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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
Cold and dry high pressure will move east across the region today and Saturday bringing much below normal temperatures. Temperatures return to above average next week with dry weather persisting into mid week.
• 2023 Groundhog Day Prognostications [Macon Media]
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Local Weather
General Forecast Through Sunday Night
Franklin Area
Today
Mostly cloudy through mid morning, then gradual clearing, with highs in the lower 40s. Winds out of the northwest 10 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.
Tonight
Clear, with lows around 19. Winds out of the northwest 5 to 10 mph becoming calm before midnight.
Saturday
Sunny, with highs in the upper 40s. Winds out of the southeast 3 to 10 mph.
Saturday Night
Mostly cloudy, with lows in the mid-to-upper 20s. Winds out of the south around 5 mph becoming calm after midnight.
Sunday
Partly sunny, with highs in the low-to-mid 50s.
Sunday Night
Partly cloudy, with lows around 30.
Highlands Plateau
Today
Mostly cloudy through mid morning, then gradual clearing, with highs in the mid-to-upper 30s. Winds out of the northwest 15 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 35 mph.
Tonight
Clear, with lows around 17. Winds out of the northwest 10 to 15 mph decreasing to light winds and shifting to come out of the light northwest after midnight. Winds could gust as high as 25 mph.
Saturday
Sunny, with highs in the upper 30s. Winds out of the south 5 to 10 mph.
Saturday Night
Mostly cloudy, with lows in the mid 20s. Winds out of the south 5 to 10 mph shifting to come out of the southwest after midnight.
Sunday
Partly sunny, with highs in the mid-to-upper 40s.
Sunday Night
Mostly clear, with lows around 30.
Otto and South Central Macon County
Today
Mostly cloudy through mid morning, then gradual clearing, 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 around 20. Winds out of the northwest 5 to 10 mph becoming calm after midnight.
Saturday
Sunny, with highs in the mid 40s. Winds out of the south 5 to 10 mph.
Saturday Night
Mostly cloudy, with lows in the upper 20s. Winds out of the south 5 to 10 mph.
Sunday
Partly sunny, with highs in the lower 50s.
Sunday Night
Mostly clear, with lows around freezing.
Nantahala Area
Today
Partly sunny, then gradually becoming sunny, with highs in the mid 30s. Winds out of the northwest 5 to 10 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.
Tonight
Clear, with lows around 20. Winds out of the northwest 5 to 10 mph becoming calm before midnight.
Saturday
Sunny, with highs in the mid 40s. Calm winds in the morning increasing to come out of the southwest 5 to 10 mph in the afternoon.
Saturday Night
Partly cloudy, with lows around 30. Winds out of the southeast around 5 mph.
Sunday
Partly sunny, with highs near 50.
Sunday Night
Partly cloudy, with lows around freezing.
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Hazards and Tropical Weather
Hazardous weather is not expected today.
Periods of heavy rainfall may affect the western Carolinas and northeast Georgia Thursday through Thursday night. Isolated flooding could result.
Latest US Drought Monitor Map for North Carolina.
Space Weather Goodbye Big Flares, Hello Green Comet | Space Weather News: 26 January 2023
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 25 (MODERATE) for most of the county, and the ridges and other higher elevations PM2.5 AQI is 25 (MODERATE)
Fire and Smoke Map
Local Air Monitor
Pollen
Pollen levels are expected to be in the low (2.1 out of 12) today with Juniper and Elm being the main culprits. Tomorrow is expected to be in the low range (1.1 out of 12).
