Any climate enthusiasts help me out with NM (considering moving)? (Albuquerque: 2013, new home)
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Specifically, I would like to move to somewhere in New Mexico where it does not snow. If any of the weather enthusiasts on the forum know about the area where it's least likely to snow, I'd be interested in knowing. By snow I'm focused more on the yearly median than average. I want a <50% chance (preferably <25%) of seeing any snow at all in a given winter, and "just a few flurries" or a "trace" as some people here say counts as "snow" for me. If I want to go skiing there will be mountains nearby, but I do not want snow down where I'm gonna live.
Yes, I know that in the Southwest where it doesn't snow in the winter it gets brutal in the summer, and I'm well-prepared for three-digit temperatures. I'm not so much focused on cold as I am on snow.
Well if there is less than a 50% chance of snow (any snow, trace amounts included) falling in a given winter, then it might become my new home.
This site says that almost every year it has snowed in Lordsburg but then again it also says that Lordsburg gets more snow than some other places in NM. Any idea how accurate this is?: New Mexico
You've referenced the Wester Region Climate Center in Reno. The information you have for Lordsburg is accurate. If your sole requirement for a place to live in New Mexico is to find a place where there is less than a 50 percent chance of any snow...including snow flurries, it can't be done. About the best you can do is go to the extreme southwest corner (bootheel). Rodeo only averages 2 inches per year, and Antelope Wells averages just about an inch.
If you want to live in the Southwest and don't have to be in New Mexico, the elevations below 2000 feet in southern Arizona would be your best bet.
Specifically, I would like to move to somewhere in New Mexico where it does not snow. If any of the weather enthusiasts on the forum know about the area where it's least likely to snow, I'd be interested in knowing. By snow I'm focused more on the yearly median than average. I want a <50% chance (preferably <25%) of seeing any snow at all in a given winter, and "just a few flurries" or a "trace" as some people here say counts as "snow" for me. If I want to go skiing there will be mountains nearby, but I do not want snow down where I'm gonna live.
Yes, I know that in the Southwest where it doesn't snow in the winter it gets brutal in the summer, and I'm well-prepared for three-digit temperatures. I'm not so much focused on cold as I am on snow.
Where do you live now? Snow in NM - at least in ABQ - is no big deal whatsoever in terms of how it might impact your day. Snow here melts almost instantaneously - we had a freakish snowstorm here in late Feb and when it stopped snowing I measured a foot in my backyard in the AM - within 6 hours the roads and my driveway were completely clear - within one day only trace amounts were left, like on the north side of walls that got no sun. The combination of copious amounts of sunlight and dry air evaporates snow very quickly here. There is very little problem with ice, or black ice, accumulating on city streets - almost no melt/refreeze cycles found back east.
I lived for nearly a quarter century in the mid-Atlantic region, and snow there was a royal pain - as little as 4 inches could cripple the roads, ruin your day. So I understand a disdain for snow, but you need to understand it is "different" out here. Better.
Last edited by Westbound and Down; 06-04-2015 at 08:39 AM..
You've referenced the Wester Region Climate Center in Reno. The information you have for Lordsburg is accurate. If your sole requirement for a place to live in New Mexico is to find a place where there is less than a 50 percent chance of any snow...including snow flurries, it can't be done. About the best you can do is go to the extreme southwest corner (bootheel). Rodeo only averages 2 inches per year, and Antelope Wells averages just about an inch.
If you want to live in the Southwest and don't have to be in New Mexico, the elevations below 2000 feet in southern Arizona would be your best bet.
I have my doubts about the data from the Western Regional Climate Center. Take this for example FAYWOOD, NEW MEXICO - Climate Summary, Faywood, NM. Go to "snowfall" and then "monthly totals".
You'll see a string of years with 5"+ of snowfall, and then a string of years with none whatsoever.
I was visiting Albuquerque in late April and I drove in a few inches of fresh slush at the top of the Sandia Range. Great fun in a rented car. It was gone two days later when we went back.
This website has lots of weather information on each town in NM. Just go to the home page and type in the town.
New Mexico weather is dependent on the Jet Stream location and sixe. That is dependent on the current and temperature patterns in the Pacific ocean. This spring NM has had much more rain and low temperatures than "normal". The posters that state that it will snow anywhere in NM sometime are correct. They are also correct about it not sticking around for very long. Indeed the bootheel has very little snow. It also has very little water, people or anything else but wind.
Yes, I know that in the Southwest where it doesn't snow in the winter it gets brutal in the summer, and I'm well-prepared for three-digit temperatures. I'm not so much focused on cold as I am on snow.
I'm very curious about your experience with both snow and 3 digit temperatures. A little snow in NM simply isn't an issue. Winters are sunny and the snow doesn't last.
A complete absence of snow is not possible in NM. Neither are a lot of 3 digit temperatures. If you like the SW, then low elevation parts of southern AZ are your best bet. Even Tucson gets snow. I was there in Feb and 3 inches fell one night. It all melted before noon. But Phoenix and Yuma areas should be pretty snowless.
I have my doubts about the data from the Western Regional Climate Center.
The map I referenced in my previous post is a product of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin. and the small areas of the SW shown with "zero" snowfall include both the Phoenix/Yuma and Mojave Desert areas.
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