State guide

Rhode Island Nature Guide

Rhode Island is small, but its nature is concentrated and emphatically maritime — almost everything here turns on the salt water of Narragansett Bay and the open Atlantic. The bay's coves, salt marshes, and rocky points, the barrier beaches and salt ponds of South County, and Block Island sitting offshore as a legendary migration trap give the Ocean State a calendar tuned to tides, sea ducks, and ospreys rather than to mountains or prairie. Moderated by the surrounding water, the state runs a mild, humid maritime year across USDA zones 6a to 7b — a short, snowy winter, a cool late spring, a temperate summer, and a long, lingering coastal fall.