There are so many variables that effect weather. I'd say the general right area would be more in the foothills than in the mountains. Either place you can get those bone chilling temperatures but the summer is more temperate in the mountains.
All I know is that the foothills has harsher winter and thunderstorms than we do here in Charlotte area. A lot depends on rivers and highways which tend to feed and channel the worst storms.
I'd think you'd have to consult with residents in the areas you're looking at in the mountains. Lots of variables not to mention forest fires and residual rains and flooding from hurricanes that come up from the Gulf.

It's all so relative. When I first moved from FL to NC I thought anything less than 40 degrees F was 'bone chilling'. But I also laughed when people complained about the heat and humidity.

Here are 2 sites (only the first is in the link though). The first one is is a question similar to yours and a bunch of answers. With color illustrations!

http://www.city-data.com/forum/north-carolina/99062-climate-temperatures-precipitation-east-west-side.html

You might also like this site:

http://boatingbeta.com/weather

Here is a link that might be useful: Helpful discussion on NC Mountain weather

Hi,

I came from Chicago, so I'm sure my idea of cold and yours is not the same.

The two biggies here are altitude and how close you are to the mountains. For altitude, I think it is 3-5 degrees colder for every 1000 feet in elevation. This means more snow and a lot more ice, which is more of a problem here.

When you get further west and especially further south, you get more rain. I am not sure how much you get where you live, but transylvania county is the wettest county west of the Rockies. Where I am we average 80" a year. A bit further south and west of me you get even more. This does make growing some plants very challenging, especially roses, due to black spot. The soil is also very acidic. The flipside is that everything here is very lush.

Here the lowest winter temps are about 15 degrees. Higher elevations are of course colder. I'm not sure it gets much warmer anywhere because we are at about 2200 feet and there aren't many areas all that much lower in the "mountain" counties.

The great thing is that it cools down in the evening in the summer. Much cooler than in Chicago, usually mid 60s and sometimes cooler.

We chose to live in a valley. The slopes on the mountains are a bit intimidating coming from the chicago prairie, although we literally live at the edge of the valley, and are out in the country. We are on a well and septic and have basically no city services. Works well for us but may not for everyone.

Also, the traffic on 26 is horrendous... something to keep in mind if you plan on using it regularly. It can be easily over an hour to go from the Flat Rock (Hendersonville) exit to Asheville on a Friday.

I'm glad we ended up here rather than closer to Asheville. But again, everyone is different.

Hope this helps!

We love it here!!

jc

hey jc,

thanks for posting, that's exactly the kind of information I am looking for. I was SHOCKED to read how much rainfall you get. I had looked at NC's rainfall in general as a state and was worried it was going to be way too dry for my taste. in florida, we get around 50" a year when there is no overwhelming drought or 4 major hurricanes in a row. we get almost all of our rain during summer and winter is dry as a bone. so, your news is good news. however, does all that rain make for lots of mosquitos? I seem to a magnet to them.

how can I find out which counties are mountain counties? and if you are at the edge of a valley, how hot do your summer temps get? that is my main concern, the heat.

michelle

Hi there,

We moved from Chicago-land to the Marshall area, Madison County, north of Asheville, and we love gardening here.

At 40-some inches of rain, this area is a lot dryer than Transylvania County. This area is called the "dry ridge" of the Appalachians. My 3 David Austin roses and 2 Golden Shower roses have done well with minimal attention, no winter coverage. Even lavender has done well. At 2400 ft we are a high point in a valley. The winter snows are beautiful and only stay for a day, although we have friends in the county just west of us who regularly get snowed in.

If you are considering a new home, spend a day there and see when the sun dissapears behind a mountain, no direct sun after 3pm is great in the summer, but not for me in winter.

When we walk, we pass a cliff on the north side of a ridge, it is noticably cooler at that one spot. And, blueridgemtngrl is correct on the difference elevation makes in temperature. Then ya have to consider the effect of a nearby stream on the tempurature. Lots of microclimates here.

