At Least 200K Acres Of "Catastrophic Damage To Protected Forests By Helene - Trees Toppled, Topped And Shattered

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Mountainsides draped in the green of tulip poplar, oak and hickory lure people by the thousands: retirees and campers, naturalists and adventurers. But serenity was shattered when Hurricane Helene blasted through with extreme winds on Sept. 27. Days of rain had soaked the soils, which made trees on steep slopes more vulnerable when Helene arrived. Helene caused catastrophic damage across about a fifth of the region’s million-acre federally protected forests, according to the North Carolina Forest Service. Satellite data analyzed by the U.S. Forest Service’s Southern Research Station shows damage extends for more than 200 miles through the southern Appalachians.

Estimating the full scope of the consequences for the forest remains challenging, according to Steve Norman, a member of the Forest Service team that conducted the analysis. “Some trees lost their foliage early because of the wind, others lost a significant part of their crowns, and some were completely uprooted,” he explained. And some impacts may only become evident over time. Long-term consequences may include threats to the wildlife habitat, invasive species and elevated wildfire risk. This region is already facing a massive loss of tourists who would normally be flocking to peep leaves from the Blue Ridge Parkway and hundreds of trails now strewn with debris.

Such dense forests, hundreds of miles from the coast and a few thousand feet above sea level, are usually safe from the fury of tropical storms. But Helene was different. Unprecedented heat across the Gulf of Mexico helped it carry record-setting rainfall and wind gusts into the heart of the southern Appalachians. “It was a worst-case scenario for the type of tropical system that could deliver really extreme impacts that far inland,” said Gary Lackmann, a professor of atmospheric science at North Carolina State University.

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Temko and Barnes’s cabin before and after Helene. (Climate Adaptation Partners)

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Fallen trees indicate wind direction.

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Those winds hit trees that were hardly prepared for such an intense storm. While coastal pine forests have evolved to anchor themselves against hurricane-force winds, such extreme conditions rarely reach so far inland. They have hit Himalayan mountain forests hundreds of miles from the coast, for example, said Bill Platt, a professor emeritus at Louisiana State University, but otherwise usually only affect coastal landscapes and mountain ranges. In the devastated forests of western North Carolina, many trees were rooted in soil that is relatively shallow — only so much of it can accumulate before eroding down steep hillsides. The broad leaves of the region’s dominant deciduous species easily catch wind gusts. Their roots had grown to brace them from falling downhill, but had built little defense to withstand gusts blowing in the opposite direction.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/interactive/2024/hurricane-helene-forest-damage-north-carolina/?itid=sf_climate_climate_climate-front-top-table_p001_f001