How cold does it get in N/S Carolina in winter?

Wood-fan-atic- I live in the Appalachian range at about 4500' above sea level, and have seen -10F. I used to be about a thousand feet higher and saw -20F. The locals call this area the "High South". We have a pretty long burn season with some really cold weather, not what most people would expect to find in North Carolina.

I am in South Carolina and we usually have mild winters. The burn season is about 6 months including long shoulder seasons. This time of year the mornings can be in the 40s and 80s in the afternoon. We have about 3 months that it would be normal to have below freezing temps and many wood burners will burn 24/7. We see the low teens a few times every year but it would be unusual to go below 0.

Another southern appalachia resident here: My house is ~2360 above sea level. Typical lows in January are in the 20's. I have scene it below zero as well. I am originally from MI and it is colder there. There are a number of differences. The first is that the winter days can warm up to the 40's or even 50's sometimes. That gives the roads a chance to clear, which is good, because snow and mountains are an interesting combo. Tire chains are always legal in states with mountains I have noticed.

Another difference is that gas fired furnaces seem to be rare here. Heating with a heat pump is the norm. It is a cold heat. While we are not spending $300 or more a month on propane or NG, my electric bill has been over $300 a month many times in the winter. For me that is heating ~ 1600 SF in a pretty tight house built in '97.

Precipitation, in my 11 year experience, tends to be more in the forming of freezing rain or wet snow since it is not as cold as up north. This heavy wet snow tends to stress weak trees and you can guess the next step. When we are getting a winter storm here, I carry a chain saw in my truck to make sure I get home. We got ~ 12 inches of wet snow last December and it knocked out power to 98% of the residents of the county I live in. This is the reason I purchased a woodstove this year though I have wanted one for a few years.

I have found that wood stoves are quite common here. 24/7 burning is quite common here in the winter. My friends with modern stoves tend to go through 2-3 cords of wood per year. This will be my first year so I don't know.

For sure elevation will make a huge difference. I've talked to some folks who lived in a city in Georgia and they always had relatively mild temperatures. However, when they retired and moved out into a mountainous region, they learned what cold was like. However, even then, their cold does not last nearly as long as it will in your NY state area.

We are in the upper part of South Carolina right against the North Carolina line, in the foothills of the mountains. Our winter here is usually six months long with long shoulder seasons. For the end of October I would expect the day temps to be mid sixties with most nights 40 or lower. During Dec, Jan and Feb I have seen lows in the mid teens with daytime temps around 40. Sometimes nights would be colder if a weather system came through with lots of wind. It might snow three or more times every season but it's usually never more than a couple of inches and it'll always melt in a couple of days. Most damage is caused by the occasional ice storm. We are on rural REA electric with bills around $120. per month. We tried heating with propane but didn't like it, especially with high monthly bills so now we use gas only for the kitchen cook stove, but to be fair, that was a long time ago. Now we have wood heat exclusively and are warm and comfortable. Our property taxes on our forty ac is usually around $1000. yearly but the charge to register a vehicle can get high depending on year and mileage etc. We are retired and really have it made here and wouldn't want to live anywhere else. David

One of the coldest nights I ever spent was just south of Clingman's Dome on the Appalachian Trail during late March.
My boots froze. My socks froze. My water filter froze. Elevation is a great equalizer in the southern mountains.

I see a lot of my neighbors here

I grew up on a Rhode Island island. The temperatures and weather patterns of my NC mountain home eerily parallel the island, which is very similar in climate to Long Island (I used to take that ferry out to Orient Point at least once a week). My mom likes to compare our weather, so we talk about this a lot. Our foliage turns sooner here. I am at about 2500 feet above sea level. I run heat from October through mid April. The mountains just a bit to the north sitting on the Tenn. border get quite a bit more snow. I was surpised at how cold much of the south is in the winter. Lots of 30 °F days even in places like Atlanta. My friend in Gainesville has a lot of coat+hat days. It doesn't really get warm until s.FL

Summers here in the mountains are relatively cool compared to the rest of the south. If I drive down to Greenville in August I cannot wait to get home. This summer was brutal though!

