News]
• To tell stronger stories, listen rather than ‘interview’ [Poynter]
In-Depth coverage of the Marshall Fire that destroyed more than 500 homes in Colorado
NBC Nightly News Full Broadcast - December 30th, 2021
PBS NewsHour Full Episode December 30th, 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 4:14pm CET, 29 December 2021, there have been 281,808,270 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 5,411,759 deaths, reported to WHO. As of 28 December 2021, a total of 8,687,201,202 vaccine doses have been administered.
In United States of America, from 3 January 2020 to 4:14pm CET, 29 December 2021, there have been 52,543,602 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 812,577 deaths, reported to WHO. As of 23 December 2021, a total of 485,274,895 vaccine doses have been administered.
Dr John Campbell: Omicron, orientation and questions
• Emergence in Southern France of a new SARS-CoV-2 variant of probably Cameroonian origin harbouring both substitutions N501Y and E484K in the spike protein [MedRxiv (PDF)]
• Omicron is ‘not the same disease’ as previous Covid variants, Oxford University scientist says [CNBC]
• COVID-19 Infections in Nursing Homes: New Simulation Model for Optimal Prevention and Vaccination Strategies [SciTechDaily]
• Times Square show will go on despite virus surge, mayor says [AP News]
• Studies indicate J&J Covid-19 vaccine booster protects people against severe illness from Omicron variant [CNN]
• Vaccine effectiveness against hospital admission in South African health care workers who received a homologous booster of Ad26.COV2 during an Omicron COVID19 wave: Preliminary Results of the Sisonke 2 Study. [MedRxiv (PDF)]
• Monitoring COVID-19 Variants
[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]
[Outbreak.info]
• CDC Releases Emergency Guidance for Healthcare Facilities to Prepare for Potential Omicron Surge [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]
• COVID-19 case rates by county in 2021 [AXIOS]
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Science and Technology News Roundup
• Mass Food Poisoning Incident Leads Apple to Temporarily Shut Down iPhone Factory [Gizmodo]
• Scientists image atoms with record resolution close to absolute physical limits [ZME Science]
• Tesla recalls more than 475,000 US cars on technical issues [Al Jazeera]
• University loses 77TB of research data due to backup error [Bleeping Computer]
• Bitburner is an idle game about hacking that teaches real JavaScript [PC Gamer]
Tech Podcasts Challenges & Predictions for the Next 100 Years
The Biggest Science Stories Of 2021 | Answers With Joe
JWST Launches, Angara Fails, Octograbber Gets Into A Fight - Deep Space Update December 29th
• Million-Dollar Predictions [Linux Unplugged #438]
• Xcode X [Accidental Tech Podcast #462]
• Best and Worst of 2021 [Rocket #365]
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On This Day
December 31st is the 365th day of the year (366th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; It is known by a collection of names including: Saint Sylvester's Day, New Year's Eve or Old Years Day/Night, as the following day is New Year's Day. It is the last day of the year; the following day is January 1, the first day of the following year. It is also the last day of the fourth and final quarter 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)
406 – Vandals, Alans and Suebians cross the Rhine, beginning an invasion of Gaul.
535 – Byzantine general Belisarius completes the conquest of Sicily, defeating the Gothic garrison of Palermo (Panormos), and ending his consulship for the year.
870 – Battle of Englefield: The Vikings clash with ealdorman Æthelwulf of Berkshire. The invaders are driven back to Reading (East Anglia); many Danes are killed.
• [Wikipedia: Battle of Englefield]
1105 – Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV is forced to abdicate in favor of his son, Henry V, in Ingelheim.
1225 – The Lý dynasty of Vietnam ends after 216 years by the enthronement of the boy emperor Trần Thái Tông, husband of the last Lý monarch, Lý Chiêu Hoàng, starting the Trần dynasty.
1229 – James I the Conqueror, King of Aragon, enters Medina Mayurqa (now known as Palma, Spain), thus consummating the Christian reconquest of the island of Majorca.
1501 – The First Battle of Cannanore commences, seeing the first use of the naval line of battle.
1600 – The British East India Company is chartered.
1660 – James II of England is named Duke of Normandy by Louis XIV of France.
1670 – The expedition of John Narborough leaves Corral Bay, having surveyed the coast and lost four hostages to the Spanish.
1687 – The first Huguenots set sail from France to the Cape of Good Hope.
1757 – Empress Elizabeth I of Russia issues her ukase incorporating Königsberg into Russia.
1759 – Arthur Guinness signs a 9,000 year lease at £45 per annum and starts brewing Guinness.
• [Wikipedia: Guinness]
• [Arthur Guinness signed a 9000-year lease for an abandoned brewery in Dublin: Guinness is still brewed at St. James Gate]
1775 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Quebec: British forces repulse an attack by Continental Army General Richard Montgomery.
1790 – Efimeris, the oldest Greek newspaper of which issues have survived till today, is published for the first time.
1796 – The incorporation of Baltimore as a city.
1831 – Gramercy Park is deeded to New York City.
1853 – A dinner party is held inside a life-size model of an iguanodon created by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins and Sir Richard Owen in south London, England.
1857 – Queen Victoria chooses Ottawa, then a small logging town, as the capital of the Province of Canada.
