The climate of New England varies greatly across its span from northern Maine to southern Connecticut. Extreme southern New England is considerably warmer, sunnier, and sees far less snow than the northernmost points of New England. Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Interior northern Massachusetts have a humid continental climate. In this region, the winters are long, cold, and heavy snow is common. The summer months are moderately warm, though summer is rather short. Annual rainfall is spread evenly throughout the year. Cities like Bangor, Maine, Portland, Maine, Manchester, New Hampshire, Burlington, Vermont, and Pittsfield, Massachusetts average around of rainfall and of snow annually. In central and eastern Massachusetts, northern Rhode Island, and northern Connecticut, the same humid continental prevails, though summers are hotter, winters are shorter with less snowfall. Cities like Boston, Worcester, Massachusetts, Hartford, and Providence generally receive of snow annually. Summers can occasionally be hot and humid, with high temperatures in the lower Connecticut River valley of southern Massachusetts and Connecticut between on a regular basis during June, July, and August. Convective Thunderstorms are common in these months as well, some of which can become severe. The frost-freegrowing season ranges from 140 days in parts of central Massachusetts to near 160 days across interior Connecticut and most of Rhode Island. Coastal Rhode Island and southern Connecticut are the broad transition zone from continental climates to the north, to temperate climates to the south. In this region, summers can be quite long and hot, with humid, tropical air masses being common between May and September. Convective thundershowers are common in summer. The coast of Connecticut from Stamford, through the New Haven area to the New London, and Westerly and Newport, Rhode Island area is usually the mildest area of New England in winter. Winter precipitation in this area falls mostly in the form of rain or a wintry mix of sleet, rain, and wet snow. Seasonal snowfall is far less across far southern Connecticut and coastal Rhode Island here than it is across interior and Northern coastal areas in 1954 struck the region and as a result several hundred people were killed. Other tropical cyclones that impacted the region include Hurricane Donna, Hurricane Gloria, Hurricane Bob, Hurricane Irene and Hurricane Sandy.
