Many of the extremes, at least on the low side, are due to Mt. Washington sitting in a jetstream. It holds the world's record wind speed, at 234 mph. The all-time high temperature on the summit, at 6200', is 71. The snowfall in the winter of 1968-1969 was 566". In one 24-hour period in February 1969 it got 48" of snow; the temperature was -47, and the wind was 110 mph. As a plaque in the observatory on the summit mildly states it, "The wind has a cooling effect which is unimaginable." The first time I set out to climb Mt. Washington was an afternoon in mid-August; we had to turn back because of rain, but when we reached the base station, which has radio contact with the summit, we found that on the summit, at 3 p.m., it was 31 degrees and snowing, with 85 mph winds. That could make August in San Francisco seem almost warm. But it doesn't mean New Hampshire isn't one of my favorite states.