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OP here! I saw this thread had come back up and thought I'd pop in to provide some resolution. A year ago, we thought I'd likely be working in ABQ, so the East Mountains were a strong possibility for us. However, I wound up getting a job in Santa Fe. We decided that being "close in" was important to us, even in Santa Fe. Although there was more house to be had in ElDorado, etc. for the money, we decided that even the 12-15 miles (as opposed to 20-30 miles in the East Mountains) was a bit too far from ton/activities for the lifestyle we want. We spent a little more money, to get a little less house, but right in town.
Look at the years of record for the Tijeras Ranger Station. 12 years of data does not a climate record make. The 13" is a very misleading statistic. It's closer to 45" depending on elevation. Sandia Park has a long standing record and their annual snowfall average is 58". There is no rain shadow for the east mountains. It's quite the opposite. New Mexico gets a regular dose of backdoor cold fronts that bring the east mountain area significantly higher amounts of precipitation, primarily in the form of snow. Precipitation and in particular, temperatures (evaporation rates) are not the same as on the west-side of the mountains. This is why the vegetation is drastically different. The east side is colder and gets far more easterly upslope snowfall. Additionally, the ABQ Foothills station does not have a complete (30-yr) climate record and that number too is misleading.
Yeah. I should have. The thread bounced to the top. I had never read it and just clicked the tail end
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