Greetings from the Frigid Midwest (Albuquerque, Las Cruces: live, property, area)

[mike0421]

Originally Posted by jecc

Sorry to break this to you, Jim, but I live 15-20 miles from Alamogordo, and it was minus 4 last night. When I got up this morning, around 7 a.m., it was 3 degrees.

I moved here from Alaska, and I have never been this cold. The temps in AK are much lower for sure, but there near sea level I could wear just jeans and a T-shirt down to around zero. I never wore a real coat, even at 30 below. Here in NM, I'm looking for long sleeves at 40 and 50 above! Maybe it's the elevation here in the mountains.

In any case, NM in general is not the place to move if you really like warm weather. Cruces and a few other places might be the exceptions, but the rest of the state is above 3,000 feet and is no cakewalk for snowbirds. Try AZ or SoCal for that.

I agree with this statement. I live in Las Cruces here, and we barely support palm trees. If you like it warm, you can still exist in Las Cruces or Alamogordo in the winter, but barely. I lived most of my life in New Jersey, and I have to say this is better. Now, if I went north to Albuquerque, or even to Socorro, that's different weather altogether. Santa Fe is colder in the winter than New Jersey. But Las Cruces is a safe haven for those seeking a warmer environment. And yet, in the summer, it's not super-hot like Phoenix. We will exceed 100 during the first few weeks of June, then the monsoons will cool it back down again (at the expense of increased humidity) in July. We don't ever go over 105 here for our hottest days. So, to me anyway, the climate in Las Cruces/El Paso/Alamogordo approaches ideal.

[Cathy4017]

Originally Posted by jecc

Sorry to break this to you, Jim, but I live 15-20 miles from Alamogordo, and it was minus 4 last night. When I got up this morning, around 7 a.m., it was 3 degrees.

I moved here from Alaska, and I have never been this cold. The temps in AK are much lower for sure, but there near sea level I could wear just jeans and a T-shirt down to around zero. I never wore a real coat, even at 30 below. Here in NM, I'm looking for long sleeves at 40 and 50 above! Maybe it's the elevation here in the mountains.

In any case, NM in general is not the place to move if you really like warm weather. Cruces and a few other places might be the exceptions, but the rest of the state is above 3,000 feet and is no cakewalk for snowbirds. Try AZ or SoCal for that.

Wow. You must be back up toward High Rolls, etc.

Alamogordo has not had a winter yet that I can see. It's 30 here right now. I've been in shirtsleeves at 50 here....and take a jacket with me, but I haven't worn it very much so far!

Yours is just so opposite from what I've experienced. Since I've never been to AK, I wouldn't know about that, but the cold at much higher elevations here in NM (and CO) is far more tolerable to me than the cold in northern IN and Chicago, which are both very low elevations.

Cruces comes in at close to 4,000, Alamogordo, around 43-4500.

I can't wait until I see snow here in town, but I may be waiting years.

[jecc]

Yeah, I go down to Alamo now and then and am always surprised at how much warmer it is. One day in summer I was down there when it was 100. I got home and it was 65 here -- 35 degrees cooler. I'm up past Cloudcroft above 9,000 feet in the shade. Haven't spent much time in the Midwest or back East, but I recall that the cold there is not so bad. I remember being in Maine 10+ years ago in November. It was near or even below zero, and I didn't feel that cold. Maybe I'm just getting old.

[Cathy4017]

Originally Posted by jecc

Yeah, I go down to Alamo now and then and am always surprised at how much warmer it is. One day in summer I was down there when it was 100. I got home and it was 65 here -- 35 degrees cooler. I'm up past Cloudcroft above 9,000 feet in the shade. Haven't spent much time in the Midwest or back East, but I recall that the cold there is not so bad. I remember being in Maine 10+ years ago in November. It was near or even below zero, and I didn't feel that cold. Maybe I'm just getting old.

Aren't we all....

Yep, it will be colder up that way for sure, especially since the elevation is twice as high.

I am going to see what the rest of this winter is like--locals have been telling me that it is unusually warm--I hope they're right.

I'm just glad I have refrigerated air, because I have a feeling that the summers are going to be really, really hot. The older I get, the less tolerant of heat I am.

I may wish I had moved to northern new Mexico instead when summer gets here, so we'll see. At least the nights cool off, and if the really bad heat doesn't last more than 2-3 months (unlike West Texas' 6-7 months)....I can probably tolerate it.

[jecc]

If you ask me, Alamo is always too hot. If you can't handle the summer, just move up the hill a little ways. High Rolls is a nice happy medium. Gorgeous too. I avoid Alamo in summer. Even driving around in an air-conditioned vehicle is miserable to me. Elevation is the answer.