Record Weather Events for February 3rd
Record weather events for this date in Macon County
(1872-2016)
Highest Temperature 75°F at the Coweeta Experimental Station in 1989
Lowest Temperature -12°F in Highlands in 1917
Greatest One-Day Rainfall 3.23 inches at the Coweeta Experimental Station 2016
Greatest One-Day Snowfall 6.0 inches in Highlands in 2013
Weather Extremes for Macon County for the month of February Data available from 1872
Highest Temperature 79°F at the Coweeta Experimental Station on 01-28-1996
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
Record Weather Events for February 3rd in North Carolina
Highest Temperature 84°F in Laurinburg, Scotland County in 1989
Lowest Temperature -12°F in Grandfather Mountain, Avery County in 1981
Greatest Rainfall 3.96 inches in Lake Toxaway, Transylvania County in 1982
Greatest Snowfall 18.0 inches in Mount Mitchell, Yancey County in 1998
Weather Extremes for North Carolina for the month of February Data available from 1872
Highest Temperature 88°F in New Bern, Craven County on 02-28-1962
Lowest Temperature -20°F in Brevard, Transylvania County on 02-17-1958
Greatest Rainfall 8.83 inches in Lake Toxaway, Transylvania County on 02-13-1966
Greatest Snowfall 24.00 in Mount Mitchell, Yancey County on 02-12-1985
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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
• 2023 Groundhog Day Prognostications [Macon Media]
• Town of Franklin Seeks Input From Citizens Regarding the Whitmire Property [Macon Media]
• Avoiding Collisions with Deer [Macon Media]
• NC bills targeting LGBTQ kids latest in national culture war [WRAL-TV (Raleigh, NC)]
• Newly Republican-majority NC Supreme Court hears case on post-prison voting rights [Raleigh News and Observer]
• NC school districts struggle to fill teacher positions, report says [WTVD-TV (Durham, NC)]
• The Punisher and the Punished: A conversation with retired Force Recon Marine Corporal Adam Ranke [Mountain Philosopher]
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National and World News Roundup
How China Is Fuelling America's Drug Epidemic | Vice News
Chinese spy balloon spotted above over US: Officials | ABC News
Let's talk about Chinese spy balloons and learning to love them.... | Beau of the Fifth Column
• Montana Sen. Daines 'alarmed' at Chinese spy balloon, says 'significant concern' that ICBM fields targeted [Fox news]
• Chinese Spy Balloon Tracked Over U.S. This Week [Wall Street Journal]
• Here's how the debt crisis could end if Biden-McCarthy talks fail [Politico]
• House GOP votes to oust Democrat Omar from major committee [AP News]
• Virginia prepares for special election with national implications [Courthouse News Service]
• FBI to search ex-U.S. VP Pence's home, office for classified records [Reuters]
• The 2022 Long-Term Budget Outlook (July 2022) [Congressional Budget Office ] [PDF Download]
Red Flag 23-1 Press Briefing • Nellis AFB | AIRBOYD
Global National: Feb. 2, 2023 | Canadian government officials facing surge of violent threats
Nightly News Full Broadcast (February 2nd)
PBS NewsHour full episode, (February 02, 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 4:58pm CET, 2 February 2023, there have been 100,941,827 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 1,097,246 deaths, reported to WHO. As of 27 January 2023, a total of 661,064,315 vaccine doses have been administered.
Globally, as of 4:58pm CET, 2 February 2023, there have been 753,823,259 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 6,814,976 deaths, reported to WHO. As of 31 January 2023, a total of 13,168,935,724 vaccine doses have been administered.
Ep 123 Osterholm Update: Nowhere Land | CIDRAP
• White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) may serve as a wildlife reservoir for nearly extinct SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern [Virginia Polytechnic Institute via PNAS]
• The continuing puzzle of defining duration of SARS-cov-2 infectivity [The Journal of Infectious Diseases]
• Cortical-blood vessel assembloids exhibit Alzheimer’s disease phenotypes by activating glia after SARS-CoV-2 infection [Nature]
• Biden slammed after announcing official end to COVID-19 emergency: 'Trying to avoid embarrassment' [Fox News]
• Biden’s Ending of the Covid Emergency Is a Public Health Disaster [The Nation]
• TWiV Special: One COVID vaccine for them all with Paul Offit [Microbe TV]
• TWiV 979: Flushing out the viroids [Microbe TV]
• TWiV 978: Clinical update with Dr. Daniel Griffin [Microbe TV]
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Science and Technology News Roundup
• ISP admits lying to FCC about size of network to block funding to rivals [ARS TECHNICA]
• Pentagon tracking suspected Chinese spy balloon over the US [CNN]
• Who's most likely to save us from the next pandemic? The answer may surprise you [NPR]
