Las Cruces Summers Compared To Las Vegas.... (Albuquerque: neighborhoods, live)

[bfire52]

Is anybody familiar with the summer weather in both Las Cruces, New Mexico and Las Vegas, Nevada? How close are the summers to each other? Which one would you say is hotter and harder to deal with? Las Vegas is mostly dry high hot heat with an intense sun during the day. But they also get a few weeks out of the summer they call their monsoon season where the temperature goes down but it gets very muggy (high dewpoint, humidity) and thunderstorms. Las Cruces seems to have that monsoony weather too but without the high temps of Vegas. Is the whole summer like that or just part of it? Also is the sun very intense in Las Cruces like it is in Las Vegas? Which place do you think it's easier to take the summer heat?

[cheeser]

Cruces is hot, but not Vegas or Tucson or Phoenix hot. So, naturally the Cruces summers are easier to deal with. The monsoons are a relief anywhere in the desert but I don't really notice the humidity too much here in Cruces.

The reason I think I can take Cruces heat is because I think it's more of a gradual increase in temp. I remember walking out in Vegas and it felt like it was already 90* at 8 am. Same for Phoenix. Cruces mornings are much easier to deal with as well.

[domino]

The difference in elevation makes the heat in LC easier to bare than LV. Las Cruces, at approximately 4,000 feet, cools off considerably when the sun goes down, and takes longer to heat up during the morning hours. Las Vegas, at about 2,000 feet, doesn't cool off as much at night.

[bfire52]

Thanks for your responses! I'm happy to hear what you said about the Las Cruces summers. I'm going to be moving to Las Cruces within the next month or two. The way you described it almost reminds me of what Sacramento, Ca is like in weather. They too have hot summers but they have a much quicker drop in temperatures and much cooler s mornings than Vegas does. Vegas can be a low of 90 degrees sometimes at 5am. This summer has been somewhat mild so far compared to past ones. We've had some bad ones. Just curious does Las Cruces get a really nice invigorating feel and smell in the air in the early morning? It gets that way in Sacramento for a couple of hours. You don't get that in Vegas. Somehow you can handle the hot weather when you get some relief part of the day, it's when it just stays hot 24 hours a day it can get to you.

[mortimer]

Originally Posted by domino

... Las Vegas, ... doesn't cool off as much at night.

That's also partially due to the "heat-island" effect. Summertime nighttime lows are far warmer than they used to be in the 1950's in cities like Las Vegas and Phoenix that have grown so much. That way, they start out uncomfortable right from the git-go when the sun comes up.

Tucson and Phoenix are fairly close in daytime high temperatures where Tucson averages about 8 degrees cooler during the day. That spread at night is about 15 degrees. The increased difference is due only to the heat-island effect.

The effects of elevation and latitude shift the absolute temperature, so on average, with similar-sized towns like Tucson/Albuquerque/Las Cruces ( loosely similar ) at any given time, they will be separated by the same average temperature with Tucson the warmest and Albuquerque the coolest pretty much 365 days a year 24 hours a day ( on average ).

[mike0421]

I think part of Tucson's cooler climate than Phoenix might be based on elevation differences. Phoenix, I believe, is only about 1000 feet above sea level, where as Tucson is about 2500 feet above sea level.

[mrgoodwx]

Here is a comparison of June/July/August average max/min temps at the two locations:

June July Aug
Las Vegas NV 99/70 105/76 102/75
Las Cruces NM 95/61 95/67 92/65

Las Cruces receives more impact (and earlier onset) from the North American Monsoon. The impact is less and later (mainly just August) in Las Vegas. The shade temperature (if you can find any shad) hits 90 degrees or higher an average of 98 days per year in Las Cruces...136 days per year in Las Vegas.

[ddweller]

"...Las Cruces seems to have that monsoony weather too but without the high temps of Vegas..."


That's about it - except for the altitude aspect, which seems to greatly favor
Las Cruces.

The 'swamp coolers' frequently seen around town down don't work nearly as well during those monsoon periods, and they DO waste a lot of precious water in a desert environment.
(some newer models claim to use less water)

Refrig. A/C uses water in the elect. gen. process too - but much less and quite possibly is generated in an area that has greater access to water than here.

[fnord]

Everyone's comments are correct, and while it does get pretty hot here during the day June-August it's very nice at night. I've never lived in Las Vegas, but endured many summers in the metro-heat sinks of Phoenix & Tucson where the overnight low is 95 degrees. Ugh. Phoenix is definitely hotter than Tucson and probably similar to Vegas.

The monsoons here are not as magnificent and frequent as they are in Southern AZ, though I've noticed the whole monsoon season really changing since the early 1990s. Back then you could almost set your watch to Tucson's daily 4pm monsoons in July when the sky would turn dark and rain & hail would start pummeling down. It's much more sporadic now.

[mortimer]

Originally Posted by mike0421

I think part of Tucson's cooler climate than Phoenix might be based on elevation differences.

The daytime difference of 8 degrees in the summer is due mostly to elevation and partially the Heat Island effect.

The nightime difference of 15 degrees is mostly due to the Heat Island effect.

Originally Posted by mike0421

Phoenix, I believe, is only about 1000 feet above sea level, where as Tucson is about 2500 feet above sea level.

Right, most of Phoenix is in the 1,000 ft range with outlying areas near Apache Junction to the East at 1,600 ft and Northern areas like Cave Creek at 2,000 ft.

Downtown Tucson is about 2,400 ft and Oro Valley is about 2,600 ft. Some foothills neighborhoods are over 3,000 ft.

Based on elevation alone, Tucson should only be about 6 degrees cooler.