Extreme Cold/Wind Chill — Rutherford Mountains, North Carolina

2014-01-06 to 2014-01-07 · Rutherford Mountains, North Carolina

Wider weather episode

An arctic cold front blasted through the mountains during the morning hours of the 6th, bringing strong gusty winds and the coldest air mass to have affected the region since 1994. By the evening hours, air temperatures within the mountain valleys had fallen to the single digits, while the high elevations were below zero. Winds that continued in the 20 to 30 mph range with higher gusts yielded life threatening wind chill values through the overnight of the 6th and the morning of the 7th. Low temperatures on the 7th ranged from 0 to -5 in the lowest valleys, to -15 to -25 above 5000 feet. Meanwhile, winds remained gusty through the morning hours of the 7th. Minimum wind chills of -20 to -30 were common in the valleys early on the 7th, while wind chills reached as low as -50 at the highest peaks. Although the winds diminished enough to bring wind chills above -15 in the valleys by early afternoon, high temperatures on the 7th did not warm out of the teens in many locations.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 493695. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.