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Was on very little last summer. Our property is heavily forested and we seem to get a lot of breeze up here.
I used to have a next door neighbor who always had a breeze and never ran their A/C but when it was real hot and humid they used to come over to check on us.
My mama's family has been in the mountains of SW Va for 300 yrs. We don't need no stinkin' A/C! Actually, as a kid growing up in SE NC (my dad's home turf) it was H-O-T in the summer and daddy liked it C-O-L-D in the house. I used to have to go outside to warm up cause he ran the A/C so much. I was kinda baffled to go to see my cousins in SW Va and find no A/C at all there (not even a window unit). The elevation where they live is a little bit lower than Asheville, just under 2000ft. It does get hot there in the summer, but I really don't mind it w/o A/C too much.
My MIL has a home in Boone that only recently got any A/C and she only put it in because she got a new furnace and it was part of the package. You really don't need A/C in that house. I've never felt hot there. It's at 3600ft and right on a cold water creek on 2 sides. It very rarely gets out of the 70s in Boone.
I used to have a next door neighbor who always had a breeze and never ran their A/C but when it was real hot and humid they used to come over to check on us.
Been here 12 years and this month has seemed rough. I don't mind cold, I grew up in Wisconsin, but the wind at 3,200 ft in the winter is brutal. But love those summer breezes!
mD at 5,000' don't know how you stay attached to terra firma :-)
Been here 12 years and this month has seemed rough. I don't mind cold, I grew up in Wisconsin, but the wind at 3,200 ft in the winter is brutal. But love those summer breezes! mD at 5,000' don't know how you stay attached to terra firma :-)
We lived at our Mtn home full time, for the first 5 years: it was beautiful some days, brutal for many days each season. Most winters had a few stretches of 'we aren't leaving the driveway' for several days, as the road down the Mtn is very steep, and even the hired gun plow service can't get up and down some storms.
We escape the past several winters to SW FL...mid Nov to mid April. It snows at our home in November and again in April every year while we are there, and it's 'nice to see/walk around in'.
When we get home in mid April, it is still a month before the trees leaf and the wait for stuff to pop out of the ground is several weeks of late April/early May also.
The wind as you noted is brutal, but it can be serious on any given storm day in 'summer'.
The house has suffered cosmetically in its 13+ years, from extreme weather. It is what it is, but it's still solid and standing.
I could do full time at our Mtn home again, if I had to...I don't have to, as we are lucky to have best of both.
I love western NC & Waynesville area; in hind sight we would have built/bought 'lower down Eagles Nest Mtn', but that may be for 'later', if I get to that 9th Inning.
GL, mD
md recall from some earlier pictures your place is spectacular! It is coming down like crazy now, no wind so it is beautiful! We will be homebound for several days but joy of retirement is...thats okay. Plows will eventually show up and sun will melt the drive someday. Happy snow to everyone!
Everyone has a different idea of what's too hot or too cold. I enjoy the cold weather, to a degree. (no pun intended..just came out that way! However, it's difficult for anyone to make a judgment without living in an area for a long time. For example, I left NH during a blizzard and drove to SW Florida where it was warm & sunny. At first I thought the weather was perfect, but I became very sick of the monotony, among other things. The summers aren't as unbearable as people often complain, but the hot weather starts in April and can last until Dec. I'm sure that's why so many people have winter homes in FL and live in the mountains in the summer.
Anyway, to answer the original question, yes. I didn't expect it to be this cold. However, it's been cold everywhere. I was in Fort Morgan AL in January and we experienced record lows. It was only 19 in Pensacola FL one night, with wind chills close to zero.
My problem is getting up and down (up is a lot easier) the roads in this subdivision when the weather is snowy and the ice storm Monday didn't help, although it wasn't as bad as I expected. As long as the power is on, I'm okay. I was warned that I might end up hitting a tree or driving into the woods if I try to get to 64, but I might take a chance, since I see many tire tracks on the road. Maybe I can drive in the tracks? By now route 9 must be sanded.
Anyway, as I said on a different thread, when I looked outside on Tuesday morning, it was as if I were looking at a beautiful Christmas card, something I've missed for over 20 years. It just never felt right seeing people in bathing suits on Christmas Day. (and I'm Jewish!
Just curious, how many days out of the year is snow on the ground in Asheville? In GR we generally have snow continuasly from the 2nd week of December until the 2nd week of March. So I'd say we average like 90 days a year with snow on the ground, bad years may be closer to 110, good years 70.
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Lol
However, it's difficult for anyone to make a judgment without living in an area for a long time. For example, I left NH during a blizzard and drove to SW Florida where it was warm & sunny. At first I thought the weather was perfect, but I became very sick of the monotony, among other things. The summers aren't as unbearable as people often complain, but the hot weather starts in April and can last until Dec. I'm sure that's why so many people have winter homes in FL and live in the mountains in the summer. 
