Here is an index to assist you in moving from section to section within the article.
Back to Top
Weather
Hazards and Tropical Weather
Almanac
Macon Calendar
Local and StateNews
Special Section: The Situation in Ukraine as of February 20, 2022
National News Roundup
COVID-19 News and Updates
Science and Technology
On This Day
Support Macon Media
OUTLOOK
Dry high pressure will control the weather pattern over the weekend. Unsettled weather enters the area by early next week and continues through much of the week with a stalled boundary setting up shop over the region. Rain chances will be in store every day during the new work week.
.FIRE WEATHER FOR SUNDAY, FEB 20th.
... A very dry air mass will remain in place across the area through today. While temperatures southeast of the mountains are expected to be several degrees cooler than on Saturday, surface dewpoints are also expected to be lower, and minimum relative humidity in the 15 to 25% range is expected for several hours this afternoon. While winds will be less than 10 mph, 10-hour fuels continue to lower quickly in response to the dry air. These ingredients are sufficient to warrant a Fire Danger Statement for all counties in northeast GA except for Rabun...
---BEGIN SPONSOR SEGMENT---
Weather Sponsor
Adams Products, a Division of Oldcastle is underwriting the daily weather briefing & public safety updates for the month.
Open 7:30 AM to 4:00 PM, M-F, located at 895 Hickory Knoll Road, Franklin, NC. Visit our Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/Adams.Oldcastle.Franklin.NC
All your masonry needs are available. Our phone number is 828.524.8545, the public is welcome, we’ll help you with your next project.
---END SPONSOR SEGMENT------
Back to Top
Local Weather
General Forecast Through Tuesday Night
Franklin Area
Today
Sunny, with highs in the mid 50s. Calm winds in the morning increasing to come out of the southeast around 5 mph in the afternoon.
Tonight
Mostly clear, with lows around 30. Calm winds.
Washington's Birthday
A 30 percent chance of showers, mainly after 5pm. Partly sunny, with highs near 60. Calm winds in the morning increasing to come out of the south 5 to 10 mph in the afternoon. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.
Monday Night
Showers likely, mainly after 9pm. Cloudy, with lows in the mid 40. Winds out of the south around 5 mph becoming calm before midnight. Chance of rain is 70%.
Tuesday
Showers likely. Cloudy, with highs in the mid 60s. Chance of rain is 70%.
Tuesday Night
Showers. Low in the low-to-mid 50s. Chance of rain is 80%.
Highlands Plateau
Today
Sunny, with highs in the mid 40s. Calm winds in the morning increasing to come out of the south around 5 mph in the afternoon.
Tonight
Partly cloudy, with lows around 30. Winds out of the south 3 to 5 mph.
Washington's Birthday
A 30 percent chance of showers, mainly after 3pm. Partly sunny, with highs near 50. Light and variable winds in the morning increasing to come out of the south around 5 mph by midmorning. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.
Monday Night
Showers likely, mainly after 8pm. Cloudy, with lows in the low-to-mid 40s. Winds out of the southeast 3 to 7 mph. Chance of rain is 70%.
Tuesday
Showers likely. Cloudy, with highs in the mid 50s. Chance of rain is 70%.
Tuesday Night
Showers. Low around 50. Chance of rain is 80%.
Otto and South Central Macon County
Today
Sunny, with highs in the low-to-mid 50s. Calm winds in the morning increasing to come out of the southeast around 5 mph in the afternoon.
Tonight
Partly cloudy, with lows around freezing. Calm winds.
Washington's Birthday
A 30 percent chance of showers, mainly after 3pm. Partly sunny, with highs in the upper 50s. Calm winds in the morning increasing to come out of the south 5 to 10 mph in the afternoon. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.
Monday Night
Showers likely, mainly after 8pm. Cloudy, with lows in the mid 40s. Light winds out of the southeast. Chance of rain is 70%.
Tuesday
Showers likely. Cloudy, with highs in the low-to-mid 60s. Chance of rain is 70%.
Tuesday Night
Showers. Low in the low-to-mid 50s. Chance of rain is 80%.
Nantahala Area
Today
Sunny, with highs in the lower 50s. Calm winds in the morning increasing to come out of the southwest around 5 mph in the afternoon.
Tonight
Partly cloudy, with lows in the mid 30s. Calm winds.
Washington's Birthday
A 30 percent chance of showers, mainly after 4pm. Partly 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. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.
Monday Night
Showers, mainly after 9pm. Lows in the upper 40s. Winds out of the southeast around 5 mph. Chance of rain is 80%.
Tuesday
Showers. Highs near 60. Chance of rain is 80%.
Tuesday Night
Showers. Low around 54. Chance of rain is 90%.
Back to Top
Hazards and Tropical Weather
Hazardous weather is not expected today.
