We've got four seasons just like everywhere else, only more so. Our seasons are:
Mud Season: what other people call Spring. There's an old story about a coupla NH geezers sitting out front of a general store when the saw a small object coming up the muddy lane during one particularly muddy Mud Season. As it got closer, they noticed it was a hat, on the ground, moving along over the mud. As it came up in front of the store, one of the geezers, named Tink Allen, recognised the hat as belonging to his friend, Stumpy Townsend. He got up and waded out to pick up the hat, only to find the head of his friend under the hat.
"Stumpy, wot the heck is it that you're doing down there in the mud?" Tink asked.
"By the geezus, Tink, you wouldn't believe it, but this mud is somethin' wicked, it's so by as my horse is undaneath me."
Summer, known around here as Bug Season: NH would have selected the mosquito as the state bird, but Maine beat us to it. Bug season starts out with the black flies. These are nasty little critters that start to appear in May and in wilder areas persist until the end of June. Mosquitos appear in June and persist, depending on how wet the Bug Season is, till August, sometimes till October. No-see-ums are even smaller than black flies, so small that normally you don't see-um until they've settle down into your skin for a good bite. Then you've got deer flies and horse files to deal with. Horse flies like to harrass your head when you are swimming, and deer flies are common in woody areas in the height of summer. Ticks like to drop on you from trees, and are known to occasionally carry Lyme Disease. The prevalence of ticks varies with the cycles of mice and deer populations and infestations, as well as crops of acorns and beechnuts these animals feed on. On the flip side, lots of bugs means lots of fishing. For the fly fisherman, some of the best fly fishing in the world is here in NH, whether it is lake fishing for bass, perch, sturgeon, lake trout, steelhead and landlocked salmon, or river fishing for brookies, rainbow, brown trout, or atlantic salmon, as well as seasonal shad (a large sardine variant) runs.
Fall is glorious in NH. Few places in the world compare to fall colors in northern new england. Plus you have hay rides, bonfires, traditional new england trick or treating, apple harvesting, county fairs. Fall is certainly the best season for rural NH. Fall is also hunting season, starting with grouse, duck, woodcock, pheasant, and goose seasons, Turkey seasons in the spring and fall, bear and moose season, bow, muzzleloader, and rifle deer seasons, as well as open seasons on coyote, boar, and several other nuisance species.
Winter is skiing and hockey season, with late winter being the domain of mapling season, when the maple syrup crop is collected.
Temperatures: summer temps have not exceeded 100 in a number of years, typically they peak out in the 90's in late July and early August. Winter temps rarely go below zero F, typically only with occasional blizzards sweeping in from Canada. Winter snow accumulations will range at any given time from a few inches on the ground to as much as 3 feet in the south, and as much as 10 feet in the northern extreme of the state. NH averages higher than typical humidity, and gets 39 inches of precipitation a year.
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Topic: Weather (Read 14265 times)