Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > North Carolina > Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Cary
 [Register]
Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Cary The Triangle Area
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 08-25-2016, 04:55 PM
 
Location: Raleigh, NC
10,728 posts, read 22,756,587 times
Reputation: 12325

Advertisements

Quote:
Originally Posted by paint23 View Post
It seems the northwest area, near Eno and Duke and the southwest area and Chatham county areas may be good places for me to live. Are these areas similar weather-wise? Thank you.
Just how far apart do you think these areas are?

The weather is the same, like anywhere that's just a few miles apart Sometimes a storm will roll through and it will rain one place but not another, but--do you come from a part of the country where 5-10 miles at the same elevationmeans a major climate difference?

Quote:
Weather in CA varies so much depending on where one is that it didn't occur to me that an entire state could be so similar weather-wise.
Well, nobody said the entire state is the same--we have fairly high mountains in the west and beaches on the east. There's a big difference between them, and between one region of the state and another...but not in the SAME CITY!

Go to Google Images and search for "North Carolina weather map" and you'll find many different scales (temperature, precipitation, first frost, etc) that show how diverse the STATE is from one end to the other--but Durham is right in the middle (about where the "R" of "RDU in the first map is) and there is trivial variation from there within several counties, with the exception of a storm passing through.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 08-25-2016, 05:51 PM
 
Location: Research Triangle Area, NC
6,335 posts, read 5,427,906 times
Reputation: 9962
This made me laugh but yeah you can cut the guy some slack if he's from California. It's not uncommon there to have very different climates within very close proximity to each other.

One thing to note is that we get much more seasonal variation in NC too. Winter will be much colder and summer much hotter than you are probably used to. Fall and Spring are really nice.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-25-2016, 06:17 PM
 
Location: under the beautiful Carolina blue
22,640 posts, read 36,609,195 times
Reputation: 19847
Quote:
Originally Posted by ucctgg View Post
As the OP stated, San Diego is a good example. It can be 75 near the beach and 95 a bit inland ---- seriously.
Long Island is similar to that - set off to work one morning to a lovely dusting of snow on grassy surfaces, got to work and I was the only one there - there was a flat out blizzard to the east....but really - there's no external factors like, say, THE OCEAN that would affect weather to that degree here. Live and learn with the level of knowledge, I guess.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-25-2016, 08:20 PM
 
70 posts, read 59,615 times
Reputation: 47
Thanks Tarheelnick.

Yup, I can completely relate to that Twingles. I'm sure that happened to me when I lived in New England.

I do realize now why this question seems so ridiculous to many. My apologies and thanks for all the responses.

It's funny how the mind doesn't always register a new environment or the obvious. For a long time I lived in places where winters were cold and snowy. When I moved to SoCal and would see steep roads or driveways, I would immediately think how difficult or impossible they would be to drive on in the winter. And now, having spent most of my life living near a coast and nearly 20 years in SoCal where 10 miles does make a difference, I'm asking about non-coastal, non-CA weather...

Thanks for the patience and for knocking my brain back to the land of common sense.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-25-2016, 08:28 PM
 
Location: Chapel Hill, NC, formerly NoVA and Phila
9,766 posts, read 15,723,646 times
Reputation: 10865
Quote:
Originally Posted by paint23 View Post
Thanks Tarheelnick.

Yup, I can completely relate to that Twingles. I'm sure that happened to me when I lived in New England.

I do realize now why this question seems so ridiculous to many. My apologies and thanks for all the responses.

It's funny how the mind doesn't always register a new environment or the obvious. For a long time I lived in places where winters were cold and snowy. When I moved to SoCal and would see steep roads or driveways, I would immediately think how difficult or impossible they would be to drive on in the winter. And now, having spent most of my life living near a coast and nearly 20 years in SoCal where 10 miles does make a difference, I'm asking about non-coastal, non-CA weather...

