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Monday, February 14, 2022

News and Weather Briefing for Monday, February 14, 2022



Here is an index to assist you in moving from section to section within the article.

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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

Dry high pressure will return to the region today, sliding east off the East Coast by Wednesday. A low pressure system and associated cold front will bring abundant moisture back into the area from the west during the latter part of the week. Another high pressure system builds in for the weekend.

Increased Fire Danger

Relative humidity values will be dropping below 30% again this afternoon (MOnday, Feb 14th) and winds will be picking up during the same time frame, so please use extra caution if you burn outdoors today. A firefighter suffered third degrees burns while fighting a fire on [Cowee Mountain] Saturday afternoon, so please take into consideration that your actions could put someone else at risk of injury or even death.




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Local Weather

General Forecast Through Wednesday Night



Franklin Area

Today

Sunny, with highs near 50. Winds out of the northwest 5 to 10 mph.

Tonight

Clear, with lows in the mid 20s. Calm winds.

Tuesday

Sunny, with highs in the mid 50s. Calm winds in the morning increasing to come out of the south around 5 mph in the afternoon.

Tuesday Night

Mostly clear, with lows around 30. Calm winds.

Wednesday

Partly sunny, with highs in the mid 50s.

Wednesday Night

A 40 percent chance of showers after 1am. Mostly cloudy, with lows in the low-to-mid 40s.



Highlands Plateau



Today

Sunny, with highs in the lower 40s. Winds out of the northwest 10 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.

Tonight

Clear, with lows in the mid 20s. Winds out of the northwest 5 to 10 mph.

Tuesday

Sunny, with highs in the mid 40s. Calm winds early increasing to come out of the southwest around 5 mph by midmorning.

Tuesday Night

Mostly clear, with lows around 30. Winds out of the east 3 to 7 mph.

Wednesday

A 20 percent chance of showers after 1pm. Mostly cloudy, with highs in the mid 40s.

Wednesday Night

A 50 percent chance of showers after 9pm. Mostly cloudy, with lows around 40.



Otto and South Central Macon County

Today

Sunny, with highs in the upper 40s. Winds out of the northwest 5 to 10 mph.

Tonight

Clear, with lows in the mid 20s. Light winds out of the northwest.

Tuesday

Sunny, with highs in the mid 50s. Calm winds in the morning increasing to come out of the south around 5 mph in the afternoon.

Tuesday Night

Mostly clear, with lows around freezing. Light winds out of the southeast.

Wednesday

A 20 percent chance of showers after 4pm. Partly sunny, with highs in the mid 50s.

Wednesday Night

A 40 percent chance of showers after 1am. Mostly cloudy, with lows in the mid 40s.



Nantahala Area

Today

Sunny, with highs in the lower 40s. Winds out of the northwest 5 to 10 mph.

Tonight

Clear, with lows in the mid 20s. Light and variable winds.

Tuesday

Sunny, with highs in the low-to-mid 50s. Calm winds.

Tuesday Night

Clear, with lows around freezing. Winds out of the southeast 3 to 5 mph.

Wednesday

Partly sunny, with highs in the lower 50s.

Wednesday Nigh

t A 40 percent chance of showers after 1am. Mostly cloudy, with lows in the mid 40s.







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Hazards and Tropical Weather

Hazardous weather is not expected today (Monday, Feb 14th). While, as of 4am, the National Weather Service has not issued a Fire Danger Statement, Macon Media notes that conditions are dry and relative humidty values will be low this afternoon and winds will be picking up this afternoon. Contrast this to the potential for high winds and heavy rainfall for Thursday. More about that below.

Increased Fire Danger

Relative humidity values will be dropping below 30% again this afternoon and winds will be picking up during the same time frame, so please use extra caution if you burn outdoors today. A firefighter suffered third degrees burns while fighting a fire on [Cowee Mountain] Saturday, so please take into consideration that your actions could put someone else at risk of injury or even death.



Thursday

Heavy rainfall and gusty winds may develop across the region on Thursday. Isolated flooding will be possible, especially in locations near the border between North Carolina, South Carolina, and northeast Georgia, and also along the upper reaches of the French Broad River.






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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 due to smoke from several fires in the southeast.