1862 – American Civil War: Abraham Lincoln signs an act that admits West Virginia to the Union, thus dividing Virginia in two.
1862 – American Civil War: The Battle of Stones River begins near Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
1878 – Karl Benz, working in Mannheim, Germany, files for a patent on his first reliable two-stroke gas engine. He was granted the patent in 1879.
1879 – Thomas Edison demonstrates incandescent lighting to the public for the first time, in Menlo Park, New Jersey. 1901–present
1906 – Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar signs the Persian Constitution of 1906.
1907 – The first New Year's Eve celebration is held in Times Square (then known as Longacre Square) in Manhattan.
1942 – USS Essex, first aircraft carrier of a 24-ship class, is commissioned.
1944 – World War II: Operation Nordwind, the last major Wehrmacht offensive on the Western Front, begins.
1946 – President Harry S. Truman officially proclaims the end of hostilities in World War II.
1951 – Cold War: The Marshall Plan expires after distributing more than US$13.3 billion in foreign aid to rebuild Western Europe.
1955 – General Motors becomes the first U.S. corporation to make over US$1 billion in a year.
1956 – The Romanian Television network begins its first broadcast in Bucharest.
1961 – RTÉ, Ireland's state broadcaster, launches its first national television service.
1963 – The Central African Federation officially collapses, subsequently becoming Zambia, Malawi and Rhodesia.
1965 – Jean-Bédel Bokassa, leader of the Central African Republic army, and his military officers begin a coup d'état against the government of President David Dacko.
1968 – The first flight of the Tupolev Tu-144, the first civilian supersonic transport in the world.
1968 – MacRobertson Miller Airlines Flight 1750 crashes near Port Hedland, Western Australia, killing all 26 people on board.
1981 – A coup d'état in Ghana removes President Hilla Limann's PNP government and replaces it with the Provisional National Defence Council led by Flight lieutenant Jerry Rawlings.
1983 – The AT&T Bell System is broken up by the United States Government.
1983 – Benjamin Ward is appointed New York City Police Department's first ever African American police commissioner.
1983 – In Nigeria, a coup d'état led by Major General Muhammadu Buhari ends the Second Nigerian Republic.
1991 – All official Soviet Union institutions have ceased operations by this date, five days after the Soviet Union is officially dissolved.
1992 – Czechoslovakia is peacefully dissolved in what is dubbed by media as the Velvet Divorce, resulting in the creation of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic.
1994 – This date is skipped altogether in Kiribati as the Phoenix Islands and Line Islands change time zones from UTC−11:00 to UTC+13:00 and UTC−10:00 to UTC+14:00, respectively.
1994 – The First Chechen War: The Russian Ground Forces begin a New Year's storming of Grozny.
1998 – The European Exchange Rate Mechanism freezes the values of the legacy currencies in the Eurozone, and establishes the value of the euro currency.
1999 – The first President of Russia, Boris Yeltsin, resigns from office, leaving Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as the acting President and successor.
• [Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidency_of_Boris_Yeltsin]
• [Wikipedia Bio: Vladmir Putin]
• [Russia under Vladimir Putin]
• [From spy to president: The rise of Vladimir Putin]
• [Inside Putin's Russia -- Watch the full documentary]
1999 – The U.S. government hands control of the Panama Canal (as well all the adjacent land to the canal known as the Panama Canal Zone) to Panama. This act complied with the signing of the 1977 Torrijos–Carter Treaties.
1999 – Indian Airlines Flight 814 hijacking ends after seven days with the release of 190 survivors at Kandahar Airport, Afghanistan.
2000 – The last day of the 20th Century and 2nd Millennium.
2004 – The official opening of Taipei 101, the tallest skyscraper at that time in the world, standing at a height of 509 metres (1,670 ft).
2009 – Both a blue moon and a lunar eclipse occur.
2010 – Tornadoes touch down in midwestern and southern United States, including Washington County, Arkansas; Greater St. Louis, Sunset Hills, Missouri, Illinois, and Oklahoma, with a few tornadoes in the early hours. A total of 36 tornadoes touched down, resulting in the deaths of nine people and $113 million in damages.
2011 – Samoa and Tokelau skip the day of December 30, 2011 as they jump to the other side of the International Date Line, changing their time zones.
2011 – NASA succeeds in putting the first of two Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory satellites in orbit around the Moon.
2014 – A New Year's Eve celebration stampede in Shanghai kills at least 36 people and injures 49 others.
2015 – A fire breaks out at the Downtown Address Hotel in Downtown Dubai, United Arab Emirates, located near the Burj Khalifa, two hours before the fireworks display is due to commence. Sixteen injuries were reported; one had a heart attack, another suffered a major injury, and fourteen others with minor injuries.
2018 – Thirty-nine people are killed after a ten-story building collapses in the industrial city of Magnitogorsk, Russia.
2019 – The World Health Organization is informed of cases of pneumonia with an unknown cause, detected in Wuhan. This later turned out to be COVID-19, the cause of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• [Nature: A pneumonia outbreak associated with a new coronavirus of probable bat origin]
• [COVID-19 - China]
2020 – The World Health Organization's issues its first emergency use validation for a COVID-19 vaccine.
• [World Health Organization]
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Published at 5:00am on Friday, December 31, 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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