Daily Weather Briefing for Sunday, May 28, 2017

LOCAL OUTLOOK

Warm and humid air will remain over our region through at least Monday, as high pressure settles east of the Florida coast. A cold front will slowly approach from the northwest but will struggle to push through the area during the middle of next week.

LOCAL NEWS

A storm system passed through western North Carolina and Macon County last night, leaving thousands of Duke Energy customers without electrical service as trees and power lines were blown down.

472 Duke Customers in Macon County are still without electrical service this morning. Crews are still assessing the damage, so no estimate of a time of restoration is available.

Here is a look at the number of Duke Customers who are out of electrical service in each county, along with the number of outage locations:

Swain 2,141 in 54 
Jackson 2,072 in 57
Haywood 458 in 17
Macon 472 in 11
Graham 134 in 5
Cherokee 10 in 1

Weather Almanac for May 28th (1872-2016)

Record weather events for this date in Macon County

Highest Temperature 90°F in Franklin in 1967
Lowest Temperature 30°F at the Coweeta Experimental Station in 1961
Greatest Rainfall 3.60 inches in Nantahala in 1973

THREE DAY OUTLOOK

TODAY severe storms possible in late afternoon

Patchy fog in the morning. Mostly cloudy with highs near 80. Winds 5 to 10 mph out of the northwest. 50% chance of showers and thunderstorms, some of them have the potential to be severe. Rainfall amounts between a tenth and a quarter of an inch.

TONIGHT severe storms possible in the early evening hours

Patchy fog possible after midnight. Mostly cloudy with lows near 60 and winds 5 to 10 mph out of the northwest calming before midnight. 30% chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly before midnight.

MEMORIAL DAY

Patchy fog in the morning. Partly sunny with highs near 80. Calm winds around daybreak, then 5 to 10 mph from the west by mid-morning. 40% chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly between 10 am and 10 pm. Rainfall amounts between a tenth of an inch and a quarter of an inch are expected.

MONDAY NIGHT

Mostly cloudy with lows near 60 And winds from the west calming before midnight. 40% chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly before midnight.

TUESDAY

Mostly cloudy with highs near the upper 70s. 30% chance of showers and thunderstorms.

TUESDAY NIGHT

Mostly cloudy with lows near the upper 50s.

HAZARDS

Hazardous weather is possible this afternoon and again on Memorial Day. Be careful if you’re out and about. These storms will be capable of producing damaging winds, large hail, brief torrential downpours and frequent lightning.

The National Weather Service has issued a Hazardous Weather Outlook for tomorrow regarding the potential for severe weather. The text follows:

..MEMORIAL DAY…Severe weather possible. Afternoon and evening showers and thunderstorms are expected to develop again on Monday. A few storms may be severe, with the greatest threat expected to be across the Piedmont.

As always, you can check to see what advisories, watches, and warnings are in effect for Macon County by visiting http://is.gd/MACONWARN

MACON CALENDAR

If you have an event you wish to be added to this calendar, please send the information, along with a flyer in pdf format or a high-quality photo, to [email protected]
There is no charge for civic, educational or non-profit groups, except for groups or events that receive funding from the TDA, TDC and EDC, where full rates apply.

Wednesday, May 31

FRANKLIN BIRD CLUB – Greenway Birdwalk

Bird walk along the Greenway. Meet at Salali Lane at 8:00 am.

Parking is off Fox Ridge Road which is just south of Franklin Flea Market on Highlands Rd.

SYRINGE EXCHANGE PROGRAM

On January 1, 2017, the Syringe Exchange Program of Franklin began operating a comprehensive harm reduction program to address the opioid epidemic that is impacting western NC. Opioid overdose reversal kits including naloxone are available free of charge. If you have any questions about our services or if you know someone interested in volunteering, please contact Stephanie Almeida at 828-475-1920.

Astronomy

Twilight Begins: 5:53 am
Sunrise: 6:22 am
Sunset 8:40 pm
Twilight Ends: 9:09 pm

Moon Phase: Waxing Crescent with 12% of the Moon’s visible disk illuminated.
Moonrise 9:21 a.m.
Moonset 11:45 p.m.

Evening Events and Planets

Chart shows sky at 10:30 pm tonight

Morning Events and Planets

Chart shows sky at 4 am tomorrow morning

Sky Guides for this week

Sky and Telescope Magazine 
Astronomy Magazine

Earth Sky has an article on the eclipses of 2017. [LINK]

Heavens Above has an Android App that will assist you in observing the sky and even has a satellite tracker that will let you know when the International Space Station and dozens of other satellites are overhead. [LINK]

Stellarium is also an app that will assist you in observing the sky. It is available in both Android [LINK] and iOS versions. [LINK]

CROWD FUNDING OR DAY SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES

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.

If you have a business or event you are interested in sponsorship opportunities or underwriting coverage, send an email to [email protected] for more information. Serious inquiries only.

Thank You to the people who have been sending in donations and those businesses who are underwriting coverage of news and events. You have kept Macon Media online. You have made it possible for Macon Media to begin purchasing state of the art equipment and begin work on building a real website with features not employed by any local news outlets.

You can find out more information on how to do that and some of what I plan to accomplish if I reach certain levels of funding at https://www.patreon.com/MaconMedia

Published at 5:53 am on May 28, 2017

#WNCscan #MaconWx #MaconSafety

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, Penn State University Electronic Wall Map, The State Climate Office of North Carolina, Storm Prediction Center, U.S. Naval Observatory, and the Weather Prediction Center.