How dry is Albuquerque? (Navajo, Elephant Butte: college, live, retiring)

[DPL]

Just wondering how dry ABQ is? Are there many recreational lakes nearby? Restrictions on water for lawns? any other info is greatly appreciated.

[Crackerjack]

A fast answer is about 8.5 inches of rain a year. For a more thorough analysis, go to:
abqstyle.com/albuquerque_community/000005.html

For the nearby lakes and stuff to do, go to:
vivanewmexico.com/cen.html

There are lakes further out like Elephant Butte Lake in the south or Lake Abiquiu in the north. Just use your search engine for those lakes if you want more info. on them.

[kaforeman]

Originally Posted by DPL

Just wondering how dry ABQ is? Are there many recreational lakes nearby? Restrictions on water for lawns? any other info is greatly appreciated.

Currently there are restrictions on what times of the day, and what days of the week, you can water your lawn. These restrictions make a lot of sense since water is in limited supply. I wish they would apply those same restrictions to the Southern California city where we live now! You see sprinklers shooting water high up into the air in the hottest part of the afternoon--which means that most of the water is evaporating before it ever even reaches the lawn. And the automatic sprinklers going while it's raining. It's really stupid.

[_yb]

A lot of lawns have standing water on them due to current rains. You still see the sprinklers going for some reason.

There is a no wake lake to the north of Albuquerque (cochiti lake).
Bluewater to the west. Elephant butte and Caballo to the south. Conchas and Ute to the east. One of my favorites is Navajo lake in the northwest corner. World class trout fishing on the San Jaun . Expect some travel time with cochiti being the closest. Good fishing can also be found in some northern waters. I really like the valle vidal area river and streams plus they have a couple of nice small lakes.

[ABQLifer]

Albuquerque can get down to a lipcracking 6% humidity and not get above 20% for weeks on end during a dryspell. Still interested?

[michelleleigh]

If you have problems with dry skin,get a humdiafier a good one. It will help, drink lots of water in the summer it may not feel hot but it really is. If you love green,green grass and lots of trees Albuquerque may not be for you. Godd luck in what ever you choose

[jaybeeinabq]

You have had many excellent replies, you have to remember that Albuquerque is in the desert, and that it can be both hot and dry.
ditto the humidifier post, the lake post and others.
There is a lot of recreation possible in and around Albuquerque.
Probably the most important thing to remember about Albuquerque is that the landscape, alot of it in and around Albuquerque is dry desert. It is light tan to brown in color and if you need alot of greenery, Albuquerque may not be for you.
Especially in the winter time when the trees lose the leaves, the landscape can be pretty depressing.
Best thing to do is visit, and see if u like it!
I do like it here; I went to college here and I work here 18-19 yrs for the State of NM.
I plan on retiring here and overall I like the mild, mild winters (usu.), and can tolerate the dry heat in the summer.