Cold Front May Impact Helene Relief Efforts in North Carolina

An incoming cold front could require warm clothes for relief efforts in western North Carolina and also threatens widespread amounts of light rainfall this weekend.

Helene made landfall last Thursday as a Category 4 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of around 140 miles per hour near Perry, Florida, in the state’s Big Bend region.

The storm brought fatalities across several southern and southeastern states, with storm surge, devastating winds and torrential rain that threatened several dams and inundated Asheville, North Carolina, with floodwaters. More than 200 people were killed by the storm, the Associated Press reported.

Much of western North Carolina, including the Asheville area, was destroyed by the storm, and relief efforts are ongoing. Displaced families are still trying to evacuate the region, a difficult feat given that hundreds of roads are closed after being destroyed by mudslides or washed away by floods. Two major interstates connecting Tennessee and North Carolina could take months to rebuild.

The cold front will move through the area this weekend, accompanied by the threat of showers and thunderstorms, National Weather Service (NWS) meteorologist Frank Pereira told Newsweek. Heavy rain is unlikely.

“Obviously, you don’t want any more rainfall at all at this point, but the chance for precipitation is low and the threat of widespread heavy amounts is even lower,” Pereira said, adding that there is a 30 percent chance for showers across the area on Friday. “Not too much of disruption, but it is noteworthy there is a chance for showers and thunderstorms.”

Following the storms, temperatures across the area will start to drop on Monday, bringing some temperatures in higher elevation areas as low as the 30s.

“A cold front will swing through the area Monday and drop low temperatures into the 40s and 50s across the area next week,” the NWS office in Greenville-Spartanburg, which oversees the Asheville forecast area, posted on X, formerly Twitter. “Some locations in the mountains may dip into the 30s. Warm clothes will be needed for relief efforts in western North Carolina.”

Pereira warned that temperatures that low would be “problematic” for anyone who might be exposed to the elements in the wake of the storm’s devastation. Pereira said the coldest temperatures will likely occur on Tuesday.

A week after the storm, more than 304,000 people in North Carolina remain without power, 329,000 in South Carolina are without power and 252,000 in Georgia are still without power.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) is monitoring two named storm systems southeast of the U.S., but both storms—Hurricane Kirk and Tropical Storm Leslie—are expected to remain out at sea.