Caballo, New Mexico climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Caballo's normal year runs from 29°F December nights to 98°F July afternoons, with 10.6 inches of precipitation and less than an inch of snow (0.4 in) a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 17.3°C, December lows of −2°C, July highs of 36°C, 270 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationCaballo Dam
- Station IDUSC00291286
- Location32.90°N 107.31°W
- Elevation4,239 ft (1,292 m)
- Population (census place)87
On October 14, the normal high in Caballo is 81°F and the normal low 48°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 13%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Caballo.
- Jan 59° 29°
- Feb 65° 32°
- Mar 72° 39°
- Apr 79° 45°
- May 88° 54°
- Jun 97° 63°
- Jul 98° 69°
- Aug 95° 67°
- Sep 89° 59°
- Oct 80° 47°
- Nov 68° 36°
- Dec 58° 29°
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 Caballo each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 98°F; December the coldest, with normal lows of 29°F. The most precipitation falls in August (2.01 in), the least in March (0.25 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 59°F | 29°F | 43.7°F | 0.49 | 3 | <1 | 26 | 10 h 10 min |
| February | 65°F | 32°F | 48.2°F | 0.51 | 2 | <1 | 17 | 11 h |
| March | 72°F | 39°F | 55.2°F | 0.25 | 2 | <1 | 8 | 12 h |
| April | 79°F | 45°F | 62.1°F | 0.32 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 13 h |
| May | 88°F | 54°F | 70.9°F | 0.41 | 2 | 12 | <1 | 13 h 50 min |
| June | 97°F | 63°F | 80.4°F | 0.69 | 3 | 27 | <1 | 14 h 20 min |
| July | 98°F | 69°F | 83.3°F | 1.88 | 8 | 28 | <1 | 14 h 10 min |
| August | 95°F | 67°F | 81.1°F | 2.01 | 8 | 26 | <1 | 13 h 20 min |
| September | 89°F | 59°F | 74.4°F | 1.80 | 6 | 16 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 80°F | 47°F | 63.7°F | 1.01 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 11 h 30 min |
| November | 68°F | 36°F | 52.3°F | 0.60 | 3 | <1 | 12 | 10 h 30 min |
| December | 58°F | 29°F | 43.5°F | 0.66 | 3 | <1 | 25 | 10 h |
| Year (annual) | 79°F | 48°F | 63.2°F | 10.63 | 46 | 114 | 90 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 15°C | −2°C | 6.5°C | 12 mm |
| February | 18°C | 0°C | 9.0°C | 13 mm |
| March | 22°C | 4°C | 12.9°C | 6 mm |
| April | 26°C | 7°C | 16.7°C | 8 mm |
| May | 31°C | 12°C | 21.6°C | 10 mm |
| June | 36°C | 17°C | 26.9°C | 18 mm |
| July | 36°C | 21°C | 28.5°C | 48 mm |
| August | 35°C | 20°C | 27.3°C | 51 mm |
| September | 32°C | 15°C | 23.6°C | 46 mm |
| October | 27°C | 8°C | 17.6°C | 26 mm |
| November | 20°C | 2°C | 11.3°C | 15 mm |
| December | 15°C | −2°C | 6.4°C | 17 mm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00291286; 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 Caballo?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in March, April, October and November. Of those, April has the fewest days with rain (1).
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 USC00291286.
When is the last frost in Caballo?
In Caballo, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after March 25 in half of years and after April 17 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before November 6 in half of years and before October 24 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
- March 251 year in 10 after April 17; 9 in 10 after March 5
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- November 61 year in 10 before October 24; 9 in 10 before November 21
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 224 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 253 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after March 7 in half of springs and before November 18 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Caballo in zone 8a in ZIP code 87931, the nearest ZIP area.
Frost dates for every NOAA station in New Mexico · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00291286; USDA 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map, ZIP listings: PRISM Group, Oregon State University, https://prism.oregonstate.edu, accessed October 8, 2026. 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 Caballo?
In a normal year in Caballo, 114 days a year reach 90°F (29 of them 100°F or more), 90 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 46 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 114a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 29a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 90a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- fewer than 1high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 46a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1936) is 111°F, on June 28, 1994; the lowest is −14°F, on January 11, 1962.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1986, with 16.85 in; the snowiest season is 1987–88, with 16.1 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00291286; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00291286. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Caballo?
Over a year 89% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Caballo, 5.8 kWh per square metre a day. May is the sunniest month (93%) and July the cloudiest (86%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 87% | 3.6 |
| February | 87% | 4.6 |
| March | 89% | 6.0 |
| April | 92% | 7.4 |
| May | 93% | 8.1 |
| June | 92% | 8.1 |
| July | 86% | 7.1 |
| August | 86% | 6.6 |
| September | 88% | 5.9 |
| October | 90% | 5.0 |
| November | 89% | 3.9 |
| December | 87% | 3.3 |
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 Caballo need?
A normal year in Caballo brings 2,732 heating degree days, 49% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 2,115 cooling degree days, 2.3 times 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 5,472 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 660 | 0 |
| February | 470 | 0 |
| March | 307 | 3 |
| April | 122 | 37 |
| May | 21 | 202 |
| June | 0 | 462 |
| July | 0 | 566 |
| August | 0 | 499 |
| September | 5 | 287 |
| October | 97 | 57 |
| November | 383 | 2 |
| December | 666 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 2,732 | 2,115 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00291286. 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 Caballo been warmer than normal lately?
2024 averaged 65.1°F, 1.9°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 63.2°F. 3 of the 3 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 63.8°F | +0.6°F | 7.76 |
| 2023 | 63.9°F | +0.7°F | 8.92 |
| 2024 | 65.1°F | +1.9°F | 8.53 |
Over 46 complete years from 1937 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 4.7°F per century (+0.26°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00291286; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Caballo's climate compare?
Caballo is warmer than 90 of the other 97 places with their own NOAA record in New Mexico, and wetter than 21. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 63.2°F is warmer than 83%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Caballo 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 Caballo share this climate record?
8 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.
- Hatch, NM1,590 people · 18 mi SE
- Salem, NM834 people · 14 mi SE
- Placitas, NM473 people · 18 mi SE
- Arrey, NM429 people · 3 mi S
- Rodey, NM263 people · 20 mi SE
- Rincon, NM260 people · 21 mi SE
- Oasis, NM123 people · 2 mi N
- Garfield, NM98 people · 10 mi S
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 Caballo's climate
What is the coldest month in Caballo?
December, with a normal high of 58°F and a normal low of 29°F. The warmest is July (98°F by day, 69°F at night).
Does it snow in Caballo?
Rarely: NOAA's normal is 0.4 inch a year.
What is the rainiest month in Caballo?
August, with 2.01 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is March with 0.25 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Caballo in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Caballo in zone 8a in ZIP code 87931, the nearest ZIP area.
How late can frost come in Caballo?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after March 25; in one year in ten it comes after April 17. Waiting until April 17 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
- Hillsboro, NM15 miles from this station, 58.1°F a year
- Truth or Consequences, NM17 miles from this station, 62.6°F a year
- Elephant Butte, NM19 miles from this station, 63.4°F a year
- Truth Or Consequence Airport, NM24 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