Hurricane Ian: What's in store for Asheville, Western North Carolina?

ASHEVILLE - Western North Carolina won't catch the brunt of Hurricane Ian, but residents and visitors should still take precautions as heavy rain is projected, potentially flooding local waters.

The hurricane, with reported 150-mph winds at press time, made landfall in Florida Sept. 28 after knocking out power across Cuba. But the storm's remnants won't reach Asheville and WNC until the weekend, National Weather Service meteorologist Trisha Palmer said Sept. 28, and the main threat to WNC's mountains will be rain.

“As is typical for Western North Carolina, heavy rain is our main concern with an inland tropical system," she said.

Rain "will start increasing late Friday (Sept. 30)," she said. "Our primary rain threat will be Friday night and into Saturday. But it’s going to be raining through the weekend.”

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Current projections say that there will be around 3-4 inches in Asheville itself over the coming days, and between 4-6 inches at higher elevations, Palmer said. Some rivers could flood.

"So, when a flood watch is issued, anybody who lives near a river, or is camping near a river needs to be ready to leave. And anybody who is in their vehicle: do not ever drive around the barricades. If water is covering the roadway, do not drive through the water.”

In the days leading up to the storm's arrival, WNC and the Piedmont will both see higher winds. The winds will not be unusual for anyone familiar with the mountains, but some trees might be knocked down, she said.

"This isn't unusual for the mountains because it's often quite breezy on the ridges, but it will be unusual for the Piedmont, for sure," she said.

"We're still working on some of the wind from the latest update but ... especially Friday afternoon on some of those ridge tops, we can see some some winds 30 to 40 mph, which is, you know, (in the) North Carolina mountains is no big deal. But it'll still be quite a breezy day, especially on Friday" before the tropical system itself reaches the mountains, she said.

Ryan Oehrli is the breaking news and social justice reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times. Send tips to coehrli@citizentimes.com.