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Quilter, we've had the family home in Boone for 20 years, and my mom's side of the family is from SW Va for many generations and still lives there and I have property there. I've been in the mountains all my life. The spouse is from Charlotte. I'm very familiar with the weather in both locales. Is it hotter in Charlotte, yes, definitely. Is is more humid? Nope, it's not.
I love Asheville and think it's well worth coming to check out. It IS humid, but with the lower temps it is more tolerable on most summer days. Some days it can be very similar to the Pacific Northwest, but overall it's sunnier and warmer in the summer and a little cooler and snowier in the winter.
FWIW, I also lived for a year in Los Angeles. It's a Very Different Climate with those crazy Santa Ana winds in the fall that feel like a hair dryer set on hot blowing you down the street.
I moved earlier this year from a very hot & humid area (Southwest Florida) and, although I am about 75 miles east of Asheville in Macon County, I will toss in my 2 cents worth.
I was very surprised when the air turned warm and the humidity was so high this summer. The dew points were also very high and, on many days, the air was saturated. However, the big difference for me is that the air at night is much cooler in the mountains and Franklin's elevation is only 2,119 ft. In Florida, if it is 95 most of the day in August, then the temperature will still hover around 80 at night. Here the temperature will usually be 80-something most of the summer, with a few days reaching 90. But even on those days, the temperature will drop 20 degrees by late evening. So you do not get the continuous day after day, night after night of sweltering heat. I do not know if it's the same in Asheville.
Maybe I've been no help at all, because Charlotte isn't in SWFL, but I think someone might notice the difference because of the lower temperature in the higher elevations. OTOH, if someone is looking for a dry climate like Arizona or So Calif, Western NC is probably not a good choice.
July 2015 Charlotte averages: avg dewpoint 66º, avg high temp 93º
The temp is lower, but the humidity/dewpoint is virtually the same, which is what I said. If you can find numbers that prove differently feel free to post, but I don't believe you'll be able to. It's very humid in the mountains, just not as hot. BTW, if you want to scroll down on those wunderground pages you can see the relative humidity percentages for each day. Note that it's significantly higher in Asheville than in Charlotte. Dewpoint is more useful as a "real feel" indicator, though.
The 86° in Asheville and 93° for Charlotte are both above normal. I prefer to use the 30 year averages (currently 1981-2010) that the NWS uses. Every 10 years they update with a new decade of data.
Asheville July Normals: H 84.0 / L 63.7 3.1 Days per July of 90°+
Charlotte July Normals: H 89.0 / L 68.1 13.6 Days per July of 90°+
I do agree that dewpoint is a better measure of real feel since it reflects the actual amount of water vapor in the air rather than relative humidity.
July 2015 Charlotte averages: avg dewpoint 66º, avg high temp 93º
The temp is lower, but the humidity/dewpoint is virtually the same, which is what I said. If you can find numbers that prove differently feel free to post, but I don't believe you'll be able to. It's very humid in the mountains, just not as hot. BTW, if you want to scroll down on those wunderground pages you can see the relative humidity percentages for each day. Note that it's significantly higher in Asheville than in Charlotte. Dewpoint is more useful as a "real feel" indicator, though.
Tell that to all the Floridians who flock here by the thousands in the summer. They don't go to Charlotte for the summer.
An average of 84.0 degrees and 63.7 dew point in the summer in Asheville is a huge difference of 92.0+ temps. and 92.0 dew point in FL during the summer.
And that is only Asheville; Hendersonville has even lower numbers; and we don't compare Hendersonville or Asheville to Boone which is a 2 hr. drive north, just as Charlotte is a 2 hr. drive south. Hendersonville did have a few more days this past summer of around 93, unusual. We had a very dry summer almost to the point of a drought until the Sept. rains.
QuilterChick, the numbers don't lie. Asheville and Charlotte have virtually the same dewpoint, and if you really want to look into it Asheville has a higher relative humidity much of the time.
Asheville is not as hot as Charlotte and no one ever claimed it was. The OP asked if it was humid. They're coming from Southern California (not Florida, who said anything about Florida?!) and the answer is yes, it is humid in Asheville. Hot? Not as hot as elsewhere in NC, but it can have some more than warm-ish days in the summer. Definitely nowhere near as hot as the Inland Empire of the LA gigantopolis.
And as a reminder, we're talking about Charlotte vs Asheville because the OP was entertaining job transfers in both cities, but they live in the desert of Southern California right now and are concerned about humidity, not heat. They don't mind dry heat, but don't like hot and humid and have crossed Charlotte off their list.
Asheville is the only NC city to make City-Data's list of 101 most humid cities w/ pop 50,000+ https://www.city-data.com/top2/c485.html . Charlotte did not make the list.There are LOTS of Texas and PNW cities, then Mississippi and Louisiana. FWIW, Asheville sits smack in the middle of the Florida cities with 6 being more humid and 6 less humid. I have no idea of the methodology used on that list, but apparently City-Data has crunched some numbers found somewhere and come up with that.
I LOVE Asheville and think it's well worth coming to visit and see what you think. The humidity may not bother you since it's not usually as hot. FWIW, the humidity is much less in the winter — lots of chapped lips and dry hands. Snow sometimes, too!
Tell that to all the Floridians who flock here by the thousands in the summer. They don't go to Charlotte for the summer.
An average of 84.0 degrees and 63.7 dew point in the summer in Asheville is a huge difference of 92.0+ temps. and 92.0 dew point in FL during the summer.
And that is only Asheville; Hendersonville has even lower numbers; and we don't compare Hendersonville or Asheville to Boone which is a 2 hr. drive north, just as Charlotte is a 2 hr. drive south. Hendersonville did have a few more days this past summer of around 93, unusual. We had a very dry summer almost to the point of a drought until the Sept. rains.
I have to agree with QC, the summers in Asheville are much more tolerable than Charlotte.
Last edited by Above Average Bear; 10-19-2015 at 08:12 PM..
Reason: Spelling error
I have to agree with QC, the summers in Asheville are much moreover tolerable than Charlotte.
I'd say somewhat more tolerable, not much more.
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