News and Weather Briefing for Monday, November 2, 2020

OUTLOOK

In the wake of a cold front, strong gusty winds will bring the coldest air of the season tonight. Dry high pressure will then settle over the region and linger through midweek, before moving away but still controlling our weather through the end of the week.

Newsflash

Non-perishable food items are being collected by Union Academy for distribution in Rabun County by Rabun YES (Youth Educational Support) to assist after that county was hard hit by the remnants of Hurricane ZETA. Over 97% of the residents there were out of electricity. [LINK]

—BEGIN SPONSOR SEGMENT—

News Brief

A minor 2.4 magnitude earthquake occured early this morning in eastern Tennessee. Details are in the image.

Cowee Volunteer Fire Department will be holding a Benefit for Junior Firefighter Dakota Collins on Saturday, November 7th. [LINK]

POWER OUTAGE REPORT
(prepared at 5:00am)

Neighboring States

GA 15,101
NC 16,480
SC 2,275
Neighboring Counties

Macon 208 (0.74%)
Rabun 1,800 (11.52%)
Clay 0 (0%)
Cherokee 103 (0.6%)
Graham 27 (0.43%)
Swain 12 (0.1%)
Jackson 523 (1.82%)

Duke Energy has had at least one employee suffer serious injuries while working to restore electrical service in our area. The person has been flown to a burn unit in Augusta, Georgia. Please keep that person, their family, and co-workers, in your thoughts and prayers.

The NC State Board of Election reminds us that voter intimidation is against the law [LINK] 

Early Voting Numbers

Early voting for the 2020 General Election took place from October 15th through October 31st this year and here are some brief numbers from the turnout in North Carolina and Macon County and a comparison to the 2016 numbers. A more detailed analysis will be published tomorrow.

2020

Statewide: 4,531,466 ballots for a 61.69% turnout with 3,603,023 (79.51%) doing so in person and 928,443 (20.49%) participating by mail.
Macon Co: 16,444 ballots for a 60.76% turnout with 13,049 (79.35%) doing so in person and 3,395 (20.65%) participating by mail.

2016

Statewide: 3,110,935 ballots for a 44.97% turnout with 2,955,604 (95.01%) doing so in person and 155,326 (4.99%) participating by mail.
Macon Co: 9,845 ballots for a 38.23% turnout with 9,105 (92.48%) doing so in person and 740 (7.52%) participating by mail.

Here are the latest COVID-19 Numbers and Demographics Report from Macon Public Health, along with a couple of charts by Macon Media to show you the long-term trends since May 30, 2020, when the health department started releasing numbers to Macon Media.

New numbers will be released late this afternoon.

Cases

762 Detected
(+3 from Thursday and +24 from last Friday and +113 in four weeks)

26 Active
(-3 from Thursday and -9 from last Friday and -7 in four weeks)

729 Recovered
(+6 from Thursday and +33 from last Friday and +120 in four weeks)

7 Deaths
(unchanged from Thursday and unchanged from last Friday and unchanged in four weeks)

Testing

6446 by MCPH
(+58 from Thursday and +188 from last Friday and +676 in four weeks)

3086 by Others
(unchanged from Thursday and +280 from last Friday and +826 in four weeks)

9532 total
(+58 from Thursday and +465 from last Friday and +1502 in four weeks)

184 tests pending results
(+58 from Thursday and +1 from last Friday and +47 in four weeks)

Dr John Campbell: November Pandemic Update

Daniel Griffin provides a clinical report on COVID-19, then we discuss rapid deployment of SARS-CoV-2 testing by research laboratories in San Francisco, longitudinal observation of antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 in patients, and listener questions on vaccines, loss of smell, face masks, and more.

HAZARDS

A freeze warning is in effect until 9am this morning and a high wind warning is in effect untl 1pm today.

Air Quality

Air quality is in the middle range of green today for all elevations.

Pollen

Pollen levels are expected to be low (1.4 out of 12) with ragweed and chenopods being the main culprits. Tomorrow is expected to be about the same (0.2 out of 12).

Weather Extremes for Macon County for November 2nd

Highest Temperature 82°F in Franklin in 1974
Lowest Temperature 16°F in Highlands in 1954
Greatest One-Day Rainfall 3.20 inches in Highlands in 1966 Greatest One-Day Snowfall 0.5 inches in Highlands in 1917