Method

Choose a time period of 50 years (1959 to 2008) to analyze

•        Identify 6 weather stations to use: Wilmington (Coastal Plain), Cape Hatteras (Outer Banks), Laurinburg (Sandhills), Raleigh (Piedmont), West Jefferson (Northern Mountains), Asheville (Southern Mountains)

•        Collect data from each station from the State Climate Office of North Carolina's CRONOS database, then sort and average by season (winter and spring)

•        Compare these averages using graphs and correlations calculated with Microsoft Excel