Fire and Smoke Map


Local Air Monitor



Pollen

Pollen levels are expected to be in the medium range (4.4 out of 12) today with Juniper, Elm, and Alder being the main culprit. Tomorrow is expected to be in the low-medium range (4.7 out of 12).




Record Weather Events for February 14th

Record weather events for this date in Macon County
(1872-2016)

Highest Temperature 79°F in Nantahala in 1976
Lowest Temperature -8°F in Highlands in in 1899
Greatest One-Day Rain 2.73 inches in Highlands in 1950
Greatest One-Day Snowfall 15.0 inches in Highlands in 1912


Record weather events for January in Macon County

Highest Temperature 79°F at the Coweeta Experimental Station on 02-28-1996
Lowest Temperature -19°F in Highlands on 02-13-1899
Greatest Rainfall 6.37 inches at the Coweeta Experimental Station on 02-13-1966
Greatest Snowfall 15.0 inches in Highlands on 02-14-1912

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)




THIS SPACE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK


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Local and State News

• 'Everything is expensive': NC families feel pinch of soaring inflation [WTVD-TV (Durham, NC)]

• Legislation could make sports gambling legal in NC [WRAL-TV (Raleigh, NC)]

• Amber Alert canceled after 3-year-old missing from Charlotte home was found, police say [Raleigh News and Observer]

• Macon County Board of Commissioners - January 2022 Regular Meeting [Macon Media]

Franklin Town Council - January 2022 Regular Meeting



Asheville Citizen-Times COVID-19 Tracker [Asheville Citizen-Times]

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National and World News Roundup

• Boomers, Silents still have most seats in Congress, though number of Millennials, Gen Xers is up slightly [Pew Research Center]

• More than 130,000 Russian troops now staged outside Ukraine [CTV News]

• B-52 bombers take off from Britain for night mission over Europe [UK Defence JOurnal]

• FBI offering $10,000 for help in finding serial bank robber nicknamed the 'Route 91 Bandit' [CNN]

• Dresden: Neo-Nazi march mars remembrance of World War II bombing [Deutsche Welle]

• Conflicts to Watch in 2022 [Council on Foreign Relations]

Morning Invest: Social Security Crisis: Say goodbye to your benefits as program runs dry



Global National: Feb. 13, 2022 | Police making progress to reopen Ambassador Bridge



NBC Nightly News Full Broadcast - February 12th, 2021



PBS NewsHour Full Episode February 13th, 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 5:13pm CET, 10 February 2022, there have been 402,044,502 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 5,770,023 deaths, reported to WHO. As of 7 February 2022, a total of 10,095,615,243 vaccine doses have been administered.
In United States of America, from 3 January 2020 to 5:13pm CET, 10 February 2022, there have been 76,448,067 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 902,189 deaths, reported to WHO. As of 4 February 2022, a total of 527,784,089 vaccine doses have been administered.

• ‘Follow the science’: As Year 3 of the pandemic begins, a simple slogan becomes a political weapon [Washington Post]

• Underdispersion in the reported Covid-19 case and death numbers may suggest data manipulations [MedRxiv]

• New Zealand authorities blast James Blunt and Baby Shark at anti-vax protesters [BBC News]

• Sweden recommends fourth COVID-19 jab for the elderly [Reuters]

• Surviving COVID-19: For some, getting the virus was just the beginning [The Spokesman-Review]

• COVID-19 Is Over (If You’re Rich) [The Atlantic]

• Monitoring COVID-19

• COVID-19 Vaccine FAQs Part I [Reddit]

• COVID-19 Vaccine FAQs Part II [Reddit]

[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

• ‘Origin’ explores the controversial science of the first Americans [Science News (Book review)]

• China’s tech giants push toward an $8 trillion metaverse opportunity — one that will be highly regulated [CNBC]

• The out-of-control rocket about to hit the moon is not a SpaceX Falcon 9, astronomers now say: report [Space]

• NFT marketplace halts transactions due to 'rampant' counterfeiting [PC Gamer]

• Artificial intelligence system rapidly predicts how two proteins will attach [MIT News]

• San Francisco 49ers hit by BlackByte ransomware attack [The Cyber Security Times]


Podcasts and Long Form Videos
Anything from educational, entertainment, history and technology

TORNADOES of 2021 - The Storm Chasers



Oh, wait, actually the best Wordle opener is not “crane”…



The Fermi Paradox: Imprisoned Planets



Elon Musk Hates Flanges - Starship Update 2022



The Crypto Bowl: Understanding The Risks With Cryptocurrency



What's REALLY Causing Millennium Tower to Sink and Tilt - Is the Developer at Fault?



