Winter and heating

These are 1991–2020 climate normals, a 30-year average at a weather station, not a forecast for next January and not the number in your yard.

• Concord: 67.7 inches of snow a year. About 92 days with at least an inch of snow on the ground. The average last spring freeze is May 8, and the average first fall freeze is October 3.
• Berlin: 82.0 inches of snow a year. The north is heavier than the Merrimack Valley.

A seacoast town is not Berlin. Use the station nearest the town you are looking at, not a statewide slogan. The National Weather Service and NOAA publish the station tables.

On October 12, 2026, the state energy office’s sample average was $5.97 a gallon for heating oil and $4.09 a gallon for propane. Natural gas, first tier, was $1.26 a therm on October 5. Electricity was 26.60 cents per kilowatt-hour in July 2026, against 18.31 cents for the country.

Ask the seller for last winter’s gallons or therms, then multiply. A house that burned 100 gallons of oil at that October price spent about $597 on those gallons. There is no sourced “typical house” gallon count on this page, so the bill is the seller’s usage times the current price.

Wood and pellets are common too. Price them with a local dealer. The state sample above is oil, propane, and gas.

Ask whether the road is a town road. A town road is the town’s to plow. A private road is the owners’ to plow and maintain.

Dirt roads soften when the ground thaws. If you are looking at a house on one, visit in mud season, not only in July.

A house on a well loses water when the power is out if the pump is electric. The first 60 days list covers the well test and lining up a fuel company before winter.