.FIRE WEATHER FOR SUNDAY, FEB 20th.
... A very dry air mass will remain in place across the area through today. While temperatures southeast of the mountains are expected to be several degrees cooler than on Saturday, surface dewpoints are also expected to be lower, and minimum relative humidity in the 15 to 25% range is expected for several hours this afternoon. While winds will be less than 10 mph, 10-hour fuels continue to lower quickly in response to the dry air. These ingredients are sufficient to warrant a Fire Danger Statement for all counties in northeast GA except for Rabun...
Back to Top
Almanac
Air quality is in the middle range of green for most of the county, with the ridges and other higher elevations today being in the upper range of green due to smoke from several fires in the southeast.
Fire and Smoke Map
Pollen
Pollen levels are expected to be in the medium range (6.5 out of 12) today with Juniper, Elm, and Alder being the main culprits. Tomorrow is expected to be in the medium range (6.9 out of 12).
Record Weather Events for February 20th
Record weather events for this date in Macon County
(1872-2016)
Highest Temperature 77°F in Franklin in 1994
Lowest Temperature -6°F in Highlands in 2015
Greatest One-Day Rain 3.140 inches at the Coweeta Experimental Station in 1954
Greatest One-Day Snowfall 0.6 inches in Franklin in 1940
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
Back to Top
Macon Calendar
(send your event to calendar@maconmedia.com)
THIS SPACE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK
Back to Top
Local and State News
• Sticker shock: 80% of car buyers now paying above suggested retail price [WRAL-TV (Raleigh, NC)]
• After tragic plane crash, resilient NC coastal residents lean on each other, as always [Raleigh News and Observer]
• Word from the Smokies: African American project is making the invisible visible [SOURCE]
• Public debris removal in Haywood Co. complete; 80K cubic yards of debris removed [WLOS-TV (Asheville, NC)]
• No endings, only new beginnings [Smoky Mountain News]
• ‘Extremely disappointed’: New 40-ton arches collapse onto bridge in downtown Hickory [WSOC-TV (Charlotte, NC)]
Franklin Town Council - January 2022 Regular Meeting
Asheville Citizen-Times COVID-19 Tracker [Asheville Citizen-Times]
Back to Top
Special Section: The Situation in Ukraine as of February 16, 2022
This section starts with video essays on the Ukraine-Russia situation
What’s Going on in Ukraine?
Why Germany won't help Ukraine
What Will Actually Happen if Russia Invades Ukraine
Why Russia wants to restore the Soviet borders (July 2021)
Inside Putin's Russia -- Watch the full documentary (July 2017)
Russia Expert: Putin’s Acts Are A Classic Play From A Dictator’s Playbook
Ukraine rebels declare mobilisation as Joe Biden warns of Russian invasion - BBC News
Ukraine President Zelenskyy delivers impassioned speech at MSC 2022 | DW News
Boris Johnson's speech at the Munich Security Conference: 19 February 2022
Munich Security Conference 2022 - Day 1 | DW News
Munich Security Conference 2022 - Day 2 | DW News
Fore more on the Munich Security Conference, visit their website [LINK]
Putin’s Poker: Everybody loses? | To the point
• Tensions Boil Over In East Ukraine As Attacks Turn Deadly [NBC News on Youtube]
• Latest Ukraine updates: Ukraine Europe’s ‘shield’ against Russia [Al Jazeera: Ukraine-Russia Cris Coverage]
• Why Ukraine Matters: What to Know About the Crisis With Russia [New York Times]
• Why Donbas is at the heart of the Ukraine crisis [CNN]
Back to Top
National and World News Roundup
• Putin launches nuclear drills as U.S. says Russia poised to invade Ukraine [Reuters]
• U.S. Warns of Imminent Russian Invasion of Ukraine With Tanks, Jet Fighters, Cyberattacks [Wall Street Journal]
• Ukraine: Russia plans biggest war in Europe since 1945 - Boris Johnson [BBC News]
• Ottawa: police use pepper spray and stun grenades to clear trucker protest [The Guardian]
• Who Is Behind QAnon? Linguistic Detectives Find Fingerprints [Washington Post]
• Jean-Luc Brunel: Jeffrey Epstein associate is found dead in French prison [SOURCE]
• ‘Freedom Convoy’ leader says he just wants to go home after spending night in jail [Ottawa Citizen]
• ‘Serious safety incident’: Australian Defence Force says Chinese ship shone laser at RAAF aircraft [the Guardian]
• Tanzania, siding with UAE firm, plans to evict Maasai from ancestral lands [Mongabay]
• Conflicts to Watch in 2022 [Council on Foreign Relations]
Global National: Feb. 19, 2022 | Police, protesters face off in Ottawa for 2nd day
NBC Nightly News Full Broadcast - February 19th, 2021
PBS NewsHour Full Episode February 19th, 2021
Back to Top
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.
