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
Russo-UKrainian War Updates
National News Roundup
COVID-19 News and Updates
Science and Technology
On This Day
Support Macon Media
GENERAL OUTLOOK
Dry high pressure continues over the southeast and persists through most of the week, with a quick chance for minimal rain in the mountains on Wednesday. High pressure moves eastward by mid week with warmer temperatures by the end of the week. A weak cold front should approach the area by the weekend, briefly increasing rain chances. Another front arrives to start next week bringing another brief chance of rain.
Spring begins today at 5.24pm. Tomorrow will be the first full day of spring.
• March Equinox Fun Facts [xxx]
-->
---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, we̢۪ll help you with your next project.
DAY SPONSOR
Macon Media is being underwritten today by Nature Tamers of North Carolina.
Grading • View Cutting
Water Abatement • Foundations
Plumbing • Construction Repair
Call 828-507-2735
---END SPONSOR SEGMENT------
Back to Top
Local Weather
General Forecast Through Thursday Night
Franklin Area
Today
Mostly sunny, with highs in the mid-to-upper 50s. Calm winds in the morning increasing to come out of the southeast 5 to 10 mph in the afternoon.
Tonight
Mostly cloudy, with lows in the mid-to-upper 30s. Winds out of the southeast 3 to 10 mph.
Wednesday
A slight chance of showers before 8am, then a slight chance of showers after 9am. Mostly cloudy, 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. Chance of rain is 20%.
Wednesday Night
Partly cloudy, with lows in the mid 40s. Winds out of the south 3 to 6 mph.
Thursday
Mostly sunny, with highs in the mid 70s.
Thursday Night
Mostly clear, with lows in the mid 50s.
Highlands Plateau
Today
Mostly sunny, with highs in the upper 40s. Winds out of the southeast 5 to 10 mph.
Tonight
Mostly cloudy, with lows in the mid 30s. Winds out of the southeast 5 to 10 mph.
Wednesday
A slight chance of showers before 8am, then a slight chance of showers after 10am. Mostly cloudy, with highs near 50. Winds out of the southwest 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain is 20%.
Wednesday Night
Partly cloudy, with lows in the mid 40s. Winds out of the southwest 5 to 10 mph.
Thursday
Mostly sunny, with highs in the mid 60s.
Thursday Night
Mostly clear, with lows in the lower 50s.
Otto and South Central Macon County
Today
Mostly sunny, with highs in the mid 50s. Calm winds early in the morning increasing to come out of the southeast 5 to 9 mph by midmorning.
Tonight
Mostly cloudy, with lows in the upper 30s. Winds out of the southeast 5 to 10 mph.
Wednesday
A slight chance of showers before 8am, then a slight chance of showers after 10am. Mostly cloudy, with highs in the upper 50s. Winds out of the south 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain is 20%.
Wednesday Night
Partly cloudy, with lows in the mid 40s. Winds out of the southwest 5 to 10 mph.
Thursday
Mostly sunny, with highs in the low-to-mid 70s.
Thursday Night
Mostly clear, with lows in the mid 50s.
Nantahala Area
Today
Mostly sunny, with highs in the mid 50s. Calm winds early in the morning increasing to come out of the southeast 5 to 10 mph by midmorning.
Tonight
A 30 percent chance of showers, mainly after 5am. Mostly cloudy, with lows in the upper 30s. Winds out of the southeast 5 to 10 mph.
Wednesday
A 30 percent chance of showers, mainly between 11am and 3pm. Mostly cloudy, with highs in the mid 50s. Light and variable winds early in the morning increasing to come out of the southeast around 5 mph by midmorning. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.
Wednesday Night
Partly cloudy, with lows in the mid 40s. Winds out of the south around 5 mph.
Thursday
Mostly sunny, with highs near 70.
Thursday Night
Mostly clear, with lows in the mid 50s.
Back to Top
Hazards and Tropical Weather
Hazardous weather is not expected today.
Latest US Drought Monitor Map for North Carolina.
Space Weather Mystery Farside Blast and Earth-Directed Storms Launch | Solar Storm Forecast: 14 March 2023
Back to Top
Back to Top
Almanac
24 Hour Smoke Forecast
No known appreciable smoke field will be crossing Macon County today or tonight.
PM2.5 AQI is 50 (GOOD) for most of the county, and the ridges and other higher elevations PM2.5 AQI is 50 (GOOD)
Fire and Smoke Map
Local Air Monitor
Pollen levels are expected to be in the medium-high range (8.7 out of 12) today with Maple, Juniper, and Oak being the main culprits. Tomorrow is expected to be in the medium range (6.6 out of 12).
