gopack42

Serious question. Should I get out of Beech Mountain and go to Statesville with my brother? I'm at the very top of the mountain, so slides and flood are unlikely direct on top of me, but down hill might be different. I'm on the 3rd floor of a condo (top floor) directly on top of the mountain, so I don't know how safe or unsafe I am since I have never ridden a hurricane out in the mountains. If I need to leave, I need to now, but I don't know what to do here. We are in unprecedented territory Edit to add that I am mainly afraid of the winds and structural issues with the roof, etc.....

I have a feeling I'm not going to bed tonight. It was raining fairly heavily from around Wilksboro to Boone on my drive home. Oddly enough, once I got up to Beech, the rain essentially stopped. It's super foggy though. I seriously pray everyone will remain safe and well in the next day or two. When in doubt, air on the side of caution and don't take any unnecessary risks. I hope everyone is either already out of the way of the flooding or will get away ASAP.

My friend in Johnson City said she was seeing hail a little earlier.

Indeed. Ive obviously been following the storm closely and I was debating coming back this afternoon/tonight, but decided against it with what's coming through now. I saw where things might let up a little early and mid day tomorrow, so figured that would be the best time to be on the road.

Good advice. I had to come to Camp Lejeune yesterday and today for a meeting and will be driving back to Beech tomorrow. Better put some swim flippers on the back of my car. I will try to leave as early AM as I can, but it's 6.5 hour drive in good conditions.

Definitely a noob question here, but can sea bouys measure rainfall rates, etc? I didn't know if bouys closer to shore could tell how much precip is falling to give an idea of what might be expected ahead of time. I do realize that location matters in a storm and things rapidly change, but it'd be interesting to see how much rain falls out at sea. Thanks everyone

That's the great thing about WNC. There's something for everyone. I didn't mean to indicate that I limit myself to one area. I'll pick up and go all over the mountains, and have spent lots of time at places like you mentioned. I used to do lots of work at WCU and I'd go out on an off weekend and go camp all over Nantahala, Franklin area, DuPont, etc. It's all amazing, not just one spot.

Of course. I've been to Silva, Dupont, Cashiers, Burnsville, Cherokee, Nantahala, Spruce Pine, etc etc etc. It's beautiful no matter where you are here in WNC. I moved here by myself (I'm 47) so I am trying to meet folks who want to hike, camp, explore, etc. I love it all.

I didn't mean to downplay other areas by any means. This area is where I came growing up, so it's more familiar and I know the area better. All mountains are amazing.

Oh wow. That's horrible and very sad. I wish there was a better way of getting people out of harms way, but those things are so quick to happen and are somewhat hard to predict as far as the impact of the flooding that could occur. Very tragic.

I do! Boone/Blowing Rock/Banner Elk are what I personally call "the mountains" (not to offend other areas of course). I got married in Banner Elk, broke my leg severely here in Beech, about died with my Grandmother driving a younger me and my brother on 321, thought I was going to get killed by cowboys at Tweetsie as a child..... Lots of great memories here!

Understood. I can imagine flash flooding can be very intense given the right conditions.

It is, but it hasn't been too bad so far. I'm sure traffic will pick up as peak color comes in and then when ski season starts. I've been coming here my entire life from the age of 2-3 years old and used to make it here 5-6 times a year. Finally, I told myself that it's time to make my life dream to live here come true, so I bought a place here.

So, I imagine you want to be more concerned with landslides if you live in a valley or on the side of a mountain?

Oh, that's great! We aren't terribly far from each other then.

Agree totally, and I was thinking the same. Last weeks storm wasn't bad except for a small stretch of coast for the intense rainfall. I actually just moved from Emerald Isle to Beech, so I was at the coast for 4 years. I've been through many hurricanes in NC and FL over the years, so I'm not afraid of anything. I'm more interested in the geographic influence on storms here in the mountains.

Indeed. Where exactly do you live? I'm not nervous about the storm, but I do want to be prepared. 5k feet elevation is up there for something like this, so I was curious what you and others have gone through in these storms

Beautiful pics! I took a ton on a couple hikes Friday off the BRP at Beacon Heights and Flat Rock. And, thanks for your info over on the tropics @Met1985. I found you here!

Will do! Thank you.

Interesting. I was here at Beech for the NC landfall last week, and things weren't that bad here other than some gusty winds and light/moderate rain off and on. I was thinking this gulf storm could be far more impactful if it's a higher end storm.

Thank you for your reply. I have to admit that I asked for a selfish reason due to me recently moving to Beech Mountain full time a couple weeks ago. I was curious as to what to expect and prepare for (power outages, flooding, etc). As you know, Beech is over 5k ft elevation, so I figured it could potentially get rough here. Thank you again

I understand there is tons of uncertainty in track and intensity for the approach to the gulf coast, but let's assume it comes on shore and tracks up the Appalachians (or close to it). My question is, up in the SC and NC mountains at higher elevations (3500 ft and higher), do storms typically have stronger wind impact for higher elevations even though the cyclone is winding down post landfall? I wasn't sure if elevation correlates to stronger winds even as the storm winds down. Thanks very much for any knowledge on this.

If I may.....would y'all mind suggesting some good people to follow on X/Twitter to keep track of severe forecasting and discussion? Thank you very much!

Does this mean oil is being released into the Gulf?

Please keep the videos/live feeds coming! I appreciate all of the links. I'm horrible at finding stuff like that.