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Asheville and Boone have my favorite climate in the country, for what it's worth. Summer temperatures are tamed a little bit and winters are a bit more wintery, without losing any sunlight, and without going overboard. They still get four seasons, and all four seasons are quite enjoyable.
It's really not. I was looking up data from that really intense heat wave in July several years ago where we had a week+ of 100+ degree days (not heat index) and one of the days that month did have 100% humidity (which means it's raining, basically) and 95º. Dewpoint is a more accurate measure of how humidity feels. We regularly have dewpoints in the 70s in the summer, often above 75º, which the video below describes as "oppressive":
You are 100% correct that dewpoint is the best (and really the only) way to describe humidity. Dewpoint is a measure of the amount of water present in the air, and doesn't change much during the day (unless a new air mass is moving in). Relative humidity is just a comparison of how much water is in the air compared to what it can hold, and so it changes as the temp changes throughout the day (highest when it is cool, lowest when it is hot). At 100%, it means that the air can't hold any more and it starts to condense (fog, dew). Another way of saying it is that the dewpoint is the temperature where the relative humidity of air with a certain water amount is 100%.
The highest dewpoint (the most humid) on record in Charlotte is 78F. At that dewpoint and at 95F the relative humidity is "only" 58%, which doesn't sound bad but is terribly humid for sure. 100% (or even 90%) relative humidity at 95 degrees has never happened here and never will.
This is a great site where you can see what the RH, temp, and dewpoint relationships are. At least it's great for a nerd like me....
I'm sure Florida in the summer wouldn't bother me but I'm weird that way and love heat and humidity. Can't wait for summer to get here. So tired of this winter weather that has been dragging on. Usually we're well into spring by now.
Almost all of the southeast has a humid subtropical climate. The southern end of Florida (like down around Miami, West Palm Beach and the Keys) is a tropical climate.
I am so jonesing for some 80s/90s/even 100s right now and I LOVE the humidity. My skin gets so dry in the winter. I think I was a lizard in a former life. I'm so sluggish until I get some heat going. I know, I'm weird.
I'm the exact same way. Summers in NC are awesome. The only thing I don't like about it is some of the bugs (mainly mosquitoes) and the dashboard in your car be dangerously hot.
Hot and humid weather is heaven to me. What I don't like about NC is those unstable ass winters.
Wilmington has the same average temps in January and February as Columbia, so I don't see any difference.
Hwy. corridors aren't the best geography to use for this sort of thing. I-40 can be in the far SE corner of the state at the beach, or 4,000 feet above sea level in the mountains.
Except that interstates were routed to go through urban areas that had already been prominent for a hundred years or more. The weather isn't a factor, except for lack of long winters like the northeast and upper midwest have. Atlanta grew because it was a railroad hub, then an airplane hub.
I know it's weird for me to response to a old comment on an old thread lol. Anyway, I think what urbancharlotte means about I-40 is the I-85 corridor before it splits from I-40. I know you already know this but coming from Wilmington or Raleigh on I-40, I-40 and I-85 merge somewhere in Orange County (I-85 comes down from VA) and they split somewhere near Greensboro. I-40 continues towards the west, and I-85 goes south towards Charlotte.
Also, I-40 cross I-95 near Smithfield so urbancharlotte could also be referring to I-40 coming from the west until crosses I-95. Interstate 95 and the I-40 interchange is in Johnston County, which is considered a solid zone 8A (Raleigh in Wake County is considered borderline 8A/7B on the current official USDA plant hardiness zone map - Smithfield is a few degrees warmer on average in winter, which is not much on paper, but when it comes to plants and trees, or growing food, every degree seems to make a difference to people who deal with that) in hardiness where doesn't go below 10F vast majority of years. Greensboro average temperature in Jan is not even 50F, and Raleigh is 52F. Plus, Greensboro a few more inches of snow on average (I think 8 or 9 inches annually) than Raleigh (which is 5 or 6 inches at the airport - amounts seem to vary among sources) and the northern Piedmont has a higher winter severity index than the lower Piedmont and coastal plain locations of the state of course - so urbancharlotte may not think the Triad cities and maybe even parts of the Triangle (RDU metro) don't quite have that goldilocks climate he refers to.
For whatever reason, some USDA scientists in the 1990s devised a Natural Amenities Scale and ranked US counties based on "six measures of climate, topography, and water area that reflect environmental qualities most people prefer." Not surprisingly, all 10 top counties are in coastal California.
But! There's a splotch of counties in the far SW corner of NC, and reaching over the GA/SC line, that are among the top-10% of all US counties for "natural amenities." Martin and Greene, near but not on the coast, rank among the lowest 10%.
