Artesia, New Mexico climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Artesia's normal year runs from 23°F January nights to 95°F July afternoons, with 12.1 inches of precipitation and 4 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 15.9°C, January lows of −5°C, July highs of 35°C, 307 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationArtesia (6 mi S)
- Station IDUSC00290600
- Location32.75°N 104.38°W
- Elevation3,366 ft (1,026 m)
- Population12,550
On October 22, the normal high in Artesia is 76°F and the normal low 41°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 16%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Artesia.
- Jan 58° 23°
- Feb 63° 27°
- Mar 71° 35°
- Apr 79° 42°
- May 87° 52°
- Jun 95° 62°
- Jul 95° 66°
- Aug 94° 64°
- Sep 87° 57°
- Oct 78° 44°
- Nov 66° 32°
- Dec 57° 24°
Each month: normal high (large) and low, °F. Fill: the month's normal mean, colder blue to hotter red.
What is the weather like in Artesia each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 95°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 23°F. The most precipitation falls in September (1.89 in), the least in February (0.38 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 58°F | 23°F | 40.4°F | 0.48 | 1.4 | 3 | <1 | 27 | 10 h 10 min |
| February | 63°F | 27°F | 45.1°F | 0.38 | 0.3 | 3 | <1 | 22 | 11 h |
| March | 71°F | 35°F | 52.5°F | 0.44 | 0.1 | 3 | 1 | 12 | 12 h |
| April | 79°F | 42°F | 60.1°F | 0.51 | 0.0 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 13 h |
| May | 87°F | 52°F | 69.6°F | 1.18 | 0.0 | 4 | 14 | <1 | 13 h 50 min |
| June | 95°F | 62°F | 78.5°F | 1.33 | 0.0 | 4 | 24 | <1 | 14 h 20 min |
| July | 95°F | 66°F | 80.5°F | 1.67 | 0.0 | 6 | 27 | <1 | 14 h 10 min |
| August | 94°F | 64°F | 79.1°F | 1.63 | 0.0 | 6 | 25 | <1 | 13 h 20 min |
| September | 87°F | 57°F | 71.7°F | 1.89 | 0.0 | 6 | 13 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 78°F | 44°F | 60.7°F | 1.23 | 0.1 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 11 h 30 min |
| November | 66°F | 32°F | 48.7°F | 0.81 | 0.7 | 3 | <1 | 16 | 10 h 30 min |
| December | 57°F | 24°F | 40.5°F | 0.55 | 1.2 | 3 | <1 | 27 | 10 h |
| Year (annual) | 77°F | 44°F | 60.6°F | 12.10 | 3.8 | 49 | 109 | 111 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 14°C | −5°C | 4.7°C | 12 mm | 4 cm |
| February | 17°C | −3°C | 7.3°C | 10 mm | 1 cm |
| March | 21°C | 1°C | 11.4°C | 11 mm | 0 cm |
| April | 26°C | 5°C | 15.6°C | 13 mm | 0 cm |
| May | 31°C | 11°C | 20.9°C | 30 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 35°C | 17°C | 25.8°C | 34 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 35°C | 19°C | 26.9°C | 42 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 34°C | 18°C | 26.2°C | 41 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 30°C | 14°C | 22.1°C | 48 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 25°C | 7°C | 15.9°C | 31 mm | 0 cm |
| November | 19°C | 0°C | 9.3°C | 21 mm | 2 cm |
| December | 14°C | −5°C | 4.7°C | 14 mm | 3 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00290600; annual normals. Wet days: 0.01 inch or more; 90°F days and freezing nights: NOAA's day counts. Daylight: sunrise to sunset on the 15th, computed from the latitude.
When is the best weather to visit Artesia?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in March, April, October and November. Of those, April has the fewest days with rain (2).
That is a measurement, not a recommendation: it counts the months whose normal afternoon high sits between 65°F and 85°F, where a light layer is enough by day.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00290600.
When is the last frost in Artesia?
In Artesia, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 11 in half of years and after April 26 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 29 in half of years and before October 16 in one year in ten.
Frost-free in half of yearsFrost in 1 to 9 years out of 10Frost most years
- Last spring frost, half of years after
- April 111 year in 10 after April 26; 9 in 10 after March 27
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 291 year in 10 before October 16; 9 in 10 before November 9
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 198 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 220 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after March 29 in half of springs and before November 5 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Artesia in zone 7b in ZIP code 88253, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Artesia's NOAA station is in zone 7b: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 8°F (30 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in New Mexico · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00290600; USDA 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map, ZIP listings: PRISM Group, Oregon State University, https://prism.oregonstate.edu, accessed October 8, 2026; the station zone: ACIS daily lows, 1991-2020. A 10% date means one year in ten has a frost after it in spring or before it in autumn.
