The American Association of State Climatologists is based in Asheville, North Carolina.  Asheville and the entire Southern Appalachian region was hit hard by Hurricane Helene.  As far as we know, all AASC members in the area are safe, as are our colleagues at the National Centers for Environmental Information, our country’s steward of the historical climate record.  The temporary loss of access to climate data brought about by Hurricane Helene is a trivial inconvenience compared to the hardships endured by people in the region, during the storm, during cleanup, and during the months and years of recovery to come.

We encourage you to make your own decisions on how you’d like to help with both short-term relief and long-term recovery.  We have received the following suggestions from members in North Carolina on ways to help, some of which are specific to the Asheville area, others are more broad across the region.  There are also national disaster relief organizations engaged in the area with whom you may already be familiar. 

• https://www.handsonasheville.org/ <– United Way, the catch-all aggregator org you’re familiar with. You’ll see some Cyrillic here. Asheville has a sizable Ukrainian/Serbian/Russian population. 
• https://ymcawnc.org/ <– YMCA of Western North Carolina, they’ve been sharing showers, which – let me tell you firsthand – wash some trauma and some pessimism away with the dirt. 
• https://mountaintrue.org/ <– Mountain True. Invested in the long term care, preservation, and equitable sharing of this region’s beautiful natural and urban environment.
• https://belovedasheville.com/ <– BeLoved Asheville. An organization who peddles in dignity and recognizing the true value of every person. 
• https://www.abccm.org/ <– Asheville – Buncombe County Christian Ministries. They get stuff done.
• The North Carolina Disaster Relief Fund is accepting donations that go directly to nonprofits working in impacted communities, and is a great way to support cleanup and recovery efforts throughout western North Carolina.