Thanks for the patience and for knocking my brain back to the land of common sense.
I don't think you need to apologize. You asked a harmless question based on your experiences. Everyone's "normal" is different. I remember reading on the Alaska board that one resident traveled somewhere in the lower-48 and went out at night and was shocked that it was warm outside. He said he had no idea that it could be warm and dark at the same time. Sounds silly to us that someone wouldn't know that it can be warm at night, but it makes perfect sense based on where he was coming from.

Last edited by michgc; 08-25-2016 at 08:58 PM..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-26-2016, 07:38 AM
 
Location: Durham, NC
2,586 posts, read 9,082,808 times
Reputation: 1719
We certainly don't have the sorts of microclimates that one finds in California, however there are some subtle differences in temperature between NW Durham and other parts of the county. I live off of Rose of Sharon Rd., which sits at almost 500' in altitude. I consistently notice a drop of between 2-5 degrees when driving home, and the drop occurs over just a couple of miles. This is in part due to the slight change in altitude, but it also indicates that NW Durham is closer to an invisible line that separates Roxboro from the rest of the region, meteorologically at least. Roxboro is our region's snowy spot and is also consistently cooler than other parts of the Triangle region. So despite all the snide remarks, there might actually be a slight difference in the overall climate as the OP asked about. Unfortunately, it's still really hot and muggy in the summer no matter where you are in the area.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-26-2016, 07:59 AM
 
Location: Raleigh
13,652 posts, read 12,307,612 times
Reputation: 20094
I will mention, that whenever we get a winter weather pattern coming through, Roxboro, which is the seat of Person County directly to the north of Durham County (but not the City,) always seems to get the most snow. At least, that's where WRAL seems to go. It is at the far northern reaches of what could be called the Triangle area.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-26-2016, 08:17 AM
 
635 posts, read 1,613,279 times
Reputation: 711
There's a pretty big area spread between the far northern part of the county and the far southern part, so while most folks are correct that on the whole you won't find much noticeable difference in weather, it's most noticeable on snow days. Because we have a county wide school system, the whole system (all 28 or so elementary school, etc) has to follow the same closings for snow days. This causes a lot of drama and irritation for folks in the Southern part of the county, because it nearly always is snowier in the northern part, and stays icier longer. So school can be cancelled because of road issues in the norther parts, when the southern part of the county is completely clear and free of ice and snow.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-26-2016, 11:32 AM
 
Location: Research Triangle Area, NC
6,335 posts, read 5,427,906 times
Reputation: 9962
Quote:
Originally Posted by jill7930 View Post
There's a pretty big area spread between the far northern part of the county and the far southern part, so while most folks are correct that on the whole you won't find much noticeable difference in weather, it's most noticeable on snow days. Because we have a county wide school system, the whole system (all 28 or so elementary school, etc) has to follow the same closings for snow days. This causes a lot of drama and irritation for folks in the Southern part of the county, because it nearly always is snowier in the northern part, and stays icier longer. So school can be cancelled because of road issues in the norther parts, when the southern part of the county is completely clear and free of ice and snow.
This can actually go both ways...

A lot of our biggest snow-makers are systems that approach from the south with a significant amount of gulf moisture. If the edge of the storm starts to taper off in NC; areas further south can get significantly more snowfall than areas further north. When the insane blizzard of 2000 hit; Cary/ Apex had more snow than North Durham/Wake Forest up to Roxoboro because it was one of those systems.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-28-2016, 03:54 PM
 
70 posts, read 59,615 times
Reputation: 47
Thanks Michgc

That is interesting about the drop in temp. and amount of snowfall in Roxboro, Person County. I can deal with hot and muggy, but cold snowy winters are tough for me. Really good info. and conversation regarding the "snow-makers" etc.

I was thinking it'd be really nice to live near the Eno River Park and Duke. I still do, but will take all this into consideration when I visit and drive around the NW and SW areas.

Much appreciated!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:



Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > North Carolina > Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Cary

All times are GMT -6. The time now is 01:18 AM.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top