Anywhere in the greener lower elevation mountains with Las Cruces temps? (Santa Fe: best towns, tax)
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You're not going to get Pacific Coast mildness in the desert southwest. Basically, the average diurnal range is going to be about 35-45 degrees anywhere in NM or AZ. If the overnight low is 40, then you can expect 75-85 for an afternoon high. Annual temperature range will be about the same. If a typical afternoon high is 60 in winter, then a typical summer afternoon will be 35-45 degrees warmer.
You can use elevation to select your preference of winter cold over summer heat or vice-versa, but the wide annual range is something you'll be stuck with in a continental climate. At the latitudes where the U.S. is located, only living near the coast can give a narrow annual range of temperatures.
Ok, I'll rephrase. Being from Michigan, I am looking to retire to a location that has much warmer winter days, if not nights.
I'm looking for a much shorter winter, and much warmer summer days are fine, just as long as I am away from the humidity and can avoid the scorching heat of places like Phoenix. I don't care much for snow anymore. 50 years of this, I can do without.
So I don't mind freezing overnight lows, but I don't want much snow, and I want daytime highs in the winter to be very mild. 50's as daytime highs in January is such a rarity here, and we feel spoiled indeed when it happens.
I am asking about whether there are lower elevations that meet this criteria because I am wondering what other places to check out besides Las Cruces.
I also might miss greenery and rolling terrain.
I know, nobody can have it all!
Thanks so much for responding so quickly!
Ruidoso was the only one I hadn't heard of. I will put it on my list to investigate, thanks poncho.
You could look also in to Alamogordo and Tularosa. Mild winters, hardly ever any snow and if it does it melts by mid-afternoon. It is hot here in the summer but only humid during the monsoon months, which are June-August. It is definitely hotter in Phoenix than here. Google Alamogordo and Ruidoso both and see what you think.
Also, Alamogordo sits right up against the Sacramento Mountains. So one can escape to the mountains without much driving. Trees and trails and mountains are only 15 miles east up the hill.
Last edited by elkotronics; 04-06-2014 at 12:41 PM..
ABQ, scorching as compared to Phoenix I suppose...
Here in Michigan summers are usually in the 80's, but very humid, and only in the 90's for days scattered in July and August. I am the type to not turn the a/c on until the walls are dripping. I love the heat, but I don't want to live in a place like Phoenix where I would have to turn on the a/c for months on end. I like the windows open! The only time I give in and close the windows is on the road in a traffic jam.
Elkotronics, thanks too for clarifying the humidity. I didn't understand that the summers are humid in NM. Ruidoso is beautiful so is Tularosa. I will have to look into this fire/water shortage issue.
I think our biggest decision is really between the desert look or the mountain/trees look. They are both so appealing but I don't know if we would be happier in a mountain setting with a wood house, or an adobe and open vistas. That's something we will have to visit and think about.
Anyway, the ultimate goal is to get away from 4-5 months of winter...and I think your beautiful state meets that criteria just about anywhere!
We were thinking of visiting fairly soon. Maybe we should wait until the heat/monsoon/humidity sets in to really know the feel of summer there. As we vacation in the Yucatan usually twice a year, heat and humidity are not foreign to us, we love it.
We're no stranger to humidity though here in Michigan. We have the worst of both worlds with freezing long winters and high humidity summers.
The summers aren't humid at all in NM compared to MI. Monsoon season is NM's equivalent of MI's normal summer scattered thunderstorms -- it cools the Jul/Aug months by about 5-10 degrees. If you want to keep the windows open here -- get a swamp cooler for AC. The heat goes away as soon as the sun goes down in LC -- unlike in MI where it can be miserable all evening long when it gets hot/humid. Even though the temps were 10-20 degrees warmer in LC than what I experienced in MI -- it didn't feel as bad because of the lower humidity.
The thing you'll like best about NM coming from MI will be the amount of sunshine - especially in the winter.
Sparrow_temp brings up a good point, NoMansLands, about New Mexico's nights. They cool right off! That if huge is you don't really like humidity that much...for so long. Also, the humid summer months aren't really that bad. It will get hot in the summer, though. Get your yardwork or washing the car or shopping done early in the day. Central air works the best here but a swamp cooler will suffice in non-monsoon months.
The sun is gorgeous here in NM and the sunrises and sunsets are, too. There is a considerable amount of wind here in the spring. Over here near Alamogordo lies the White Sands National Monument. It's the only monument that comes to you when it's windy! It is miles and miles of white sand dunes with occasional desert plants or flowers scattered in amongst all the sand. It's really unusual and really beautiful, too. The sand comes about from gypsum rock that has broke free from adjoining mountains and run in the rivers down to the Tularosa Basin below. It happens over the years slowly but brings about a natural beautiful site that is truly fantastic to behold.
I'm the type to put an afghan on my legs in the summer. Hubby says I have no blood, or I'm cold blooded like a lizard. It can be in the 70's and I'll have cold feet. I blame my mother's circulation. :P
So I like heat--just not oppressive heat. Cooler nights sounds really nice because I don't like the drafts of fans. I use a light blanket in the summer. I can't sleep uncovered. It's 52 here right now and I have a blanket on my legs and slippers on!
I have a sister in Colorado and I've visited there 10 times at least over the years. She's lived in Denver and Estes Park and I don't want that much snow. Seems to me that she gets a real winter. She gets lots of January days in the 50's but she also gets blizzards in September and April. No thank you ma'am. We got caught on Wolf Creek Pass near Durango and didn't have chains in mid-April, lost one wheel over the edge, and had to be towed down by a kind gentleman with a tow-rope.
I've been looking at pictures of all over NM and really can't wait to tour like a good tourist all those sites. However I want to focus with my spidey sense on what location/communities would be best for retirement, and which to avoid.
I see that NM is high in poverty. Well so is Detroit. I'm not in Detroit proper but I am in the southeast part of Michigan. There are 5 million people here within about a 60 mile radius. I sure don't need that, so I am drawn to NM more so than AZ at this point with a much lower population and much better housing prices. I certainly don't want to spend my retirement in a place like SoCal with traffic everywhere, no matter how perfect their climate may be. When you only have so many years left you don't want to spend them in traffic jams. I'm 50 but hubby is 10 years my senior so I get to move to a retirement lifestyle before my time. I sell antiques and that can be done anywhere that I can find good junque, and I don't need enough to live on, just supplement his pensions, keep me busy and out of trouble.
I wish NM didn't tax social security though. Seems to me when a state has a depressed economy and few jobs that they would rethink that. Retirees bring their money with them, and spend it in the local economy, and don't need a job. Lower housing prices than Prescott or Sedona, AZ helps make up for that.
We're also open-minded people that live and let live so will probably fit right in.
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