6 New Mexico Weather Myths New Mexicans Are Tired of Correcting

New Mexico has averaged about nine tornadoes a year over the past three decades. That surprises people who think of tornadoes as a Kansas thing.

New Mexicans correct that one a lot, and it’s not the only weather myth they hear.

Here are the New Mexico weather myths that need correcting, and what the records really show.

1. Hot Desert Statewide

Many people picture New Mexico as one big hot desert.

The Western Regional Climate Center (WRCC) reports mean annual temperatures of 64 degrees in the far southeast and 40 or lower in the northern mountains and valleys.

The state’s mean elevation is 5,700 feet above sea level.

Go up 1,000 feet and you lose a little more than 3 degrees on average.

Below 5,000 feet, individual summer days quite often top 100 degrees.

If you’re comparing July highs, the averages run from slightly above 90 degrees at the lower elevations to the upper 70s at high elevations.

2. Tornado Country

New Mexico averaged 9 tornadoes a year over the 30 years ending in 2024, the National Weather Service says.

That surprises many people who think of tornadoes as a Kansas and Oklahoma problem.

If you’re driving across the eastern plains, you’re in the part of the state where most of those tornadoes were.

The typical tornado is relatively weak and arrives on a spring afternoon or evening.

But tornadoes can occur at any time.

3. Dry Arroyo Myth

A vehicle trying to cross a flooded arroyo in New Mexico’s San Juan County was swept away, even though the water didn’t look all that deep.

Many people treat a dry arroyo as a safe spot whenever the sky overhead looks clear.

New Mexico’s variable terrain can channel water to places that haven’t even received recent rainfall.

Rapidly rising, fast-moving water often shows up in areas that are normally dry.

A flash flood can give you just minutes to react.

4. Snow Country

Think snow stays in New Mexico’s mountains and out of its cities?

Albuquerque’s airport picked up 6.1 inches on December 26, 2000.

In 2006, Christmas Day fell between two major New Mexico snowstorms.

Albuquerque’s record 16.3 inches came a few days later, on December 29 and 30.

A blizzard on December 26 and 27, 2015, shut down travel across eastern New Mexico for days, including Interstate 40 from Tijeras Canyon to Texas.

A Christmas 2018 storm left three to six inches of snow around Santa Fe and Raton.

If you’re hoping for a white Christmas in Albuquerque, the odds are slim.

Measurable snow has fallen at the airport on Christmas Day about once every 16 years since 1931.

5. Reliable Monsoon Myth

If you’re planning around New Mexico’s monsoon, the dates to know are June 15 through September 30.

In practice, the North American Monsoon can start in late June and extend into September.

Many people still expect the summer rains to arrive on schedule.

Monsoon rainfall varies greatly from year to year.

In 2013, a single, very wet week in September caused major flooding across the central and western parts of the state.

The 2020 monsoon season, by contrast, was the second driest on record, after 1956.

6. Lightning and Weak Storms

The weather service has recorded 98 lightning deaths in New Mexico since 1959.

The last two came in 2015.

Summer thunderstorms average from 40 in the south to more than 70 in the northeast, which has the second-greatest thunderstorm frequency in the country, WRCC reports.

Many people assume a weak storm, or one that hasn’t reached them yet, can’t hurt them.

No warnings are issued for lightning, mainly because thunderstorms, no matter how weak, can produce deadly cloud-to-ground lightning.

Lightning can strike from up to 10 miles away from a thunderstorm’s rain shaft.

Lightning deaths generally occur with the first or last strike in a storm.

That’s when people outside are unaware a storm is approaching, or head back out before it has completely left the area.

If you can hear thunder, you’re close enough to a storm to be struck by lightning.

Snowpack Trends

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s 2022 state climate summary projects that New Mexico’s snowpack accumulation will decrease.

The decade covered was the warmest on record for the state.

Even if accumulation doesn’t decrease, higher temperatures are projected to bring an earlier start and end to the snowmelt season.

That snowpack feeds the water supply reservoirs you may live downstream from.

Altitude and Sunburn

Across the U.S., ultraviolet (UV) intensity increases about 6% per kilometer of elevation above sea level, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says.

Albuquerque’s airport sits at 5,314 feet, about 1.6 kilometers up.

That works out to close to 10% more UV intensity than you’d get at sea level.

If you’re hiking up to Wheeler Peak’s 13,161 feet, the same math adds up to roughly 24% more.

The National Weather Service’s UV Index forecast, which EPA publishes, uses ozone, cloud cover, ground elevation and the angle of the sun.

Clouds don’t block it all, since scattered clouds let 89% of UV through and overcast skies let 31% through.

Day-to-Night Swings

New Mexico's clear skies and low humidity let the ground cool rapidly after sundown, so summer nights are usually comfortable.

WRCC reports that the average range between daily high and low temperatures is 25 to 35 degrees.

Humidity moves the other way, from near 65 percent about sunrise to near 30 percent in mid-afternoon.