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Weather
Hazards and Tropical Weather
Almanac
Macon Calendar
Local and StateNews
Russo-UKrainian War Updates
National News Roundup
COVID-19 News and Updates
Science and Technology
Russo-Ukrainian War Videos (mostly long form)
On This Day
Support Macon Media
GENERAL OUTLOOK
Surface high pressure will build into the region from the west today. Dry conditions and a warming trend are expected most of the rest of the week. A low pressure system approaching from the west on Friday will increase rain chances through Saturday. Dry conditions return on New Years Day and last through Monday.
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Local Weather
General Forecast Through Thursday Night
Franklin Area
Today
Sunny, with highs in the mid-40s. Calm winds.
Tonight
Mostly clear, with lows in the low-to-mid 20s. Calm winds.
Wednesday
Sunny, with highs in the low-to-mid 50s. Light and cariable winds.
Wednesday Night
Mostly clear, with lows in the upper 20s. Calm winds.
Thursday
Sunny, with highs near 60.
Thursday Night
Mostly clear, with lows in the mid 30s.
Highlands Plateau
Today
Sunny, with highs in the mid-to-upper 30s. Winds out of the northwest around 5 mph early in the morning becoming calm by midmorning.
Tonight
Mostly clear, with lows in the low-to-mid 20s. Light winds out of the west.
Wednesday
Sunny, with highs in the mid 40s. Winds out of the west around 5 mph becoming light and variable in the afternoon.
Wednesday Night
Mostly clear, with lows in the mid-to-upper 20s. Light winds out of the west.
Thursday
Sunny, with highs near 50.
Thursday Night
Mostly clear, with lows around freezing.
Otto and South Central Macon County
Today
Sunny, with highs in the mid 40s. Light and cariable winds.
Tonight
Clear, with lows in the mid 20s. Calm winds.
Wednesday
Sunny, with highs in the lower 50s. Calm winds in the morning increasing to come out of the southwest around 5 mph by noon.
Wednesday Night
Mostly clear, with lows around 30. Calm winds.
Thursday
Sunny, with highs in the upper 50s.
Thursday Night
Mostly clear, with lows in the mid 30s.
Nantahala Area
Today
Sunny, with highs in the lower 40s. Calm winds.
Tonight
Mostly clear, with lows in the mid 20s. Calm winds.
Wednesday
Sunny, with highs near 50. Light winds out of the south.
Wednesday Night
Mostly clear, with lows around 30. Calm winds.
Thursday
Sunny, with highs in the mid 50s.
Thursday Night
Mostly clear, with lows in the mid 30s.
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Hazards and Tropical Weather
...BLACK ICE POSSIBLE THIS MORNING ACROSS THE SOUTHWEST NORTH CAROLINA MOUNTAINS AND PORTIONS OF NORTHEAST GEORGIA...
With light snow accumulations overnight and below freezing temperatures lasting through mid-morning, black ice formation is possible across the southwest North Carolina mountains as well as Rabun and Habersham Counties in northeast Georgia. With sunny skies and temperatures warming above freezing after 10 AM, any black ice that forms should melt. Use caution if traveling this morning, especially on bridges.
Latest US Drought Monitor Map for North Carolina.
Back to Top TROPICAL WEATHER OUTLOOK
• Damaging 2022 Atlantic hurricane season draws to a close [National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration]
• Atlantic hurricane season ends with 14 named storms [AP News]
Tropical Weather Outlook
NWS National Hurricane Center Miami FL
700 PM EST Wed Nov 30 2022
For the North Atlantic...Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico:
Tropical cyclone formation is not expected during the next 5 days.
This is the last regularly scheduled Tropical Weather Outlook of the 2022 Atlantic Hurricane Season. Routine issuance of the Tropical Weather Outlook will resume on May 15, 2023. During the off-season, Special Tropical Weather Outlooks will be issued as conditions warrant.
