Post by zebra on May 31, 2024 20:14:50 GMT
As mentioned in the podcast, southwestern North Carolina suffered severe hail and lightning storms around the end of May and early June of 1997. I found the following entry for nearby Catawba County on June 2:
"Severe thunderstorms moved in from Upstate South Carolina during the early morning hours becoming more widespread across portions of western North Carolina. Large and damaging hail occurred in many locations, and a number of places were affected by two or three different storms. The hail caused extensive damage and the dollar total will no doubt end up in the millions for both property and crop damage. The counties which were hit hardest were McDowell and Rutherford. At one car dealership in Marion the damage reached $500 thousand quickly. At least one insurance company set up a disaster center to process claims involving many cars and roofs which were hail damaged. Only one downburst was known to have occurred and resulted in trees downed across Highway 221 north of Rutherfordton. At Tryon, an historic house and contents including some antiques, burned to the ground. Lightning at Newton struck several residences, causing fire damage."
Also:
Severe weather carried over from the morning in the foothills and into the piedmont, and developed in the mountains. Large hail caused much (although unknown dollar amounts) damage. The storms were quite slow moving, especially around Asheville and near Hendersonville, and caused hail for some time.
(emphasis added)
See: www.weather.gov/media/pub/pdf/sdata/061997.pdf
As noted in the podcast, by 1997, Wilmer was no longer engaged in the "waterman" business and was working primarily as a tree-trimmer. Having worked briefly as a "grunt" in that field myself during college days, I can guarantee that there is always a lot of removal work for tree-trimmers following devastating wind and hail storms. So, it wouldn't be too surprising if he'd been down there for that kind of opportunity in early June, when Ms. Lundgren was murdered.
"Severe thunderstorms moved in from Upstate South Carolina during the early morning hours becoming more widespread across portions of western North Carolina. Large and damaging hail occurred in many locations, and a number of places were affected by two or three different storms. The hail caused extensive damage and the dollar total will no doubt end up in the millions for both property and crop damage. The counties which were hit hardest were McDowell and Rutherford. At one car dealership in Marion the damage reached $500 thousand quickly. At least one insurance company set up a disaster center to process claims involving many cars and roofs which were hail damaged. Only one downburst was known to have occurred and resulted in trees downed across Highway 221 north of Rutherfordton. At Tryon, an historic house and contents including some antiques, burned to the ground. Lightning at Newton struck several residences, causing fire damage."
Also:
Severe weather carried over from the morning in the foothills and into the piedmont, and developed in the mountains. Large hail caused much (although unknown dollar amounts) damage. The storms were quite slow moving, especially around Asheville and near Hendersonville, and caused hail for some time.
(emphasis added)
See: www.weather.gov/media/pub/pdf/sdata/061997.pdf
As noted in the podcast, by 1997, Wilmer was no longer engaged in the "waterman" business and was working primarily as a tree-trimmer. Having worked briefly as a "grunt" in that field myself during college days, I can guarantee that there is always a lot of removal work for tree-trimmers following devastating wind and hail storms. So, it wouldn't be too surprising if he'd been down there for that kind of opportunity in early June, when Ms. Lundgren was murdered.
!