1st Trucks of Methane Delivered to the Orbital Tank Farm | SpaceX Boca Chica



NSF Live: Recapping Elon's Starship update, JWST's first light, & Starlink's space weather incident



Brand New Mold-a-Matic at Glitter Hippo - Sir Henry's Haunted Trail - Lakeland Antique Mall



Living Off the Land







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On This Day

February 14th is the 45th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 320 days remain until the end of the year (321 in leap years).



Historical Events

(Please note that the Wikipedia articles often contain a bibliography and links to where you can learn more about a historical event)




748 – Abbasid Revolution: The Hashimi rebels under Abu Muslim Khorasani take Merv, capital of the Umayyad province Khorasan, marking the consolidation of the Abbasid revolt.

842 – Charles the Bald and Louis the German swear the Oaths of Strasbourg in the French and German languages.

1014 – Pope Benedict VIII crowns Henry of Bavaria, King of Germany and of Italy, as Holy Roman Emperor.

1076 – Pope Gregory VII excommunicates Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor.

1130 – The troubled 1130 papal election exposes a rift within the College of Cardinals.

1349 – Several hundred Jews are burned to death by mobs while the remaining Jews are forcibly removed from Strasbourg.

1530 – Spanish conquistadores, led by Nuño de Guzmán, overthrow and execute Tangaxuan II, the last independent monarch of the Tarascan state in present-day central Mexico.

1556 – Thomas Cranmer is declared a heretic.

1556 – Coronation of Akbar as ruler of the Mughal Empire.

1613 – Wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Frederick V of the Palatinate at Whitehall Palace, London.

1655 – The Mapuches launch coordinated attacks against the Spanish in Chile beginning the Mapuche uprising of 1655.

1778 – The United States flag is formally recognized by a foreign naval vessel for the first time, when French Admiral Toussaint-Guillaume Picquet de la Motte renders a nine gun salute to USS Ranger, commanded by John Paul Jones.

1779 – American Revolutionary War: The Battle of Kettle Creek is fought in Georgia.

1779 – James Cook is killed by Native Hawaiians near Kealakekua on the Island of Hawaii.

1797 – French Revolutionary Wars: Battle of Cape St. Vincent: John Jervis, (later 1st Earl of St Vincent) and Horatio Nelson (later 1st Viscount Nelson) lead the British Royal Navy to victory over a Spanish fleet in action near Gibraltar.

1804 – KaraÄ‘orÄ‘e leads the First Serbian Uprising against the Ottoman Empire.

1831 – Ras Marye of Yejju marches into Tigray and defeats and kills Dejazmach Sabagadis in the Battle of Debre Abbay.

1835 – The original Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, in the Latter Day Saint movement, is formed in Kirtland, Ohio.

1849 – In New York City, James Knox Polk becomes the first serving President of the United States to have his photograph taken.

1852 – Great Ormond St Hospital for Sick Children, the first hospital in England to provide in-patient beds specifically for children, is founded in London.

1855 – Texas is linked by telegraph to the rest of the United States, with the completion of a connection between New Orleans and Marshall, Texas.

1859 – Oregon is admitted as the 33rd U.S. state.

1876 – Alexander Graham Bell applies for a patent for the telephone, as does Elisha Gray.

1879 – The War of the Pacific breaks out when the Chilean Army occupies the Bolivian port city of Antofagasta.

1899 – Voting machines are approved by the U.S. Congress for use in federal elections.

1900 – The British Army begins the Battle of the Tugela Heights in an effort to lift the Siege of Ladysmith.

1903 – The United States Department of Commerce and Labor is established (later split into the Department of Commerce and the Department of Labor).

1912 – Arizona is admitted as the 48th and the last contiguous U.S. state.

1912 – The U.S. Navy commissions its first class of diesel-powered submarines.

1919 – The Polish–Soviet War begins.

1920 – The League of Women Voters is founded in Chicago.

