Climate Reality in Asheville

Last updated or reviewed on February 26, 2026

While Western North Carolina is no stranger to extreme weather events, the growing intensity and frequency of these events has led to increased property damage and costs as well as a greater urgency to build personal and community resilience.

         

 

Climate Risks In Asheville:

The City of Asheville’s Climate Resilience Assessment identified three primary climate stressors impacting our region: heavy precipitation, which causes flooding and landslides; drought, which leads to wildfires and water shortages; and extreme temperature variability. As Tropical Storm Helene demonstrated, extreme weather events can lead to extended outages of power, communications, infrastructure, and water. 

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) has published this summary of billion-dollar weather and climate disasters in North Carolina from 1980-2024.  This resource provides a treasure trove of data to illuminate the growing intensity, frequency and cost of our changing climate here in North Carolina.

Climate Resilience:

It is well documented that climate disruption can combine with health, demographic, infrastructure and historical factors, influencing our personal, local and regional climate risk. 

Social vulnerability amplifies disaster risk and impacts, making recovery more difficult and resource-intensive. We must acknowledge these compounding vulnerabilities and risks and work to build resilience for all our community members.

Understand which risks are most present for your home and neighborhood:

  • Explore Asheville’s Community Climate Vulnerability Map to learn about your climate risks and non-climate vulnerabilities.  This interactive tool available on the City of Asheville’s website considers climate risks and other data points to display an overall climate vulnerability score by area. You can use it to learn about the main climate risks and other vulnerabilities impacting your neighborhood.
    • To learn the climate risks of a specific location and see its climate vulnerability score, either type the address in the search bar above the map or select “Use current location.”
  • Explore SimpliCity to learn more about your neighborhood and property, read this blog post or watch this video for details on how to access climate vulnerability data and information through the SimliCity platform.
  • NC Actions Database – a fantastic resource to start thinking through opportunities to build resilience in your home and community based on your specific risks

WNC Natural Disaster Timeline:

  • 1916 Over 26 inches of rain in our region, causing historic floods.
  • 2004 Tropical Storms Ivan and Frances caused the French Broad River to rise more than 14 feet.
  • 2016 Fires near Gatlinburg burned more than 17,000 acres in nearby eastern Tennessee. 
  • 2021 Tropical Storm Fred killed seven and caused $1.3 billion in U.S. losses.  
  • 2023 Canadian wildfires impacted local air quality. 
  • 2024 Tropical Storm Helene brought 12-30 inches of rain, causing  devastation across WNC