Record Weather Events for March 21st
Record weather events for this date in Macon County
(1872-2016)
Highest Temperature 81°F at the Coweeta Experimental Station in 1968
Lowest Temperature 8°F in Franklin in 1965
Greatest One-Day Rain 2.80 inches in Franklin in 1980
Greatest One-Day Snowfall 1.8 inches in Highlands in 1960 (also a state record)
Weather Extremes for Macon County for the month of March Data available from 1872
Highest Temperature 87°F at the Coweeta Experimental Station on 03-29-2020
Lowest Temperature -7°F in Highlands on 03-07-1899
Greatest Rainfall 6.61 inches in Highlands on 03-26-2021
Greatest Snowfall 25.5 inches at the Coweeta Experimental Station on 03-13-1993
Record Weather Events for March 21st in North Carolina
Highest Temperature 91°F in Louisburg, Franklin County in 1948
Lowest Temperature 1°F in Mount Mitchell, Yancey County in 2013 /> Greatest Rainfall 3.55 inches in Lake Toxaway, Transylvania County in 1980
Greatest Snowfall 29.0 inches in Mount Mitchell, Yancey County in 2001
Weather Extremes for North Carolina for the month of March Data available from 1872
Highest Temperature 98°F in Belhaven, Beaufort County on 03-27-1921
Lowest Temperature -11°F in Mount Mitchell, Yancey County on 03-03-1980
Greatest Rainfall 10.10 inches in Lake Toxaway, Transylvania County on 03-04-1979
Greatest Snowfall 36.00 in Mount Mitchell, Yancey County on 03-13-1993
Back to Top
Back to Top
Macon Calendar
(send your event to calendar@maconmedia.com)
Tuesday, March 14th
Macon County Board of Commissioners Monthly Meeting at 6.00pm in the Commissioners Board on the third floor of the county courthouse. Access is through the rear parking lot. [Download PDF of Agenda Packet]
No events have been submitted for Macon Calendar.
Back to Top
Local and State News
• NC will soon eliminate corporate taxes. Democrats say it'll force working people to pay more. [WRAL-TV (Raleigh, NC)]
• Blue Cross NC seeks less regulation, more flexibility, but would it affect customers? [Raleigh News and Observer]
• ER wait times increase and contagious virus circulates through WNC [WLOS-TV (Asheville, NC)]
• The Bambi effect: Are deer a bigger threat to NC forests than climate change? [Asheville Citizen-Times]
Proposed State Budget for 2023-2025 [Download PDF]
• Macon County Board of Commissioners March 2023 Regular Meeting [Macon Media]
Back to Top
National and World News Roundup
Manhattan grand jury hears from final witnesses in Trump investigation | WABC-TV (New York City, NY)
New York Young Republican Club rallies for Donald Trump | WABC-TV (New York City, NY)
• Some Trump supporters ambivalent on calls for protests [AP News]
• Family of Toddler Who Died After Ingesting Fentanyl at Florida Airbnb Files Suit [WTVJ-TV (Miami, FL)]
• Protesters set rubbish on fire as French govt barely survives no-confidence vote [Reuters]
• Higher cancer rates found in military pilots, ground crews [Stars and Stripes]
• Six Oath Keepers convicted in connection with January 6 US Capitol riot [CNN]
Washington Today (3/20/2023): President Biden issues first veto | C-SPAN RADIO
Global National: March 20, 2023 | What Xi and Putin's talks on deeper ties could mean
Nightly News Full Broadcast (March 20th)
PBS NewsHour full episode, (March 20, 2022
Back to Top
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 11:31am CET, 16 March 2023, there have been 102,417,985 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 1,113,229 deaths, reported to WHO. As of 10 February 2023, a total of 662,514,513 vaccine doses have been administered.
Globally, as of 11:31am CET, 16 March 2023, there have been 760,360,956 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 6,873,477 deaths, reported to WHO. As of 12 March 2023, a total of 13,232,780,775 vaccine doses have been administered.