1924 – The Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company changes its name to International Business Machines Corporation (IBM).

1929 – Saint Valentine's Day Massacre: Seven people, six of them gangster rivals of Al Capone's gang, are murdered in Chicago.

1942 – Battle of Pasir Panjang contributes to the fall of Singapore.

1943 – World War II: Rostov-on-Don, Russia is liberated.

1943 – World War II: Tunisia Campaign: General Hans-Jürgen von Arnim's Fifth Panzer Army launches a concerted attack against Allied positions in Tunisia.

1944 – World War II: In the action of 14 February 1944, a Royal Navy submarine sinks a German-controlled Italian Regia Marina submarine in the Strait of Malacca.

1945 – World War II: On the first day of the bombing of Dresden, the British Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Forces begin fire-bombing Dresden.

1945 – World War II: Navigational error leads to the mistaken bombing of Prague, Czechoslovakia by a United States Army Air Forces squadron of B-17s assisting in the Soviet Red Army's Vistula–Oder Offensive.

1945 – World War II: Mostar is liberated by Yugoslav partisans

1945 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt meets King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia aboard the USS Quincy, officially beginning U.S.-Saudi diplomatic relations.

1946 – The Bank of England is nationalized.

1949 – The Knesset (parliament of Israel) convenes for the first time.

1949 – The Asbestos Strike begins in Canada. The strike marks the beginning of the Quiet Revolution in Quebec.

1961 – Discovery of the chemical elements: Element 103, Lawrencium, is first synthesized at the University of California.

1966 – Australian currency is decimalized.

1979 – In Kabul, Setami Milli militants kidnap the American ambassador to Afghanistan, Adolph Dubs who is later killed during a gunfight between his kidnappers and police.

1983 – United American Bank of Knoxville, Tennessee collapses. Its president, Jake Butcher, is later convicted of fraud.

1988 – Hours after learning the death of his sister, US speed skater Dan Jansen falls twice and fails to win a medal in the 500-meter race in the Calgary Winter Olympics.

1989 – Union Carbide agrees to pay $470 million to the Indian government for damages it caused in the 1984 Bhopal disaster.

1989 – Iranian leader Ruhollah Khomeini issues a fatwa encouraging Muslims to kill Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses.

1990 – Ninety-two people are killed when Indian Airlines Flight 605 crashes in Bangalore, India.

1990 – The Voyager 1 spacecraft takes the photograph of planet Earth that later becomes famous as Pale Blue Dot.

1998 РAn oil tanker train collides with a freight train in Yaound̩, Cameroon, spilling fuel oil. One person scavenging the oil created a massive explosion which killed 120.

2000 – The spacecraft NEAR Shoemaker enters orbit around asteroid 433 Eros, the first spacecraft to orbit an asteroid.

2003 – Iraq disarmament crisis: UNMOVIC Executive Chairman Hans Blix reports to the United Nations Security Council that disarmament inspectors have found no weapons of mass destruction in Ba'athist Iraq.

2004 – In a suburb of Moscow, Russia, the roof of the Transvaal water park collapses, killing more than 28 people, and wounding 193 others.

2005 – In Beirut, 23 people, including former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, are killed when the equivalent of around 1,000 kg of TNT is detonated while Hariri's motorcade drives through the city.[6]

2005 – Seven people are killed and 151 wounded in a series of bombings by suspected al-Qaeda-linked militants that hit Makati, Davao City, and General Santos City, all in the Philippines.

2005 – YouTube is launched by a group of college students, eventually becoming the largest video sharing website in the world and a main source for viral videos.

2008 – Northern Illinois University shooting: A gunman opens fire in a lecture hall of Northern Illinois University in DeKalb County, Illinois, resulting in six fatalities (including the gunman) and 21 injuries.

2011 – As a part of Arab Spring, the Bahraini uprising begins with a 'Day of Rage'.

2018 – Jacob Zuma resigns as President of South Africa.

2018 – A shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida is one of the deadliest school massacres with 17 fatalities and 15 injuries.

2019 – Pulwama attack takes place in Lethpora in Pulwama district, Jammu and Kashmir, India in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force personnel and a suicide bomber were killed and 35 were injured.

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Published at 5:00am on Monday, February 14, 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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