Answer Woman: Has the French Broad River in Asheville ever frozen?

Today's burning question from a reader is much colder than usual and involves the history of the French Broad River.

Do you have a question for Answer Man or Answer Woman? Email Executive Editor Karen Chávez at KChavez@citizentimes.com, and your question could appear in an upcoming column.

Question: Has the French Broad River in Asheville ever frozen?

Answer: While it may be hard to imagine, with February temperatures climbing above 60 in Asheville this winter, the city’s section of the French Broad river has a recorded history of freezes that dates back over a century.

Any Asheville resident knows that a frozen French Broad is, at the very least, far from a normal occurrence. The National Weather Service office in Greer, South Carolina, responsible for weather data collection in the Asheville area, was unable to identify whether the river had frozen in the past. Meteorologists also explained that it is essentially impossible to determine exactly what weather conditions would be needed for this type of freeze to occur.

“It depends on things like the current, the depth of the water, how long it might be below freezing. There are a lot of variables,” Meteorologist Clay Chaney said.

In trying to find out when the river might have been frozen over, a Citizen Times photo from the 1960s that shows massive ice chunks on the French Broad River along Amboy Road in Asheville. But it's not definitive in terms of being totally frozen over.

Without much in the way of a modern record, the clearest answer to this question came in the form of newspaper clippings unearthed by in Buncombe County Special Collections — some of which were over 100 years old.

One Asheville Citizen article dated Jan. 29, 1940, described a winter wonderland on a section of the French Broad River in Arden.

“Trees and bushes along the banks are loaded with ice and snow, making the whole a white fairyland,” the article said. “Even the creeks, including Avery, are nearly solid ice. Some of the boys of the neighborhood have been sliding on the ice.”

The same article detailed the extent of the freeze, stating that the section of river had been frozen over for the past week. According to this article, the French Broad was so icy that it was impossible to see any running water at all while standing on Glenn Bridge in Arden and looking up and down the river.

For a sense of what types of temperatures might allow for these conditions, the same Citizen article stated that temperatures had reached lows between 3 and 5 degrees. As of this winter, NOAA data from an Asheville weather station on Wesley Branch Road showed that the lowest temperature from Dec. 21 through Feb. 2 was 8 degrees on Jan. 17 — the only date this winter with a low below 10 degrees.

An article we found at UNC Asheville's Ramsey Library from the Jan. 29, 1940, edition of the Citizen Times said: "The French Broad river was covered in a sheet of ice at numerous points today. It was the first time the river here has been frozen over this season, and — although no official records on the subject are kept by the weather bureau — is believed to be the first time in many years."

Another clipping provided by Special Collections came from the Asheville Gazette 124 years ago in 1900. While the French Broad was apparently not frozen over, the article, titled “Skating excellent,” stated that blocks of ice had been spotted floating down the river for several days. And, while the French Broad did not freeze over, many residents of the Asheville area took to ponds and even large frozen areas of the Swannanoa River to ice skate — or at least attempt it.

“At any time the always comical scene of persons learning to skate can be seen and there are an unusual number of them who are bearing the taunts and jeers of the onlookers for the sake of learning the graceful art,” the article stated. “More than one person in Asheville has bruised and sore spots that he is saying nothing about, but of which he is sensible all the time.”

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Answer Woman: Has the French Broad River in Asheville ever frozen?