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Almanac
24 Hour Smoke Forecast
No known appreciable smoke field will be crossing Macon County today or tonight.
PM2.5 AQI is 45 (GOOD) for most of the county, and the ridges and other higher elevations PM2.5 AQI is 45 (GOOD)
Fire and Smoke Map
Local Air Monitor
Pollen
Pollen levels are expected to be in the low range (0.3 out of 12) today with Juniper being the main culprit. Tomorrow is expected to be in the low range (0.1 out of 12).
Record Weather Events for December 27th
Record weather events for this date in Macon County
(1872-2016)
Highest Temperature 75°F at the Coweeta Experimental Station in 2015
Lowest Temperature 0°F at the Coweeta Experimental Station in 1983
Greatest One-Day Rainfall 1.99 inches at the Coweeta Experimental Station in 1973
Greatest One-Day Snowfall 2.4 inches in Highlands in 1997
Weather Extremes for Macon County for the month of December Data available from 1872
Highest Temperature 78°F in Franklin on 12-31-1951
Lowest Temperature -12°F in Highlands on 12-30-1917
Greatest Rainfall 6.25 inches in Highlands on 12-28-2018
Greatest Snowfall 12.0 inches in Franklin on 12-21-1876
Record Weather Events for December 27th in North Carolina
Highest Temperature 79°F in Cedar Island, Carteret County in 2015
Lowest Temperature -7°F in Oconaluftee, Swain County in 1983
Greatest Rainfall 7.67 inches at the Lake Toxaway, Transylvania County in 2015
Greatest Snowfall 10.00 inches in Mount Mitchell, Yancey County in 2012
Weather Extremes for North Carolina for the month of December Data available from 1872
Highest Temperature 87°F in Edenton, Chowan County on 12-03-1922
Lowest Temperature -21°F in Banner Elk, Avery County on 12-30-1917
Greatest Rainfall 7.80 inches in Lake Toxaway, Transylvania County on 12-29-2018
Greatest Snowfall 25.00 in Mount Mitchell, Yancey County on 12-09-2017
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Macon Calendar
(send your event to calendar@maconmedia.com)
No events have been submitted for Macon Calendar.
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Local and State News
• Gas prices continue downward trend as holiday travel season winds down [WLOS-TV (Asheville, NC)]
• No more rolling blackouts, Duke Energy says, amid criticism from Gov. Roy Cooper [Raleigh News and Observer]
• How they voted: North Carolina congressional votes for the week ending Dec. 22 [WRAL-TV (Raleigh, NC)]
• Brick sales to help Bryson Park [Sylva Herald and Ruralite]
• North Carolina pharma companies on the frontlines of RSV fight [BPR]
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Special Section: The Russo-Ukrainian War
(sharing of a particular source is not an endorsement)
• Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, December 26 [Institute for the Study of War] [PDF for December 26th]
• Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 307 [Al Jazeera]
• LIVEBLOG: Day 307 of Russian aggression against Ukraine [TVP World]
• Russo-Ukrainian War. Day 306: Air base hit in Russia 600 km behind the lines once again [Euromaiden Press]
Ukraine is Advancing in Luhansk, Taliban "Official" Targeted by IS-K | Funker 530 Veteran Community
2022 in review: A year of conflict in Ukraine | Al Jazeera
Timothy Snyder: Making of Modern Ukraine (23 Lectures) | Yale Courses
• Class Syllabus ["The Making of Modern Ukraine," Fall 2022]
• Ukrainian Drone Attack on Russian Air Base Kills Three, Moscow Says [WSJ (video and audio)] [WSJ (article archive)]
• Photos: The year in Ukraine, month by month [Al Jazeera]
• Russia's Ukraine war based on 'a disastrous miscalculation' [DW News]
• Ukraine war: Five ways conflict could go in 2023 [BBC News]
• ‘Tearing ourselves away’: Ukrainians break with Russian Orthodox Christmas tradition [France 24]
• Russia-Ukraine War: With More Strikes in Russia, Ukraine Makes Calculation Moscow Has Reached Limit, Analysts Say[New York Times]
