Downslope "foehn" winds along the Appalachian Mountains in the eastern United States are rarely strong enough to produce damage, especially compared to their western U.S. counterpart. On 8-9 January, 2003, an episode of damaging downslope winds was observed from western North Carolina to east central Pennsylvania. In addition to spotty wind damage, surface temperature rises of 8 to 11 degrees Celsius in less than 2 hours were observed in the lee of the mountains. Satellite imagery revealed the presence of an amplified mountain wave indicative of strong cross barrier flow. Local soundings showed the presence of a strong inversion coupled with wind speeds in excess of 70 kts just above ridge top level. This evidence is consistent with well-documented mountain wave windstorms in the lee of more significant mountain ranges in the western U.S. This event was also atypical of many Appalachian windstorms in that it was not associated with strong cold air advection and significant surface pressure rises behind a cold front. Comparisons are made with these more common Appalachian windstorms, as well as mountain wave windstorms in the western U.S. to better anticipate damaging winds east of the Appalachians. Satellite imagery, local soundings, meteograms, as well as horizontal and vertical displays of forecast model data will be used to help forecasters with general pattern recognition, and to evaluate specific parameters such as the Froude number and Scorer parameter for more accurate prediction of an amplified mountain waves and resultant downslope damaging winds.