• Lab Leak or Not? How Politics Shaped the Battle Over Covid’s Origin [New York Times]
• Biden signs legislation to declassify certain intelligence on Covid pandemic origins [ CNBC ]
• SARS-CoV-2 infection weakens immune-cell response to vaccination [ National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) ]
• Genetic evidence of susceptible wildlife in SARS-CoV-2 positive samples at the Huanan Wholesale Seafood Market, Wuhan: Analysis and interpretation of data released by the Chinese Center for Disease Control [ Zenodo ]
As COVID-19 protection measures go away, high-risk Americans remain concerned | ABC News
TWiV 992: Clinical update with Dr. Daniel Griffin | Microbe TV
• TWiV 993: COVID-19 drives autoimmunity [Microbe TV]
• TWiV 992: Clinical update with Dr. Daniel Griffin [Microbe TV]
Back to Top
Science and Technology News Roundup
• The Internet Archive is defending its digital library in court today (Monday, March 20th) [The Verge]
• EV batteries lack repairability leading some insurers to junk whole cars after even minor collisions [Yahoo! Finance]
• Google was beloved as an employer for years. Then it laid off thousands by email [CNN]
• File-sharing site Zippyshare shutting down after 17 years [Bleeping Computer]
• “Cosmic Concrete” Made From Extra-Terrestrial Dust Is Twice As Strong as Regular Concrete [SciTechDaily]
• Z-Library returns, aims to avoid seizures by giving each user a secret URL [ARS TECHNICA]
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
Hardcore History: AddendumEP24 Manifesting the Muse with Rick | Dan Carlin
• 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
The Level1 Show March 21 2023: The Ant Man and the Grasshopper | Level1 Techs
Qualcomm Beat Apple to the Automotive Punch - DTNS 4480 | Daily Tech News
Open Space March 20th 2023: Live QA with Fraser | Fraser Cain
Something Crashed on the Moon Creating a Bright Flash, But How Frequent Are These? | Antov Petrov
How Quantum Computers Break The Internet... Starting Now | Veritasium
Internet Archive Sued By Book Publishers | TWiT TV
JWST Found Six "Impossible" Galaxies. Here's What The Researchers Have To Say | Fraser Cain
The Top 10 Astronomical Discoveries of 2022 (part 1) | ParallaxNick
The Top 10 Astronomical Discoveries of 2022 (part 2) | ParallaxNick
Sam Harris: Trump, Pandemic, Twitter, Elon, Bret, IDW, Kanye, AI and UFOs | Lex Fridman Podcast #365
Back to Top
Special Section: The Russo-Ukrainian War
(sharing of a particular source is not an endorsement)
• Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, March 20 [Institute for the Study of War] [PDF for March 20th]
• Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 391 [Al Jazeera]
• Russo-Ukrainian War. Day 390: Putin visits occupied Mariupol [Euromaiden Press]
• Slovakia to transfer 13 MiG-29s to Ukraine, after Poland gives four [Defense News]
• China’s Xi praises Putin’s ‘strong leadership’ as they meet in Moscow [TVP World]
• Russia says jet scrambled as US B-52 bombers fly over Baltic Sea [Al Jazeera]
• Donetsk town of Lyman left in rubble after relentless Russian shelling [France 24]
• Ukraine says Russian missiles destroyed in Crimea [BBC News]
• Russia Tried to Freeze Ukraine. Here’s How It Survived the Winter. [Wall Street Journal]
Putin visits Russian-occupied Mariupol in Ukraine | Al Jazeera
Wanted war criminal Vladimir Putin revisits Mariupol crime scene - World News | TVP World
Russia's Winter Offensive in Ukraine - From Bakhmut to Vuhledar, outcomes, lessons, and costs | Perun
Bakhmut Holds - Chinese Plan - Russian Invasion of Ukraine | Kings and Generals
News from Russian or pro-Russian outlets or Video About the Russian Perspective
Interview: We Will No Longer Support This War Against Russia | Straight Calls with Douglas Macgregor
• Russia bans SWIFT [Russia Today]
• Russian forces destroy column of NATO armoured vehicles in Ukraine [Pravda]
• US obsessed with idea of dealing strategic blow to Russia, says envoy [TASS Russian News Agency]
Back to Top
Back to Top
On This Day
March 21st is the 80th day of the year (81st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 285 days remain until the end 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)
537 – Siege of Rome: King Vitiges attempts to assault the northern and eastern city walls, but is repulsed at the Praenestine Gate, known as the Vivarium, by the defenders under the Byzantine generals Bessas and Peranius.
630 – Emperor Heraclius returns the True Cross, one of the holiest Christian relics, to Jerusalem.
717 – Battle of Vincy between Charles Martel and Ragenfrid.
1152 – Annulment of the marriage of King Louis VII of France and Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine.