• Seawater split to produce green hydrogen [The University of Adelaide]
• ChatGPT may be the fastest-growing consumer app in internet history, reaching 100 million users in just over 2 months, UBS report says [Business Insider]
Evergreen Links
• Red Dead Online player bids farewell to Google Stadia save by releasing horse they named after their departed daughter [Games Radar]
Dan Carlin's Hardcore History 69 - Twilight of the Æsir
• 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]
How Do We Know What We Know? Philosophy of Science | Fraser Cain
Podcasts and Long Form Videos (History, Culture, Science, Space, Technology and Current Events)
Anything covering educational, entertainment, history, current events, and technology topics
Tim Dodd: SpaceX, Starship, Rocket Engines, and Future of Space Travel | Lex Fridman Podcast #356
SpaceX Starlink 5-3 launch & Falcon 9 first stage landing, 2 February 2023 | SciNews
The Level1 Show February 3 2023: United Simps Military | Level1Techs
Cloning Dodos is for the Birds - DTNS 4447 | Daily Tech News Show
Congressional Space Medal of Honor recipients Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley | NBC News
Lab-Grown Meat: How Much Can It Help Save Our Climate? - Tech News Briefing Podcast | WSJ
Bell's Inequality: The weirdest theorem in the world - Nobel Prize 2022 | Qiskit (Oct 2022)
How A Realistic Mars Mission Will Play Out | Fraser Cain
JWST observed an asteroid with RINGS occulting a background star - Your FAQ about Chariklo | Dr. Becky
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Special Section: The Russo-Ukrainian War
(sharing of a particular source is not an endorsement)
• Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, February 02 [Institute for the Study of War] [PDF for February 2nd]
• Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 343 [Al Jazeera]
• LIVEBLOG: Day 344 of Russian aggression against Ukraine [TVP World]
• Russo-Ukrainian War. Day 344: Russian missile destroys a residential building in Kramatorsk, 3 dead [Euromaiden Press]
• Soaring Death Toll Gives Grim Insight Into Russian Tactics [New York Times]
• Ukraine war: 80 years on, we are facing German tanks again - Putin [BBC News]
• Investigation center for crimes of aggression in Ukraine to be created at The Hague [TVP World]
• Ukraine updates: Putin compares Ukraine to Stalingrad battle [DW News]
Ukrainians breakthrough 16km line between Vuhledar and Volnovakha to cut off Russian train supply! | Divine Justice
US Sending Long-Range GLSDB Missiles to Ukraine? | Combat Footage Review
Can Ukraine take back Crimea? | Caspian Report
Hundreds of Russian soldiers surrender to Ukraine by raising a white flag. | Divine Justice
Ukraine 11th month Update | The Cold War
News from Russian or pro-Russian outlets or Video About the Russian Perspective
• Geopolitical battles, Ukraine, and US exceptionalism: Highlights from Lavrov’s big interview [Russia Today]
• Russia will use all of its military potential to counter Western arms supplies to Kyiv [Pravda]
• Russian forces strike over 70 Ukrainian artillery units in past day, top brass reports [TASS]
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On This Day
February 3rd is the 34th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 331 days remain until the end of the year (332 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)
1112 – Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona, and Douce I, Countess of Provence, marry, uniting the fortunes of those two states.
1451 – Sultan Mehmed II inherits the throne of the Ottoman Empire.
1488 – Bartolomeu Dias of Portugal lands in Mossel Bay after rounding the Cape of Good Hope, becoming the first known European to travel so far south.
1509 – The Portuguese navy defeats a joint fleet of the Ottoman Empire, the Republic of Venice, the Sultan of Gujarat, the Mamlûk Burji Sultanate of Egypt, the Zamorin of Calicut, and the Republic of Ragusa at the Battle of Diu in Diu, India.
1583 – Battle of São Vicente takes place off Portuguese Brazil - three English warships led by navigator Edward Fenton fight off three Spanish galleons sinking one in the process.
1661 – Maratha forces under Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj defeat the Mughals in the Battle of Umberkhind.
1690 – The colony of Massachusetts issues the first paper money in the Americas.
1706 – During the Battle of Fraustadt Swedish forces defeat a superior Saxon-Polish-Russian force by deploying a double envelopment.
1716 – The 1716 Algiers earthquake sequence began with an Mw 7.0 mainshock that caused severe damage and killed 20,000 in Algeria.
1781 – American Revolutionary War: British forces seize the Dutch-owned Caribbean island Sint Eustatius.
1783 – Spain–United States relations are first established.
1787 – Militia led by General Benjamin Lincoln crush the remnants of Shays' Rebellion in Petersham, Massachusetts.
