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For the Northeast, you are strictly talking about the inland Northeast away from the Megalopolis urban heat islands. It rarely goes below mid 60s at night from late June to early Sept. from Boston to DC.
In the interior Northeast, the record lows are in the low 30s for this time of year so I would say the potential spread for lows between the interior and the coast is quite large.
Boone NC and Concord NH have the same avg. year-round temperature - due to elevation, that area (Ashe, Watauga, Avery, Yancey and Mitchell Counties in NC) are a radical climatalogical departure from the SE US norms. Very rainy and humid, but cool in the spring, summer and early fall; 90 degree temps are rare. I lived in Boone for 12 years and saw it hit 90 degrees on maybe 5 occasions.
Winters are another story. When it's 35 in Atlanta, Charlotte or Knoxville, it's 20 or colder in Boone, with blowing snow. There were winters when it would start snowing in mid-November, and I didn't see bare ground again until the 2nd week of April.
Avery County is has the highest average elevation (around 4000 feet above sea level) of any county east of the Miss. River; Boone is the highest town with a population of over 10,000 (Boone's pop. is between 17,000 and 18,000); and Beech Mountain (at just below 6000 feet) is the highest incorporated town in the eastern half of the country.
The mountains of SW NC, which have lower valley elevations, but taller ridge elevations (50 of the 52 peaks* east of the Miss. River which top 6000' in elevation are entirely, or partially in NC, and most are in that particular region) is the 2nd rainiest place in the US, after the coastal Pacific Northwest. Areas around Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and just to south and southwest fall JUST shy of what would qualify as a non-tropical / temperate rain forest.
* - Mt Washington, NH and Mt Leconte, TN are the two exceptions.
I am familiar with both and live near the Concord, NH region presently. The big negative about Boone is the much stronger winds during the colder seasons which can be quite unpleasant. Also, the driving on mountain roads in Boone with black ice and lots of freeze/thaw cycles is not fun. Concord does have a lower sun angle during winter, but the brightness during sunny days is magnified by snow cover which you don't get as much further south. I'm big into skiing so I do enjoy the winter conditions in both places, but NH has far better ski conditions for much longer than Boone. Boone is often hit or miss with some bigger snow years and other years with very little.
Records are falling everywhere again today. The higher elevation theory doesn't hold water in Denver these days. I have a very bad feeling about the fire season out there this summer. They need rain desperately. Hopefully the monsoon season will start up shortly.
Just a quickly sampling of a few records.
Denver: 105F
McCook, Neb 115F
Hill City, KS 115F
Russell, KS 112F
The heatwave is going to be horrid for many regions of the country this summer. This will make the drought even worse, leading to crop losses in numerous locations if the pattern doesn't change in two weeks. I saw the writing on the wall years ago and knew I had to move much further north to escape the worsening durations of heat in the southern 1/2 of the US.
St. Louis Lambert International Airport recorded 108F yesterday, the hottest temperature ever recorded for June. This is definitely not an average heat wave for the central US.
Nothing is "average" about what's going on, and even naysayers of "Global Climate Change" won't deny it's warming, just whether it's caused by human activity (it's part of a natural trend, they say). It seems though that this is our "new" weather for some time to come, so I'd suggest getting used to that idea instead of denying it and waiting for relief. What does that mean for this country and where people live -- I don't know. I just know that it'll be next to impossible to excape 95-100+ degrees in almost any city in the USA for the rest of our natural lives (with a few exceptions like Hawaii, Alaska and cities hemmed by oceans and mountains, like out West).
I'm fair skinned and grew up in the Mojave desert in California. I HATE to be hot! Also lived in south Texas...ugh. Never again. Also lived in Tulsa, and those summers were too hot too!
Now I live in Michigan....ah, yes. The winters are too cold in January and February to be sure, and spring is a sad joke. But the trade off is beautiful, spectacular summers! A few weeks that are too hot, but some summers only have a few DAYS like that, and even when we do have hot spells, I know from experience that they are NOTHING like the south. For which I'm thankful.
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