How hot and how cold does it get in Artesia?
In a normal year in Artesia, 109 days a year reach 90°F (23 of them 100°F or more), 111 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 49 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 109a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 23a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 111a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 3high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 49a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 2a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1905) is 116°F, on June 29, 1918; the lowest is −20°F, on January 11, 1962.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1978, with 25.55 in; the snowiest season is 1982–83, with 41.5 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00290600; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00290600. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Artesia?
Over a year 88% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Artesia, 5.6 kWh per square metre a day. June is the sunniest month (91%) and December the cloudiest (84%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 86% | 3.6 |
| February | 85% | 4.5 |
| March | 86% | 5.7 |
| April | 90% | 7.1 |
| May | 89% | 7.6 |
| June | 91% | 7.8 |
| July | 88% | 7.2 |
| August | 87% | 6.6 |
| September | 87% | 5.7 |
| October | 88% | 4.8 |
| November | 86% | 3.8 |
| December | 84% | 3.2 |
Source: NASA POWER solar climatology, 2001-2020 (CERES SYN1deg). Satellite-based, for the 1-degree cell (about 100 km across) around the station, so it describes the area rather than the airport.
How much heating and cooling does Artesia need?
A normal year in Artesia brings 3,360 heating degree days, 37% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 1,790 cooling degree days, 97% more than the median (908). Five months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 4,922 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 763 | 0 |
| February | 557 | 0 |
| March | 391 | 3 |
| April | 176 | 28 |
| May | 37 | 180 |
| June | 0 | 407 |
| July | 0 | 481 |
| August | 0 | 437 |
| September | 19 | 218 |
| October | 167 | 35 |
| November | 489 | 1 |
| December | 761 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 3,360 | 1,790 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00290600. A degree day is one degree of a day's mean temperature below 65°F (heating) or above it (cooling); utilities use them to estimate energy use.
Has Artesia been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 62.3°F, 1.7°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 60.6°F. 4 of the 4 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 61.3°F | +0.7°F | 12.25 | 3.0 |
| 2022 | 60.8°F | +0.2°F | 12.14 | 0.2 |
| 2024 | 62.9°F | +2.3°F | 5.12 | 0.0 |
| 2025 | 62.3°F | +1.7°F | 11.06 | 1.3 |
Over 62 complete years from 1951 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 3.9°F per century (+0.22°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00290600; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Artesia's climate compare?
Artesia is warmer than 80 of the other 97 places with their own NOAA record in New Mexico, and wetter than 35. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 60.6°F is warmer than 76%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Artesia is BSk: cold semi-arid steppe. What the classes mean.
Places with the most similar year elsewhere
Measured month by month on the normal high, low and precipitation, among places of 20,000 or more people in other states:
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals for every station PlainClimate covers. Similarity: the root-mean-square difference of the 36 monthly figures, precipitation weighted so an inch counts like 6°F.
Which places near Artesia share this climate record?
4 places have no NOAA station with 1991-2020 normals of their own, and this station is the nearest full record. A place's own climate can differ from these figures, by several degrees where it sits much higher or lower than the station, nearer the coast, or inside a large city's heat; for the larger places the next nearest records are named with their yearly mean, so the spread around them is visible, and places of 50,000 or more have their own page with NOAA's gridded normals.
- Atoka, NM1,038 people · 2 mi N
- Lake Arthur, NM375 people · 17 mi N
- Morningside, NM352 people · 7 mi N
- Loco Hills, NM61 people · 24 mi E
Source: Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer (place centers) and Vintage 2024 population estimates. Distance and direction from the station to each place's center.
Questions about Artesia's climate
What is the coldest month in Artesia?
January, with a normal high of 58°F and a normal low of 23°F. The warmest is July (95°F by day, 66°F at night).
Does it snow in Artesia?
Yes: 4 inches in a normal year, falling on 2 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in January (1.4 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Artesia?
September, with 1.89 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is February with 0.38 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Artesia in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Artesia in zone 7b in ZIP code 88253, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Artesia's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 8°F (30 years, 1991-2020): zone 7b.
How late can frost come in Artesia?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after April 11; in one year in ten it comes after April 26. Waiting until April 26 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- New Mexico climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Brantley Dam, NM17 miles from this station, 63.1°F a year
- Hope, NM21 miles from this station, 61.9°F a year
- Carlsbad, NM30 miles from this station, 63.4°F a year
- Dark Canyon Road, NM34 miles from this station, 61.6°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made