• President Biden Notifies US House and US Senate it is Necessary to Continue the National Emergency Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic [Macon Media]
• Variant: 21L (Omicron) also known as BA.2[CoVariants]
• Metabolic rewiring and serotonin depletion in patients with postacute sequelae of COVID-19 [Allergy: The European Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology]
• If restrictions and mandates are being lifted, thank the silent majority that got vaccinated [the Globe and Daily Mail]
• COVID Won’t End Up Like the Flu. It Will Be Like Smoking. [The Atlantic]
TWiV 868: COVID-19 clinical update #102 with Dr. Daniel Griffin
In COVID-19 clinical update #102, Daniel Griffin reviews children and COVID, effectiveness of maternal vaccination, vaccines for immunocompromised, primary care physicians and vaccination rates, booster safety among adults, placentitis, azithromycin, oral Nirmatrelvir, Omicron antibody evasion, EUA for bebtelovimab, IL-1 blocking agents, thromboprophylaxis, effectiveness of vaccines against long COVID, and risks of mental health outcomes. Show notes at [Microbe TV]
• COVID-19-related Smell and Taste Impairment with Widespread Diffusion of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant [MedRxiv (PDF)]
• Efficacy of Ivermectin Treatment on Disease Progression Among Adults With Mild to Moderate COVID-19 and Comorbidities [JAMA Network]
• Effectiveness of ivermectin-based multidrug therapy in severely hypoxic, ambulatory COVID-19 patients [Future Medicine]
• Covid-19: Vaccinated people are less likely to get long covid, review finds [The BMJ]
• Genomic epidemiology of novel coronavirus - Global subsampling [Next Strain]
• 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]
• Variant: 21L (Omicron) also known as BA.2[CoVariants]
Back to Top
Science and Technology News Roundup
• Meta Announces New Restrictions on the Creation and Use of Profile Image Frames on Facebook [Social Media Today]
• Wind farms were paid not to generate half their potential electricity [Yahoo! News]
• 5 shady battery tricks smartphone brands got caught doing [Android Authority]
• Who Is Behind QAnon? Linguistic Detectives Find Fingerprints [New York Times]
• Ctrl+Alt+Delete: AMD’s new chip will make budget gaming laptops obsolete [Trusted Reviews]
• How Facebook twisted Canada’s trucker convoy into an international movement [The verge]
• Ford Wants to Beat Tesla at Its Own Game [Miami HeraldE]
• Zuckerberg Has Burned $500 Billion Turning Facebook to Meta [New York Magazine Intelligencer]
• How Bezos stacks up against other tech titans in super-yacht size race [New York Post]
Podcasts and Long Form Videos
Anything from educational, entertainment, history, current events and technology
Fall of Civilizations Podcast: 14. Vijayanagara - The Last Emperors of South India
The Engineers Who Died To Keep The Titanic's Lights On | Saving The Titanic | Timeline
What Was The Earth Like 1 Billion Years Ago?
The Next Step...
FliteTest: Our DIY Star Wars Pod Racer Takes Flight - Week 6
China's Five Year plan to conquer space! Space Planes, resusability, Moon Bases...can we compete?
SpaceX Polaris Missions Announced, New Starship Fully Stacked and FAA delay
The Insane Engineering of the Parker Solar Probe
Quantum State of the Union
How To Safely Erase a Hard Drive
The Unidentified: Are we alone in the universe? | Under Investigation
Back to Top
On This Day
February 20th is the 51st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 314 days remain until the end of the year (315 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)
1339 – The Milanese army and the St. George's (San Giorgio) Mercenaries of Lodrisio Visconti clash in the Battle of Parabiago; Visconti is defeated.
1472 – Orkney and Shetland are pawned by Norway to Scotland in lieu of a dowry for Margaret of Denmark.
1521 – Juan Ponce de Leon sets out from Spain for Florida with about 200 prospective colonists.
1547 – Edward VI of England is crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey.
1685 – René-Robert Cavelier establishes Fort St. Louis at Matagorda Bay thus forming the basis for France's claim to Texas.
1792 – The Postal Service Act, establishing the United States Post Office Department, is signed by United States President George Washington.
1798 – Louis-Alexandre Berthier removes Pope Pius VI from power.
1813 – Manuel Belgrano defeats the royalist army of Pío de Tristán during the Battle of Salta.
1816 – Rossini's opera The Barber of Seville premieres at the Teatro Argentina in Rome.
1835 – The 1835 Concepción earthquake destroys Concepción, Chile.
1846 – Polish insurgents lead an uprising in Kraków to incite a fight for national independence.
1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Olustee: The largest battle fought in Florida during the war.
