I met a transplant from the Dakotas a while back, and they said the biggest difference with the weather up there, and the weather down here, is the temperature spread. It can be 5 degrees overnight in the Dakotas, but the daily high may not climb but just a few degrees. Down here, we can have 5 degrees for a low (not often, thankfully), and a high in the 20s or 30s. Usually, our night / day temp swing is about 30 degrees, more or less, but I have seen it higher than that.