wx20200414

OUTLOOK

Dry high pressure will linger over the area today. Then, a weak area of low pressure will ride along a stalled front across northern Florida and the Carolina coast tonight through early Wednesday, bringing a chance for precipitation to our region. Cool high-pressure returns for the rest of the week.

Franklin Town Council Combined Budget and April 2020 Meeting [LINK]

Severe Weather Coverage

Link to Macon Media play-by-play [LINK]

Power Outage Update
5am on 04-14-2020

1,065 of 28,150 Maconians out (3.78%)

Duke Energy 931 of 25,660 out (3.63%)
Haywood EMC 134 out of 2,333 out (5.74%)

DAY SPONSOR

Carrion Tree Service is underwriting Macon Media for today. they are a fully licensed and insured tree service, specializing in dangerous tree removal, view clearing, pruning, and crane services with a 24 Hour emergency response.

Their phone number is 371-4718.

They can handle all your tree removal needs in good or bad weather.

GENERAL FORECAST THROUGH THURSDAY

Today

Mostly sunny. Highs in the 60s. Winds out of the southwest 5 to 10 mph.

Tonight

Mostly cloudy. Lows in the 30s. Patchy frost. Winds out of the northwest 5 to 10 mph.

Wednesday

Mostly sunny. Highs in the 50s. Winds out of the northwest 5 to 10 mph.

Wednesday Night

Mostly clear. Lows in the lower 30s. Winds out of the northwest around 5 mph.

Thursday

Sunny. Highs around 60. Winds out of the west around 5 mph.

Thursday Night

Mostly clear. Lows in the upper 30s.

HAZARDS

Hazardous weather is not expected today.

Burn ban lifted for 32 Western North Carolina counties as conditions improve

RALEIGH – Effective at noon Monday, April 13, the N.C. Forest Service has lifted a ban on all open burning for the following counties in western North Carolina: Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Cabarrus, Caldwell, Catawba, Cherokee, Clay, Cleveland, Gaston, Graham, Haywood, Henderson, Iredell, Jackson, Lincoln, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Mecklenburg, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Swain, Transylvania, Union, Watauga, Wilkes and Yancey. The burn ban went into effect April 3 due to hazardous forest fire conditions in the area.

While burn permits are now available in those counties, N.C. Forest Service officials continue to urge residents to reconsider burning yard debris through the end of May as careless debris burning is the leading cause of wildfires in North Carolina.

“Recent rainfall across the state, especially in our western counties, has helped with dry conditions, but it is important to remember that we are still in the midst of spring wildfire season and the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler. “Preventing escaped debris burns is something each of us can do to protect our communities and our first responders.”

At this time, burn permits are being issued online only while NCFS office locations remain temporarily closed to the public due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The online burn permit system is available statewide. All burn permits previously granted for the 32 counties affected by this burn ban were canceled when the ban became effective. New burn permit applications must be submitted online.

Residents with questions regarding their specific county can contact their county ranger with the N.C. Forest Service or their county fire marshal’s office. [LINK]

COVID-19 Update

The CDC website [LINK] reports 4,520 people in North Carolina are infected and that the infections are widespread, the NCDHHS website [LINK] reports 4,816 confirmed cases, 313 hospitalized and 86 deaths in the state. The Johns Hopkins Dashboard [LINK] reports 5,007 people infected and 111 deaths (these include non-residents located in NC).

Resources for Reliable Information about the Corona Virus (COVID-19) [LINK]

Video Briefings

World Health Organization