This splotch is indeed the highest-ranked area on the entire east coast, at least north of St. Augustine, FL. (Central and South Florida coastal counties rank higher.) Four counties in coastal New England (ME, RI, CT) also rank pretty high, but not quite as high.
Nope, definitely doesn't exist on the east coast unless you're in the higher elevations (Maybe Boone for example). Although winters here are usually mild, but summers still get very hot and humid, just for a shorter time period than say Florida.
For some reason, the USDA map still shows WNC as having "low scores" on humidity, but WeatherSpark rates Boone pretty well:
- Almost never "oppressive" humidity (vs. ~40% of late-July days in the Piedmont)
- No days when it's "freezing" all day
- 7 solid months (Apr-Oct) of mild daytime temperatures
There's a splotch of counties in the far SW corner of NC, and reaching over the GA/SC line, that are among the top-10% of all US counties for "natural amenities." Martin and Greene, near but not on the coast, rank among the lowest 10%.
Interesting, I guess they referring to the Wilmington area down past Savannah. Someone on this thread mentioned they personally considered this the "Goldilocks" climate. I was partially raised in low country (a bit more inland but not too far from the coast, in the Santee-Cooper region, which is between zone 8A to 8B in hardiness - using minimum temp reach annually rarely goes below 15F). I can say, the climate there is not too bad even though winters are still a little chilly for my taste but quite mild to even Philly or Baltimore standards. I also grew up in Fayetteville, NC and while the winters are a few degrees colder than the coastal Carolinas, we had quite a few days in the core winter weeks (late Dec to early Feb) where we don't need a jacket, a sweatshirt, hoodie, or even long sleeves to stay warm.
As for the coastal Carolinas (Flatwoods) south of Jacksonville NC, yeah I can agree with the USDA assessment because you have some beautiful natural parks there on the coast, for example Hunting Island is very beautiful and it has abundant subtropical vegetation. Even when the flatwoods region of NC north of Jacksonville has wonderful forests and pocosins that I feel it's beauty is vastly underrated.
That would be the SE corner of NC. The area paytonc is referring to looks like Graham, Cherokee and Clay counties.
Oh my bad, I clearly misread what he said. I think I seen what I wanted to see versus what was actually said, it's a subconscious thing...so it's all my fault. Southwestern NC climate is actually not too bad - they do get a lot of comfortable days throughout the year (low or no more than moderate humidity and comfortable temps that don't except 85F and drop below 65F during the day). Here is a map below that illustrates that:
I do notice the orange color on the map covers the area similar to where the guy was referring to having natural amenities within the top 10% of that USDA list. However, Western NC, Northeast corner of SC and Northern GA winters are a bit too cold for me (even though they are mild by lets say WV standards even). I rock with urbancharlotte on that, the more comfortable winters are towards the coast. I will take more hot humid summers with milder winters than more moderate, milder summers and springs with colder winters.
Columbia was mentioned has having a "Goldilocks" climate a couple of years ago on this thread, based on that map, Columbia does get plenty of nice days a year. I can agree the summers be scorching but Columbia is in the Sandhills region and that area absorbs a lot of solar energy. I'm like urbancharlotte, I actually dig heat and humidity.
Cold-air damming (CAD) is a big negative for the Piedmont area. It can be warmer further north but the area is socked in clouds and cold. Had a lot of it in the spring and with the latest noreaster where it was 33 and rain. I would rather just have snow or warm.
For whatever reason, some USDA scientists in the 1990s devised a Natural Amenities Scale and ranked US counties based on "six measures of climate, topography, and water area that reflect environmental qualities most people prefer." Not surprisingly, all 10 top counties are in coastal California.
But! There's a splotch of counties in the far SW corner of NC, and reaching over the GA/SC line, that are among the top-10% of all US counties for "natural amenities." Martin and Greene, near but not on the coast, rank among the lowest 10%.
This splotch is indeed the highest-ranked area on the entire east coast, at least north of St. Augustine, FL. (Central and South Florida coastal counties rank higher.) Four counties in coastal New England (ME, RI, CT) also rank pretty high, but not quite as high.
For some reason, the USDA map still shows WNC as having "low scores" on humidity, but WeatherSpark rates Boone pretty well:
- Almost never "oppressive" humidity (vs. ~40% of late-July days in the Piedmont)
- No days when it's "freezing" all day
- 7 solid months (Apr-Oct) of mild daytime temperatures
Yeah, Boone rarely has oppressive humidity, but I seriously doubt it has no days completely below freezing. Even Greensboro has such days in winter.
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