News from Russian or pro-Russian outlets or Video About the Russian Perspective
• Putin speaks about ‘threats’ to ex-Soviet states [Russia Today]
The rise of Vladimir Putin | DW Documentary
• Putin makes it clear what will be left of Ukraine after special operation ends [Pravda]
• US, NATO seeking Russia’s defeat on battlefield — Lavrov [TASS]
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National and World News Roundup
• Elon Musk says around 100 Starlinks now active in Iran [NASDAQ]
• Hardliner Clerics In Iran Demand More Executions, Amputations [Iran International]
• Data Analysis of the Mahsa Amini Protest Movement Understanding War] [PDF of Report]
• ‘A sea change’: Biden reverses decades of Chinese trade policy [Politico]
• China Sends Wave of Warplanes Near Taiwan [WSJ (video and audio)] [WSJ]
Over 70 Chinese warplanes cross Taiwan median in biggest incursion so far | DW News
• 4th Washington state electrical substation vandalized [AP News]
• Jan. 6 report says Trump floated plan for 10,000 troops to protect him - recap of findings [USA TODAY via YAhoo! News]
• Russian meat magnate who criticised Putin’s war dies after hotel fall [The Age]
• Kosovo: Serbia puts troops on high alert over rising tensions [BBC News]
• Big Nonprofit Hospitals Expand in Wealthier Areas, Shun Poorer Ones [Wall Street Journal]
• U.S. SEC votes to advance stock market overhaul proposals [SOURCE]
• Grand Prairie maintenance worker checking pipes killed by person who thought he was a burglar, police say [KDFW-TV (Dallas-Fort Worth, TC)]
Global National: Dec. 26, 2022 | Thousands in Ontario go another day without electricity
Nightly News Full Broadcast (December 26th)
PBS NewsHour full episode, December 26, 2022
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COVID-19 News and Updates
Here is a section on COVID-19. It includes local, regional, state, national, and global items.
COVID-19 Numbers for Macon County:
• WHO Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dashboard [World Health Organization]
In United States of America, from 3 January 2020 to 4:54pm CET, 23 December 2022, there have been 99,027,628 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 1,080,010 deaths, reported to WHO. As of 2 December 2022, a total of 647,345,101 vaccine doses have been administered.
Globally, as of 4:54pm CET, 23 December 2022, there have been 651,918,402 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 6,656,601 deaths, reported to WHO. As of 13 December 2022, a total of 13,008,560,983 vaccine doses have been administered.
• The Last Holdouts: What it’s like to wear masks for Covid when most others have long since moved on. [New York Times]
• Top German virologist says COVID-19 pandemic is over [DW News]
• US public health officials brace for possible Covid-19 surge after holidays [The Guardian]
• Long COVID: What scientists have learned about the symptoms affecting millions around the world [CBS News]
• Is ‘Long Covid’ similar to ‘Long SARS’? [Oxford Open Immunology, Volume 3, Issue 1, 2022, iqac002]
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Science and Technology News Roundup
• Insect protein maker to build second US facility [Food Business News]
• Illegal desi call centres behind $10 billion loss to Americans in 2022 [Times of India]
• A Software Glitch Forced the Webb Space Telescope Into Safe Mode [Gizmodo]
• Google declares a ‘Code Red’ to build a rival for ChatGPT [Android Headlines]
• Emails reveal Sam Bankman-Fried’s courtship of federal regulators [Los Angeles Times]
• 73-year-old pays $370/month to live in a plane he bought for $100,000 from a salvage yard: ‘I have no regrets’ [CNBC]
• ‘It’s hard to say goodbye.’ Quake-sensing lander dies on Mars [Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science)]
• Hotels are turning to automation to cope with unfilled positions [TechSpot]
