Travel
Heavy rain headed to Western NC may delay holiday travel, alleviate dry conditions
Severe weather causes travel woes across US
Post-holiday travel was slowed as much of the country faced severe weather.
With an abnormally dry December nearly over, the Western North Carolina region is expected to see some much-needed rain over the weekend.
However, heavy rain could bring with it some hazards.
Though a hazard alert was issued for much of the region at 4:09 a.m. on Friday, Dec. 27, National Weather Service officials told the Citizen Times that the amount of rain expected will most likely be largely beneficial given current conditions.
Here’s what to know about the weather.
Is Asheville, WNC in a drought?
NWS Meteorologist Clay Chaney told the Citizen Times that essentially all of WNC is currently under abnormally dry conditions.
“We have gotten 2.96 inches of rain for the month of December, and we’re about a half inch below normal,” Chaney said.
With an average of 2-2.5 inches of rain expected in the Buncombe County area plus locally higher amounts of up to 5 inches in some WNC areas, Chaney said the heavy precipitation will likely be “more beneficial than anything.”
Damaging winds, flooding?
The Dec. 27 severe weather outlook issued by the NWS called for potential strong to severe storms developing ahead of an approaching cold front Sunday morning into Sunday afternoon. The main hazard mentioned associated with the storms was damaging wind gusts.
“The timing is still uncertain,” Chaney said. “Usually in these cases, it would be out of here by Sunday afternoon at the latest. Saturday night through Sunday morning, definitely the timeframe we’re keeping an eye on with that potential for any strong wind gusts associated with any thunder line of thunderstorms that move through.”
Though no severe flooding is expected, the outlook did call for potential “nuisance flooding.”
Potential travel delays
Though the heavy rain will likely be beneficial to the unusually dry conditions of the WNC region, Chaney added that it could “throw a monkey wrench” into holiday travel plans. He expected the impact to be greater for anyone planning to fly into or out of WNC, particularly around Sunday, Dec. 29.
Iris Seaton is the trending news reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at iseaton@citizentimes.com.
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