1188 – Emperor Antoku accedes to the throne of Japan.
1556 – On the day of his execution in Oxford, former archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer deviates from the scripted sermon by renouncing the recantations he has made and adds, "And as for the pope, I refuse him, as Christ's enemy, and Antichrist with all his false doctrine."
1788 – A fire in New Orleans leaves most of the town in ruins.
1800 РWith the church leadership driven out of Rome during an armed conflict, Pius VII is crowned Pope in Venice with a temporary papal tiara made of papier-m̢ch̩.
1801 – The Battle of Alexandria is fought between British and French forces near the ruins of Nicopolis near Alexandria in Egypt.
1804 РCode Napol̩on is adopted as French civil law.
1814 – Napoleonic Wars: Austrian forces repel French troops in the Battle of Arcis-sur-Aube.
1844 – The Baháʼà calendar begins. This is the first day of the first year of the Baháʼà calendar. It is annually celebrated by members of the Baháʼà Faith as the Baháʼà New Year or Náw-Rúz.
1861 – Alexander Stephens gives the Cornerstone Speech.
1871 – Otto von Bismarck is appointed as the first Chancellor of the German Empire.
1871 – Journalist Henry Morton Stanley begins his trek to find the missionary and explorer David Livingstone.
1918 – World War I: The first phase of the German Spring Offensive, Operation Michael, begins.
1919 – The Hungarian Soviet Republic is established becoming the first Communist government to be formed in Europe after the October Revolution in Russia.
1921 – The New Economic Policy is implemented by the Bolshevik Party in response to the economic failure as a result of war communism.
1925 – The Butler Act prohibits the teaching of human evolution in Tennessee.
1925 – Syngman Rhee is removed from office after being impeached as the President of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea.
1928 – Charles Lindbergh is presented with the Medal of Honor for the first solo trans-Atlantic flight.
1935 – Shah of Iran Reza Shah Pahlavi formally asks the international community to call Persia by its native name, Iran.
1937 – Ponce massacre: Nineteen people in Ponce, Puerto Rico are gunned down by police acting on orders of the US-appointed Governor, Blanton C. Winship.
1943 – Wehrmacht officer Rudolf von Gersdorff plots to assassinate Adolf Hitler by using a suicide bomb, but the plan falls through; von Gersdorff is able to defuse the bomb in time and avoid suspicion.
1945 – World War II: British troops liberate Mandalay, Burma.
1945 – World War II: Operation Carthage: Royal Air Force planes bomb Gestapo headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark. They also accidentally hit a school, killing 125 civilians.
1945 – World War II: Bulgaria and the Soviet Union successfully complete their defense of the north bank of the Drava River as the Battle of the Transdanubian Hills concludes.
1946 – The Los Angeles Rams sign Kenny Washington, making him the first African American player in professional American football since 1933.
1952 – Alan Freed presents the Moondog Coronation Ball, the first rock and roll concert, in Cleveland, Ohio.
1960 – Apartheid: Sharpeville massacre, South Africa: Police open fire on a group of black South African demonstrators, killing 69 and wounding 180.
1963 – Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary (in California) closes.
1965 – Ranger program: NASA launches Ranger 9, the last in a series of unmanned lunar space probes.
1965 – Martin Luther King Jr. leads 3,200 people on the start of the third and finally successful civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.
1968 – Battle of Karameh in Jordan between the Israel Defense Forces and the combined forces of the Jordanian Armed Forces and PLO.
1970 – The first Earth Day proclamation is issued by Joseph Alioto, Mayor of San Francisco.
1980 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter announces a United States boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow to protest the Soviet–Afghan War.
1983 – The first cases of the 1983 West Bank fainting epidemic begin; Israelis and Palestinians accuse each other of poison gas, but the cause is later determined mostly to be psychosomatic.
1986 – Debi Thomas became the first African American to win the World Figure Skating Championships
1989 РTransbrasil Flight 801 crashes into a slum near Ṣo Paulo/Guarulhos International Airport, killing 25 people.
1990 – Namibia becomes independent after 75 years of South African rule.
1994 – The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change enters into force.
1999 – Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones become the first to circumnavigate the Earth in a hot air balloon.
2000 – Pope John Paul II makes his first ever pontifical visit to Israel.
2006 – The social media site Twitter is founded.
2019 – The 2019 Xiangshui chemical plant explosion occurs, killing at least 47 people and injuring 640 others.
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 Tuesday, March 21, 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.
Posts
0 comments :
Post a Comment