• FTX execs hid $8 billion in liabilities in a customer account that Bankman-Fried referred to as 'our Korean friend's account,' CFTC prosecutors allege [Business Insider]
• AI Is Now Essential National Infrastructure [Wired]
Semi-permanent links
• Fall of Civilizations #16. Bagan - City of Temples [Fall of Civilizations Podcast]
• 25 tips to help you prepare for the 2024 total solar eclipse [Astronomy Magazine]
• Neal Stephenson’s Lamina1 drops white paper on building the open metaverse [Venture Beat] [PDF of White paper]
• Yes, the Great Books Make Us Better People [New York Times]
Podcasts and Long Form Videos (History, Culture, Science, Space, Technology and Current Events)
Anything covering educational, entertainment, history, current events, and technology topics
The Level1 Show December 23 2022: Artificial Indifference (About Your Channel) | Level1Techs
Google Calls A Code Red Over ChatGPT - DTNS 4421 | Daily Tech News Show
Does it Snow On Other Planets? | Scott Manly
Actual Apollo Engineer Explains the Saturn 5 Rocket | Smarter Every Day 280
Why there are new assessments of Oppenheimer's role in history | PBS NewsHour
The Soviet Biological Weapons Program | Asianometry
SpaceX Raptor Vacuum RUDs During Test Fire | NASASpaceflight
2022 Tuxies - LINUX Unplugged 490 | Jupiter Broadcasting
Postal Industry Exposed (AirTag Investigation) | MegaLag205K subscribers
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Russo-Ukrainian War Videos (mostly long form)
--> The rise of Vladimir Putin | DW Documentary
Car bomb in Melitopol and comparing Churchill and Zelenksy | Ukraine: The Latest | The Telegraph Podcast
Naval Drones: Analyzing Ukraine's Devastating New Weapon | Warographics
Ukrainian drone wreckage kills three Russians at military base | Al Jazeera
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On This Day
December 27th is the 361st day of the year (362nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; four days remain until the end of the year.
Historical Events
Historical Events
(Please note that the Wikipedia articles often contain a bibliography and links to where you can learn more about a historical event)
537 – The construction of the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople is completed.
1512 – The Spanish Crown issues the Laws of Burgos, governing the conduct of settlers with regard to native Indians in the New World.
1521 – The Zwickau prophets arrive in Wittenberg, disturbing the peace and preaching the Apocalypse.
• [Wikipedia: Zwickau prophets]
• [Wikipedia: Radical Reformation]
• [CHURCH HISTORY | Class #59: Zwickau Prophets and Luther's Sacralism]
1655 – Second Northern War/the Deluge: Monks at the Jasna Góra Monastery in Częstochowa are successful in fending off a month-long siege.
1657 – The Flushing Remonstrance articulates for the first time in North American history that freedom of religion is a fundamental right.
1703 – Portugal and England sign the Methuen Treaty which gives preference to Portuguese imported wines into England.
1814 – War of 1812: The American schooner USS Carolina is destroyed. It was the last of Commodore Daniel Patterson's makeshift fleet that fought a series of delaying actions that contributed to Andrew Jackson's victory at the Battle of New Orleans.
• [Wikipedia: USS Carolina (1812)]
• [A Discussion on the USS Carolina and Crew]
• [Wikipedia: War of 1812]
1831 – Charles Darwin embarks on his journey aboard HMS Beagle, during which he will begin to formulate his theory of evolution.
1836 – The worst ever avalanche in England occurs at Lewes, Sussex, killing eight people.
1845 – Ether anesthetic is used for childbirth for the first time by Dr. Crawford Long in Jefferson, Georgia.
1845 – Journalist John L. O'Sullivan, writing in his newspaper the New York Morning News, argues that the USA had the right to claim the entire Oregon Country "by the right of our manifest destiny".