I love the Carolinas. So much that I think that it is where I am going to spend my "golden years", when I get there. I vacation in the OBX yearly and have spent a month in Charleston, SC. I love the people and the culture down there. A lot of great hospitality and nice people. You also get four seasons, without the torturous winter that we get here in New England. So, until I get to go house shopping down there in 15-20 years, I will just look forward to my vacations in the OBX.

Do you guys still make your own wiskey and stuff?

Nope. ;-)

Anyone else notice that sometimes those more mild climates seem to be the coldest ones...? Fall / winter Alabama and Seattle felt colder to me than January in Montana or upstate NY. Guess maybe it's the humidity, or just that you don't really expect it so houses, etc. aren't insulated like in the North?

I am on the Cumberland Plateau on the border of Middle and East Tennessee, and we probably have similar winters. We'll have many days in the 40s or 50s, but we'll also have bitter cold snaps that would probably surprise a few people. I know last winter we had 2 weeks of bitter Arctic air flow that keep us around 0 at nights, and we never left the teens during the days.

As others have pointed out, we have long shoulder seasons as well. Today was in the lower 70s, but the day started in the 30s. It's been like that the last week. Sort of like desert weather this time of year - fine days, but cold nights/mornings. I've had ice on all 3 vehicles for the last week, at least. And tomorrow we'll drop 15 degrees and not leave the 50s.

I think our elevation is just over 1800 ft., btw.

WNCburner said:

Nope. ;-)

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That's got nice color. Were those "essential oils" aged in charred casks?

WNCburner said:

Nope. ;-)

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'nuff said.

Yea, I spent a bunch of winters on the coast of n.Cali <brrrr>

I think the rule of thumb is that every 1000' of elevation is the equivalent of 200 miles of latitude as far as climate is concerned. I may have my figures mixed up however. Seems about right. I know that in Pennsylvania we get striped maple and other more northern species on the ridgetops.

Here in raleigh, we had a week or so last Jan that the highs barely got to the low 30's. That is a bit unusual, but it happens here. But then again, some times it could be T shirt weather on a sunny Jan afternoon. The good thing about our winters, is that you will have a cold spell, but then you will have a few nice afternoons that are warm enough to enjoy. Jan and Feb usually have lows at night that definitely are a lot nicer with a fire. Plenty of room for another carpetbagger, so come on down and build a fire with us! :lol:

I'm in southern middle Tennessee and fire my OWB in early October and it usually runs til late April.(Looking for an inside stove because I'm sick of the smoke and ineffiency). AC runs pretty regular from sometime in June to mid Sept so believe it or not we are using wood heat quite a bit longer than AC. Spent over a week last January never getting above freezing with several lows near 0. Record low for my location is -20. Obviously doesn't stay cold for near as long, but cold is cold. You'd probably find that the Apps in TN/NC are quite a bit colder than Long Island.

Winters here on the Outer Banks of NC are interesting. Moving here (22yrs ago) from the Hudson Valley area of NY, I often compare the temps to "back home" throughout the year. Basically the temps average 5 to 10 degrees warmer in the winter months than we are getting back home. Unless a warm or cold front are moving through. The real killer here is the wind in winter months. You can have average winter temps in the upper 30's - 40's but the winds will be blowing 25-35 make it feel much cooler and the amount of moisture in the air blows through you. I met an older couple who were staying here for the winter from NH and they said it felt colder to them because of the winds and moisture in the air then NH winter temps.

Currently I'm heating w/ gas logs (propane) below 40 degrees and use Heat Pump/HVAC combination above 40. We had a very cold winter last year and burned thought (2) 100 gallon tanks for 2 propane heaters going in two months (Jan./Feb.)

I'm in the "search" stage at this point to convert over to pellet stove. My only hiccup at this point is finding pellets to burn w/o paying a lot. There is nothing local to buy that I know of. Tractor Supply sells their pellets for $6 bag and are 2.5 hour away. I would have to haul. Doing a search online through Home Depot, Lowes and Wal-mart yield zero results in hope that I could get product delivered here locally. Huge farms just west of use, but don't know if farmers are providing corn pellets for heating.

So if anyone is Eastern NC & knows of a reasonable supply in this area, please let me know; much appreciated. I can't be the only one around the OBX w/ a desire to go to pellets.



PS, I called the local fireplace/gas logs guy who knew nothing about pellet stoves and I had to educate him about them.