The summit area of Mount Mitchell is marked by a warm-summer humid continental climate (Köppen "Dfb"), bordering a subalpine climate (Köppen climate classification "Dfc"), with mild summers and long, moderately cold winters, being more similar to southeastern Canada than the southeastern U.S. The monthly daily average temperature ranges from in January to in July. The coldest temperature ever recorded in the state occurred there on January 21, 1985 when it fell to , during a severe cold spell that brought freezing temperatures as far south as Miami. It is also the coldest average reporting station in the state at , well below any other station.