New Mexico (Albuquerque, Las Cruces, Santa Fe: how much, gated, place to live)

[gardenlady]

Does anyone have a suggestion as to where a great place to move to ? I live in New England, and have had enough of the winters here. Have heard that New Mexico is a great place. Plan on visiting in the next few months to scope it out.

[EnjoyEP]

Originally Posted by gardenlady

Does anyone have a suggestion as to where a great place to move to ? I live in New England, and have had enough of the winters here. Have heard that New Mexico is a great place. Plan on visiting in the next few months to scope it out.

Well, you've gotta give us some more specifics in terms of what you are looking for - big city or small town? How much of a winter do you like? What do you like to do for recreation? Are jobs important, etc.? Not to be a nag, but we need more info probably to better advise you.

Having said that, I think as you like gardening (from your screen name), you might want to consider places like Albuquerque (the biggest city in the state by far), Las Cruces (a town with nearly 100,000 residents that is near El Paso, TX), Alamogordo (a town with about 30,000 residents semi near El Paso), Silver City (small town with an Albuquerque-like climate), Truth or Consequences (small town in between Albuquerque and Las Cruces near a big lake)...really though, it is tough to say without better specifics.

If you want a long gardening season, relatively mild year-round temps (based on your comment about NE's winters), etc., look for the warmer places in New Mexico, which would be places 5500 feet in altitude and LOWER. Also, places in Central and Southern New Mexico.

Northern New Mexico is beautiful but is more "skiing country"...people often times move from the north to New Mexico to escape winters, but chose a place like Santa Fe. Well, Santa Fe is gorgeous and a fine place to live, however, it is at 7000 feet in altitude, thus the winters are still quite cold often and snow does a-fly. People often don't know of the importance in altitude when determining climates, and while New Mexico has many great mild year-round climates, it also has some really high altitude areas that can be quite cold and snowy.

The cities I named for you: Albuquerque, Las Cruces, Alamogordo, Truth or Consequences, Silver City, etc., are probably the best year-round climates in terms of the major towns for long-term gardening / mild weather.

[trappedinNM]

Originally Posted by gardenlady

Does anyone have a suggestion as to where a great place to move to ? I live in New England, and have had enough of the winters here. Have heard that New Mexico is a great place. Plan on visiting in the next few months to scope it out.

I hear Albuquerque has mild winters...

[yukon]

But trappedinNM, it's a DRY cold.

[PowerT]

Originally Posted by EnjoyEP

If you want a long gardening season, relatively mild year-round temps (based on your comment about NE's winters), etc., look for the warmer places in New Mexico, which would be places 5500 feet in altitude and LOWER. Also, places in Central and Southern New Mexico.

Northern New Mexico is beautiful but is more "skiing country"...people often times move from the north to New Mexico to escape winters, but chose a place like Santa Fe. Well, Santa Fe is gorgeous and a fine place to live, however, it is at 7000 feet in altitude, thus the winters are still quite cold often and snow does a-fly. People often don't know of the importance in altitude when determining climates, and while New Mexico has many great mild year-round climates, it also has some really high altitude areas that can be quite cold and snowy.

On the altitude note keep in mind that the LOWEST point in NM is 2840 feet. Only CO and WY have a higher, lowest point in their states. Point being that even the highest point of many states in NE, except maybe NH, is just average in NM. Temperature wise you drop 3.57 degrees F for every 1000 foot increase in altitude according to the Standard Atmosphere Table.

[GregW]

I suggest using this website formore information than you can process about cities and towns in MN or anywhere else. I also live in NH and am planning to retire in NM so send me a PM.

[EnjoyEP]

Originally Posted by trappedinNM

I hear Albuquerque has mild winters...

Yes, it can occasionally snow in Albuquerque. However, compared to anywhere in the Midwest, Northeast, northern Rocky Mountain states, and Plains states, Albuquerque's winters are extremely mild. In gardening terms, most of Albuquerque is a "7b" gardening zone, which is a relatively mild winter compared to much of the US year-round.

Compared to Miami or San Diego, obviously no.

[EnjoyEP]

Originally Posted by PowerT

On the altitude note keep in mind that the LOWEST point in NM is 2840 feet. Only CO and WY have a higher, lowest point in their states. Point being that even the highest point of many states in NE, except maybe NH, is just average in NM. Temperature wise you drop 3.57 degrees F for every 1000 foot increase in altitude according to the Standard Atmosphere Table.

While this is absolutely true, also bear in mind that at 5000 feet of altitude, Albuquerque is much more mild temperatures-wise year-round than say Minneapolis or Milwaukee which are both at virtual sea-level.

Las Cruces or Alamogordo are between 3800 and 4300 feet in altitude, but due to their low latitude, they have very mild winter temps.

So due to altitude, no NM towns get the extremely warm temps that low Sonoran Desert towns like Tucson or Phoenix get. However, any towns in New Mexico that sit at 5000 feet or less (except for the NorthEastern and NorthCentral plains areas of the state) have very mild - relatively - year round temps for gardening (by mild I mean gardening zones 7 and up).

[GregW]

Be aware that while the temperatures may be OK for gardening the rain is not. This is a great place for irrigated or dry gardening but is not so good for unaltered temperate region plants. Using municipal drinking water for lawns and gardens can get expensive and is not a good idea anyway. Consider collecting rain water in cisterns or using grey water.

[Cathy4017]

Originally Posted by PowerT

On the altitude note keep in mind that the LOWEST point in NM is 2840 feet. Only CO and WY have a higher, lowest point in their states. Point being that even the highest point of many states in NE, except maybe NH, is just average in NM. Temperature wise you drop 3.57 degrees F for every 1000 foot increase in altitude according to the Standard Atmosphere Table.

If that is true, then I can't figure out why TIMBERON, which is around 7,000 ft in elevation to Alamogordo's 43-4500 feet...often has a warmer temperature than Alamogordo. It is 33° here in Alamo, and it shows to be 36° in Timberon. Granted, that is a small spread, but logically, Timberon should be much colder than Alamo.

Farmington? It is between Alamo and Timberon in elevation at 53-5500 ft.... (but much farther north geographically)....and yet is nearly always a LOT colder. Alamo, 33°, Timberon 36°...and Farmington, 11°.

Seems to me that north and south have more to do with it than elevation.

Even Cloudcroft, at 8,000+ feet is warmer than Farmington and Timberon right now, at 32°.