Spring is sometimes known as “mud season,” because the melting snow makes the ground wet and muddy. Spring can be almost as cold as winter, or it can be as hot as summer. There’s an old saying about spring in New Hampshire: if you don’t like the weather, just wait a few minutes because it will change! People never know what to expect with the weather during New Hampshire springs, although there are always lots of bugs, especially black flies.
Although it rains in spring, summer, and fall in New Hampshire, most of the state's
precipitation comes in the spring. On average, New Hampshire gets 37 inches of rain a year, spread out over several rainfalls. Spring is when New Hampshire is most likely to have
floods. New Hampshire is the 20th wettest state in America, which means it gets more precipitation than 30 other states!
In early spring, people in New Hampshire tap maple trees and collect sap to make maple syrup, which is available in pancake houses around the state.
Late spring brings out beautiful purple flowers called lilacs, which are the New Hampshire state flower. Lilacs grow in large bushes and appear all over the state, although mostly in the southern part of New Hampshire. There is a governor's commission, formed in 1984, to promote the growing of lilacs in New Hampshire, and every spring, the historic Wentworth-Coolidge Mansion in Portsmouth holds a lilac festival in late May.