I was recently interviewed for a local magazine article on the topic of people coming to western North Carolina to get away from the effects of climate change. Whether you believe the arguments for or against climate change, there is a growing trend of increased climate events and at the very least, there is a strong perception in the minds of many that things are changing dramatically. That perception has certainly affected the buying decisions of numerous people.
The Laurel of Asheville is a high end lifestyle and arts magazine focusing on those things here in the greater Asheville area. I am fortunate to have been featured in a recent article in the magazine. The writer, Robert Turner is the owner of “Eat Your View“, a farm to table type operation in this area promoting sustainable living and homesteading; things which are right in line with most of the property listings you will find here at Retreat Realty such as this little gem of a 40 acre farm with 2,500′ of creek frontage. He asked me if I’d seen a trend of prospects coming to the area motivated to get away from rising sea levels or escaping severe weather patterns such as hurricanes. My immediate answer was “Yes”. I routinely get calls or emails from prospects telling me they are tired of getting hammered by hurricanes or that they live in low lying areas and are concerned about rising sea levels and its impact on their property. At 2,300+ feet above sea level, the Blue Ridge Escarpment certainly isn’t going to be bothered by twelve inches of additional water down on the coast.
In fact, this area of western North Carolina is one of the more stable areas in which one could reside. We have four distinct seasons of equal duration with limited extremes in weather patterns. Folks often ask me about snowfall, and my response is “This is North Carolina, not North Dakota.” I point out that the few ski resorts you find in our mountains wouldn’t exist without the ability to make their own snow. In this area, we may get three or four snowfalls of a few inches per season, but typically the day after a snow event, we have blue skies and its business as usual.
We typically have enough rainfall throughout the year to keep the forests lush and green, thus avoiding the parched lands of California that we seem to watch every year going up in flames. The last time we had any substantial wildfires in this area was in late 2016, and even then I don’t recall there being any loss of life and only a few homes damaged.
We can certainly get some heavy rains, typically as remnants of a hurricane that has come up the coast and reached inland, but the winds don’t often affect us that much here in the mountains. Plus, its easy enough to prepare for an approaching hurricane, so by the time one hits, you can be ready. Nor do we typically see tornadoes in this area. The undulating peaks of the mountains and valleys simply don’t provide vast flat expanses for tornadoes to form here. That’s not to say that on top of some of these mountains we don’t get high wind gusts. If you live at 4,500′ on a mountaintop, you’d better tie down your porch furniture during the winter, or take it inside. There’s a reason early settlers to this area didn’t build up on mountaintops. But as for tornadoes, I don’t recall ever hearing of one in this area.
On a very rare occasion, we might have a slight tremor of an earthquake, but I don’t know of any serious damage to property from any such event in all the years I’ve lived in this area. Landslides do occur, but tend to be very small and isolated, therefore, by carefully selecting your home site and properly anchoring the foundation to underlying rock strata, you can mitigate the risk of such.
So if you’re looking to get out of an area with weather extremes, you should seriously consider our lovely part of the western North Carolina mountains. When you do, we here at Retreat Realty are ready to help you find that perfect location. Our background in real estate development, construction and appraisal work makes us uniquely qualified to assist you. So call today before the next hurricane/tornado/wildfire/earthquake hits where you live!