1807 – A British military force, under Brigadier-General Sir Samuel Auchmuty captures the Spanish Empire city of Montevideo, now the capital of Uruguay.
1809 – The Territory of Illinois is created by the 10th United States Congress.
1813 – José de San Martín defeats a Spanish royalist army at the Battle of San Lorenzo, part of the Argentine War of Independence.
1830 – The London Protocol of 1830 establishes the full independence and sovereignty of Greece from the Ottoman Empire as the final result of the Greek War of Independence.
1870 – The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, guaranteeing voting rights to male citizens regardless of race.
1913 – The Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, authorizing the Federal government to impose and collect an income tax.
1916 – The Centre Block of the Parliament buildings in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada burns down with the loss of seven lives.
1917 – World War I: The American entry into World War I begins when diplomatic relations with Germany are severed due to its unrestricted submarine warfare.
1918 – The Twin Peaks Tunnel in San Francisco, California begins service as the longest streetcar tunnel in the world at 11,920 feet (3,633 meters) long.
1927 – A revolt against the military dictatorship of Portugal breaks out at Oporto.
1930 – Communist Party of Vietnam is founded at a "Unification Conference" held in Kowloon, British Hong Kong.
1931 – The Hawke's Bay earthquake, New Zealand's worst natural disaster, kills 258.
1933 – Adolf Hitler announces that the expansion of Lebensraum into Eastern Europe, and its ruthless Germanisation, are the ultimate geopolitical objectives of Third Reich foreign policy.
1943 – The SS Dorchester is sunk by a German U-boat. Only 230 of 902 men aboard survive.
1944 – World War II: During the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign, U.S. Army and Marine forces seize Kwajalein Atoll from the defending Japanese garrison.
1945 – World War II: As part of Operation Thunderclap, 1,000 B-17s of the Eighth Air Force bomb Berlin, a raid which kills between 2,500 and 3,000 and dehouses another 120,000.
1945 – World War II: The United States and the Philippine Commonwealth begin a month-long battle to retake Manila from Japan.
1953 – The Batepá massacre occurred in São Tomé when the colonial administration and Portuguese landowners unleashed a wave of violence against the native creoles known as forros.
1958 – Founding of the Benelux Economic Union, creating a testing ground for a later European Economic Community.
1959 – Rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson are killed in a plane crash along with the pilot near Clear Lake, Iowa, an event later known as The Day the Music Died.
1960 – British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan speaks of "a wind of change", signalling that his Government was likely to support decolonisation.
1961 – The United States Air Forces begins Operation Looking Glass, and over the next 30 years, a "Doomsday Plane" is always in the air, with the capability of taking direct control of the United States' bombers and missiles in the event of the destruction of the SAC's command post.
1966 – The Soviet Union's Luna 9 becomes the first spacecraft to make a soft landing on the Moon, and the first spacecraft to take pictures from the surface of the Moon.
1971 – New York Police Officer Frank Serpico is shot during a drug bust in Brooklyn and survives to later testify against police corruption.
1972 – The first day of the seven-day 1972 Iran blizzard, which would kill at least 4,000 people, making it the deadliest snowstorm in history.
1984 – Doctor John Buster and a research team at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in the United States announce history's first embryo transfer, from one woman to another resulting in a live birth.
1984 – Space Shuttle program: STS-41-B is launched using Space Shuttle Challenger.
1989 – After a stroke two weeks previously, South African President P. W. Botha resigns as leader of the National Party, but stays on as president for six more months.
1989 – A military coup overthrows Alfredo Stroessner, dictator of Paraguay since 1954.
1994 – Space Shuttle program: STS-60 is launched, carrying Sergei Krikalev, the first Russian cosmonaut to fly aboard the Shuttle.
1995 – Astronaut Eileen Collins becomes the first woman to pilot the Space Shuttle as mission STS-63 gets underway from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
1998 – Cavalese cable car disaster: a United States military pilot causes the death of 20 people when his low-flying plane cuts the cable of a cable-car near Trento, Italy.
2007 – A Baghdad market bombing kills at least 135 people and injures a further 339.
2014 – Two people are shot and killed and 29 students are taken hostage at a high school in Moscow, Russia.
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Published at 5:00am on Friday, February 03, 2023
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.
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