• [Wikipedia: Manifest destiny]
• [VIDEO: Manifest Destiny Explained]
• [HistoryPod]
• [Wikipedia Bio: John L. O'Sullivan]
1911 – "Jana Gana Mana", the national anthem of India, is first sung in the Calcutta Session of the Indian National Congress.
1918 – The Great Poland Uprising against the Germans begins.
1918 – Ukrainian War of Independence: The Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine occupies Yekaterinoslav and seizes 7 airplanes from the UPRAF, establishing an Insurgent Air Fleet.
1922 – Japanese aircraft carrier Hōshō becomes the first purpose built aircraft carrier to be commissioned in the world.
1927 – Kern and Hammerstein's musical play Show Boat, considered to be the first true American musical play, opens at the Ziegfeld Theatre on Broadway.
1929 – Soviet General Secretary Joseph Stalin orders the "liquidation of the kulaks as a class".
1932 – Radio City Music Hall, "Showplace of the Nation", opens in New York City.
1935 – Regina Jonas is ordained as the first female rabbi in the history of Judaism.
1939 – The 7.8 Mw Erzincan earthquake shakes eastern Turkey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme). At least 32,700 people were killed.
1939 – Winter War: Finland holds off a Soviet attack in the Battle of Kelja.
• [Wikipedia: Battle of Kelja]
• [Wikipedia: Winter War]
• [Winter War - Soviet Finnish 1939-1940 War - FULL 3d DOCUMENTARY]
1945 – The International Monetary Fund is created with the signing of an agreement by 29 nations.
1949 – Indonesian National Revolution: The Netherlands officially recognizes Indonesian independence. End of the Dutch East Indies.
1966 – The Cave of Swallows, the largest known cave shaft in the world, is discovered in Aquismón, San Luis Potosí, Mexico.
1968 – Apollo program: Apollo 8 splashes down in the Pacific Ocean, ending the first orbital manned mission to the Moon.
• [Apollo 8 Splashdown - Jim Lovell]
• [CBS News - Apollo 8 - recovery - 1 of 2]
• [CBS News - Apollo 8 - recovery - 2 of 2]
• [Apollo 8 - Splashdown (Full Mission 42)]
1978 – Spain becomes a democracy after 40 years of fascist dictatorship.
1983 – Pope John Paul II visits Mehmet Ali Ağca in Rebibbia's prison and personally forgives him for the 1981 attack on him in St. Peter's Square.
1985 – Palestinian guerrillas kill eighteen people inside the airports of Rome, Italy, and Vienna, Austria.
1989 – The Romanian Revolution concludes, as the last minor street confrontations and stray shootings abruptly end in the country's capital, Bucharest.
1996 – Taliban forces retake the strategic Bagram Airfield which solidifies their buffer zone around Kabul, Afghanistan.
1997 – Protestant paramilitary leader Billy Wright is assassinated in Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.
2002 – Two truck bombs kill 72 and wound 200 at the pro-Moscow headquarters of the Chechen government in Grozny, Chechnya, Russia.
2004 – Radiation from an explosion on the magnetar SGR 1806-20 reaches Earth. It is the brightest extrasolar event known to have been witnessed on the planet.
2007 – Former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto is assassinated in a shooting incident.
2007 – Riots erupt in Mombasa, Kenya, after Mwai Kibaki is declared the winner of the presidential election, triggering a political, economic, and humanitarian crisis.
2008 – Operation Cast Lead: Israel launches 3-week operation on Gaza.
• [Operation cast Lead]
• [The beginning of the ground offensive - Operation Cast Lead]
• [Wikipedia: Gaza War (2008–2009)]
2009 – Iranian election protests: On the Day of Ashura in Tehran, Iran, government security forces fire upon demonstrators.
2019 – Bek Air Flight 2100 crashes during takeoff from Almaty International Airport in Almaty, Kazakhstan, killing 13.
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Published at 5:00am on Tuesday, December 27, 2022
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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