New Hampshire Geography & Climate

New Hampshire runs north to south between Vermont and Maine, with Quebec at the top and about eighteen miles of Atlantic coast at the bottom — the shortest ocean frontage of any coastal state.

The White Mountains dominate the northern half: the highest range in the northeastern United States, cut by steep passes the locals call notches. Mount Washington reaches 6,288 feet and sits where three storm tracks converge, which is why its weather is as severe as it is.

Below the mountains the land drops into a lakes region centred on Winnipesaukee, then into the rolling, wooded south where most of the population lives.

The state is heavily forested and heavily granite, which is where the nickname comes from and why so many of its rivers ran mills.

New Hampshire has a humid continental climate: warm summers, cold snowy winters, and sharp, brief shoulder seasons.

The mountains are a different matter. Conditions above treeline can be dangerous in any month, with wind, freezing fog and fast-moving storms. The Mount Washington observatory recorded a gust of 231 mph in 1934, which stood as the world record for over sixty years and remains the highest measured by a manned surface station.

Snow is reliable in the north from December to March and supports a full ski season. The coast is milder than the interior, though the water stays cold all summer.

Autumn is the most settled stretch: cool, dry and clear, and the reason the foliage season is so dependable.