Certain running conditions, such as the length of the average journey, average sustained speed, altitude of operation, available fuel, ambient temperature, amount of engine wear, air/fuel mixture, or compression ratio may make a change to the recommended plug temperature appropriate.
Too low a plug temperature can result in a plug fouling, evident when sticky deposits are deposited on the plug rather than being burned off.
Too high a plug temperature results in pre-ignition and breaking up, with potentially dangerous consequences to the engine should the plug insulator material fall into the cylinder bore.
A "hot" high power engine requires a "cold" plug.
A low power engine requires a hot plug.