GREENVILLE, S.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — The rain, floods and mudslides may have received much of the attention from Hurricane Helene, but there were still powerful winds from the devastating storm across western North Carolina.
A large portion of the North Carolina mountains saw wind gusts of at least 70 mph from Hurricane Helene on Sept. 28, with a few pockets reaching triple-digits, the National Weather Service reported in its wind damage assessment released Wednesday.
A meteorologist with the Greenville-Spartanburg office said there was a very sharp increase in winds on the northeast side of Asheville, especially in higher elevations. Southeast-facing slopes across much of the mountains from northeast of Asheville to Avery County sustained the most extreme damage.
The highest measured gust was 106 mph on Mount Mitchell – the highest point in the eastern U.S. A second pocket of extreme wind also occurred in the vicinity of Roan Mountain in Yancey County, mainly above 6,000 feet.
Closer to home, an area from Chester County, South Carolina, through south Charlotte and Gaston County to Caldwell and eastern Burke counties reported frequent gusts of 40-50 mph, with pockets of 70 mph.
There were two areas of the South Carolina Upstate that also saw 70-80 gusts.
Officials said these wind gusts were persistent for multiple hours, compared to a thunderstorm where the most intense winds last for only a few minutes.
A longer duration of high-end wind gusts combined with very saturated soils and full foliage on trees resulted in an incredible amount of trees downed. According to the Associated Press, more than 1.1 million customers were without power across the Carolinas and Georgia from the storm.
NWS said the winds also changed direction as the center of circulation passed to the west, resulting in trees falling across each other and not necessarily in one direction.