[catman]

I agree with you, jecc. Alalmogordo gets too hot, Cloudcroft is too cold, but High Rolls seems just about perfect climatically speaking. That being said, I'll probably end up in Alamo because property is more available there (and winter is less frigid). Above Cloudcroft would be really cold, as you observed. That's higher than Red River!

Even if it's hot in Alamo in the summer, at least it isn't humid there like it is here in North Central Texas. The humidity is what kills me, when the minimum in summer is 80+ degrees!

[mike0421]

Originally Posted by catman

I agree with you, jecc. Alalmogordo gets too hot, Cloudcroft is too cold, but High Rolls seems just about perfect climatically speaking. That being said, I'll probably end up in Alamo because property is more available there (and winter is less frigid). Above Cloudcroft would be really cold, as you observed. That's higher than Red River!

Even if it's hot in Alamo in the summer, at least it isn't humid there like it is here in North Central Texas. The humidity is what kills me, when the minimum in summer is 80+ degrees!

Not only that, but Cloudcroft is much pricier, no doubt due to the high state ranking of the school system there.

[Cathy4017]

Originally Posted by jecc

If you ask me, Alamo is always too hot. If you can't handle the summer, just move up the hill a little ways. High Rolls is a nice happy medium. Gorgeous too. I avoid Alamo in summer. Even driving around in an air-conditioned vehicle is miserable to me. Elevation is the answer.

It's a real give-and-take......I don't want to have to drive down from HR, CC, MH, et al to Alamo to swim 3-5 days a week, LOL!! I look at listings all of the time, every week....and I haven't found anything back up that way that is in my price range that I like.

I chose Alamo because of the convenience. Everything is right here, so it looks like I'm going to have to suffer the summers, LOL!!

That is also why I seriously considered Farmington, as well. The only drawback there is that I still have to go home to check on/help out my elderly parents (and it looks like I'll be headed that way AGAIN, if my mom needs surgery, etc.).....it's much easier from 400 miles/almost straight shot than it would have been from 800 miles, not such fun roads...

So. Alamo it was. You really can't beat these winters.....even if I would like it a little more snowy!

[EnjoyEP]

Originally Posted by jecc

Sorry to break this to you, Jim, but I live 15-20 miles from Alamogordo, and it was minus 4 last night. When I got up this morning, around 7 a.m., it was 3 degrees.

I moved here from Alaska, and I have never been this cold. The temps in AK are much lower for sure, but there near sea level I could wear just jeans and a T-shirt down to around zero. I never wore a real coat, even at 30 below. Here in NM, I'm looking for long sleeves at 40 and 50 above! Maybe it's the elevation here in the mountains.

In any case, NM in general is not the place to move if you really like warm weather. Cruces and a few other places might be the exceptions, but the rest of the state is above 3,000 feet and is no cakewalk for snowbirds. Try AZ or SoCal for that.

This is highly deceiving though. You are at over 9000 feet in altitude. If you went to over 9000 feet in altitude high in the mountains in AZ or "SoCal" (they have those mountains in AZ and SoCal too!), it wouldn't be warm or unsnowy either. When you look at photos of L.A., often times the mountains that are behind the city are snow-coated.

This would be like almost being akin to living at Sandia Peak and then noting how "cold" Albuquerque is, because Sandia Peak is only minutes from Albuquerque. However, there - due to again the altitude of being in mountains - is an incredible difference in temperatures between the peak (or being at 9500 feet in the Sandias) and being in the city itself.

So even though you are only 15 minutes from Alamo, your weather / temps / climate is nothing in comparison to Alamo as a general rule.

Sure, there are parts in New Mexico that are high altitude and thus cold and snowy. Ruidoso is over 7000 feet. So is Santa Fe.

However, Las Cruces at 3900 feet, Alamo at 4200 feet, Albuquerque at 5000 feet, Silver City at 6000 feet even, are very mild / temperate even in the winters compared to northern climes. Can they get some cold and snow? Sure. So can Atlanta. But these are still much more mild places than much of the US.

[jecc]

Originally Posted by catman

Above Cloudcroft would be really cold, as you observed. That's higher than Red River!

Yes, just a little higher, though of course not as far north. I love it. When I was looking at property here 4 years ago, I told the agent 9K feet or higher. If it's lower, don't even show it to me. I carried a GPS gizmo just to make sure. If I could live at 12K, I would, even with my aging bones.

Cathy, yeah, Alamo is nice for convenience. You might find summer not so bad. I stay in Marfa a few weeks each year, and the summer heat is almost unbearable to me. I try to go after monsoon season starts. Alamo is not quite as bad. Not sure why. In 8 or 9 months let us know how you fared.