Good luck.

rocktoter,

I looked up madison's temps and precip information and it looks like you are in the 'rain shadow' that asheville is in? is that right?

so you are in a valley high point and yet your elevation is still 2400? my impression of a valley is hot with little wind? is that right? I agree I would love the mtn/cliff shade in summer but hate it in winter. with only 40 inches of rain a year and your roses are happy, do you have irrigation?

what are the pro's and con's of being in the valley? you know in relation to wind, rain, wildfires, soil?

michelle

Michelle: As you can see, I split my time between south Florida and the NC mountains. If you stay out of the valleys, the temps are downright comfortable in the summer compared to what you had in Florida. With the rains, I worried about mosquitos but its the little gnats that that are bad. A bucket of citronella is all we need to sit out on our deck over the creek and keep the bugs at bay. We are between 3200 and 3300 feet and get quite a bit of "mist". Even with this record 118 year drought, our spring has supplied enough water for the house and yard. Sunlight depends on your direction and relation to other mountains. We are on the "morning side" of the mountain so direct sunlight is good until about 3:00 in the summer. Look for Swain, Jackson, and Yancey counties if you want the southtern mountains. What a great change from Florida, I know you will like it as much as I do. Good Luck! Cheryl

Wildlifegarden: I provided a link with one of my posts. If you scroll down on the page discussing NC weather, there is a map showing all the counties in the mountains in NC. Those are the only counties it shows. Did you look at the link?

cheryl, thanks for that input. are you saying that if I want morning sun like you have, that I should look at the mountain areas in the S.W. corner of N.C.? that is the area I have been trying to narrow down. I am so afraid that the summer temps will still be hot as florida.

laurabs, yes, I did find that post on marcia's thread. the only way I can get to it is to go to the climate thread and scroll down till I find the image. I could not save the image in my favorites as a bookmark, it saves a blank state map instead.

do you guys have photos to share? I would LOVE to see your spot of heaven.

pls clear this up for me - when a house or piece of land is listed, they always mention it's subdivision. does that ALWAYS indicate it is one of these subdivisions like we have taking over, where the houses all look the same and they strip the land of all the trees and then demand huge wal-marts and such???

michelle

Yes, we are in the 'rain shadow' that asheville is in. But we are a bit higher and cooler than downtown.

No, there is usualy a lvely breeze. Hot, last August was in the 90s a lot, but we've had only a couple of days that hot this summer. It's been in the 70s today. But, again, two miles make a big difference. Seriously, the streams and elevation make a huge difference.

I have been watering the roses and a few new bushes during this droughty summer. But we've had rain every day for the last week.

It's cooler in the mountains. Different things grow at different elevations. If you were to drive up to Mt. Mitchell, there are fascinating changes in the trees and plants as you go higher.

In the pic below you can see that we are higher than surrounding hills, but lower than those tall mountains to the east. One those are conncted to the range which has Mt. Mitchel, the highest point east of the Rockies.

Other pics are at: http://members.aol.com/fireflyhillnc/fireflypics.html

http://members.aol.com/fireflyhillnc/pics/firefly/fall.jpg

This pic looks toward the highest privately owned land east of the Rockies, Ogle Meadows which is very cool, and, before that, moderate hills in the valley between ranges. You really have to spend some time for there are so many different climates.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:581887}}

rocktoter, thx for the pics! what valley are you near? maggie valley is the only one I noticed on the google maps.

I was just reading on city-data that the streams sometimes flood and you cannot drive through it. I think this was in the waynesville area. do you have that experience ??? wow, what happens to your plants in a flood, do they die?

michelle

Michelle: Don't let the "subdivision" thing fool you. It's not what you and I know from Florida. I looked in the Tobacco Branch subdivision (over by Lake Fontana) and best I could tell, subdivision meant I could see my neighbors roof (if I looked down and over at just the right angle) and there was a HOA that maintained the road. I ended up not in a "subdivision". Road maintenance is important if you are going to be on the mountains. The state maintains our road literally up to the sign that says "State Maintenance Ends". When I mean literally, I mean I have seen them back the snowplow even with the sign to start clearing. Since we are above the sign, we have to clear the road and bridge from the house to the sign. As far as flooding, we have a creek and even with heavy rains it stays in the banks,remember that water flows downhill, so when the lower elevations are flooding we are not because the water moves pretty fast downstream. As far as sun, remember each mountain has different faces. The people that have a summer pace on the evening side of where I live have "hotter" exposure because they get sun in the hotter parts of the day. If you are worried about heat, look for a place that has trees closer to the house for the shade. Maggie Valley is very expensive (in my book)but not everything in a valley has valley in the name. For example the Leatherman Gap area outside of Franklin does't sound like a valley, but it is (and a very pretty one at that).
The only plants that I have lost to water are those that I planted too close to the spring and creek, thinking that the ground would dry in the summer (it didn't and now I don't know why I thought it would). We live and learn!

thanks guys for the brain-picking. I have a 1,000 questions but some are not garden related. so, I will try to search city-data for some information. I appreciate your help.

michelle