1865 – End of the Uruguayan War, with a peace agreement between President Tomás Villalba and rebel leader Venancio Flores, setting the scene for the destructive War of the Triple Alliance.
1872 – The Metropolitan Museum of Art opens in New York City.
1877 – Tchaikovsky's ballet Swan Lake receives its premiere at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.
1901 – The legislature of Hawaii Territory convenes for the first time.
1905 – The U.S. Supreme Court upholds the constitutionality of Massachusetts's mandatory smallpox vaccination program in Jacobson v. Massachusetts.
1909 – Publication of the Futurist Manifesto in the French journal Le Figaro.
1913 – King O'Malley drives in the first survey peg to mark commencement of work on the construction of Canberra.
1920 – An earthquake kills between 114 and 130 in Georgia and heavily damages the town of Gori.
1931 – The U.S. Congress approves the construction of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge by the state of California.
1931 – An anarchist uprising in Encarnación briefly transforms the city into a revolutionary commune.
1933 – The U.S. Congress approves the Blaine Act to repeal federal Prohibition in the United States, sending the Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution to state ratifying conventions for approval.
1933 – Adolf Hitler secretly meets with German industrialists to arrange for financing of the Nazi Party's upcoming election campaign.
1935 – Caroline Mikkelsen becomes the first woman to set foot in Antarctica.
1942 – Lieutenant Edward O'Hare becomes America's first World War II flying ace.
1943 – American movie studio executives agree to allow the Office of War Information to censor movies.
1943 – The Saturday Evening Post publishes the first of Norman Rockwell's Four Freedoms in support of United States President Franklin Roosevelt's 1941 State of the Union address theme of Four Freedoms.
1944 – World War II: The "Big Week" began with American bomber raids on German aircraft manufacturing centers.
1944 – World War II: The United States takes Eniwetok Atoll.
1952 – Emmett Ashford becomes the first African-American umpire in organized baseball by being authorized to be a substitute umpire in the Southwestern International League.
1956 – The United States Merchant Marine Academy becomes a permanent Service Academy.
1959 – The Avro Arrow program to design and manufacture supersonic jet fighters in Canada is cancelled by the Diefenbaker government amid much political debate.
1962 – Mercury program: While aboard Friendship 7, John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the Earth, making three orbits in four hours, 55 minutes.
1965 – Ranger 8 crashes into the Moon after a successful mission of photographing possible landing sites for the Apollo program astronauts.
1968 – The China Academy of Space Technology, China's main arm for the research, development, and creation of space satellites, is established in Beijing.
1971 – The United States Emergency Broadcast System is accidentally activated in an erroneous national alert.
1979 – An earthquake cracks open the Sinila volcanic crater on the Dieng Plateau, releasing poisonous H2S gas and killing 149 villagers in the Indonesian province of Central Java.
1986 – The Soviet Union launches its Mir spacecraft. Remaining in orbit for 15 years, it is occupied for ten of those years.
1988 – The Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast votes to secede from Azerbaijan and join Armenia, triggering the First Nagorno-Karabakh War.
1991 – In the Albanian capital Tirana, a gigantic statue of Albania's long-time leader, Enver Hoxha, is brought down by mobs of angry protesters.
1998 – American figure skater Tara Lipinski, at the age of 15, becomes the youngest Olympic figure skating gold-medalist at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.
2003 – During a Great White concert in West Warwick, Rhode Island, a pyrotechnics display sets the Station nightclub ablaze, killing 100 and injuring over 200 others.
2005 – Spain becomes the first country to vote in a referendum on ratification of the proposed Constitution of the European Union, passing it by a substantial margin, but on a low turnout.
2009 – Two Tamil Tigers aircraft packed with C4 explosives en route to the national airforce headquarters are shot down by the Sri Lankan military before reaching their target, in a kamikaze style attack.
2010 – In Madeira Island, Portugal, heavy rain causes floods and mudslides, resulting in at least 43 deaths, in the worst disaster in the history of the archipelago.
2014 – Dozens of Euromaidan anti-government protesters died in Ukraine's capital Kyiv, many reportedly killed by snipers.
2015 – Two trains collide in the Swiss town of Rafz resulting in as many as 49 people injured and Swiss Federal Railways cancelling some services.
2016 – Six people are killed and two injured in multiple shooting incidents in Kalamazoo County, Michigan.
Back to Top
Support Macon Media
If you receive value from what Macon Media provides to the community, please consider becoming a supporter and contribute at least a dollar a month. Those who support Macon Media with at least a dollar a month receive early access to video of some events and meetings before they are made public on the website. Videos and news involving public safety are not subject to early access.
Or, if you prefer Pay Pal, try PayPal.me/MaconMedia
Published at 5:00am on Sunday, February 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
Posts
0 comments :
Post a Comment