Elephant Butte Dam, NM Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Pulled from NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 normals →: climate measurements used in PlainClimate's documented score
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Elephant Butte Dam's primary NOAA station, ELEPHANT BUTTE DAM.
The climate verdict for Elephant Butte Dam
Dryness leads the climate profile for Elephant Butte Dam, New Mexico, with 9.9 inches of precipitation a year. NOAA records an annual average of 63°F. It scores 77/100 for climate comfort (good), putting it in the top third of station-mapped location scores and exceeding 70% of them.
- 63°F
- annual average temperature (NOAA normal)
- 77/100
- comfort score, above 70% of station-mapped location scores
- 9.9"
- annual precipitation · 1" snow
- 247 days
- growing season, frost-free days
Elephant Butte Dam: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00292848 · Elephant Butte Dam, NM 63°F mean · 9.9" precip
TEMP-MILD · RANK-UPPER · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-ARID · SWING-MID · COMF-TOP · LOAD-MIX · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-MILD 63°F
- RANK-UPPER #5,763
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Allendale
- PRCP-ARID 9.9"
- SWING-MID 40°F
- COMF-TOP 77/100
- LOAD-MIX H/C balanced
- STN-1 USC00292848
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Allendale, SC (+ 0 °F mean)
Instrument codes from this station's NOAA 1991–2020 normals, mean temperature, corpus warmth rank, photo-finish peer station, precipitation band, seasonal swing, comfort composite, degree-day load, and field book, not a livability rating.
Mean-temperature neighbourhood
Nationwide NOAA normal poles and nearest peers, not a reprint of every NM station list.
- Elephant Butte… (this station) 63°F
- Hot Carlsbad Cavern…, NM 63°F
- Near Allendale, SC 63°F
- Near Bankhead L&d, AL 63°F
- Near Canton, MS 63°F
Climate Living Index · Elephant Butte Dam
Elephant Butte Dam: 59/100 · grade C
Elephant Butte Dam publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Elephant Butte Dam, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 77/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Annual temperature balance | 63.4°F · 4.1° from 67.5°F | 88/100 · A |
| Frost-free season | 247 days/year | 88/100 · A |
| Snowfall burden | 0.9 inches/year | 84/100 · B |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 165 calendar days | 36/100 · F |
| Precipitation balance | 9.9 in · 25.1 from 35 in | 12/100 · F |
Elephant Butte Dam · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Elephant Butte Dam's normals sit in a dry climate class: BSk
Precipitation is low relative to temperature but above true desert thresholds: cold semi-arid steppe (BSk). Class BSk is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: dry (arid or semi-arid), specifically cold semi-arid steppe.
- Köppen code
- BSk
- Group
- Dry (arid or semi-arid)
- Warmest month
- 82.9°F
- Coldest month
- 43.0°F
Source: official public datasets monthly normals (1991–2020) at the city’s primary station. This is a station classification, not a mapped regional consensus.
National standing · balanced station
Where Elephant Butte Dam sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Elephant Butte Dam's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Top 16% warmest
- Among 6,861 stations, Elephant Butte Dam sits in the warmer third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 94%
- Elephant Butte Dam's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- 35th percentile swing
- Typical seasonal amplitude versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Elephant Butte Dam compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Elephant Butte Dam's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
77 Top 30% score exceeds 70% of 6,189 station-mapped location scores
- 0–10: 0 station-mapped locations (0%). Below this entry.
- 10–20: 0 station-mapped locations (0%). Below this entry.
- 20–30: 96 station-mapped locations (2%). Below this entry.
- 30–40: 280 station-mapped locations (5%). Below this entry.
- 40–50: 1,113 station-mapped locations (18%). Below this entry.
- 50–60: 1,329 station-mapped locations (21%). Below this entry.
- 60–70: 1,236 station-mapped locations (20%). Below this entry.
- 70–80: 650 station-mapped locations (11%). This entry sits in this band.
- 80–90: 921 station-mapped locations (15%). Above this entry.
- 90–100: 564 station-mapped locations (9%). Above this entry.
Source NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, PlainClimate comfort index · 1991–2020
Elephant Butte Dam's measured station temperature trend
MethodologyAcross 70 complete annual observations from 1914 to 2024, ELEPHANT BUTTE DAM warmed at a fitted rate of 0.12°C per decade. The line shows the fitted change relative to its first year, not raw year-to-year temperatures or a forecast.
- Elephant Butte Dam primary station fitted change +0.12 °C/decade
Monthly Temperatures
Average daily high and low temperatures by month
| Month | Avg High | Avg Low | Mean | Precip | Snow | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 57°F (14°C) | 30°F (-1°C) | 43°F (6°C) | 0.4" | 0.2" | 22.2 | 0.0 |
| February | 62°F (17°C) | 34°F (1°C) | 48°F (9°C) | 0.3" | 0.3" | 12.5 | 0.0 |
| March | 69°F (21°C) | 40°F (5°C) | 55°F (13°C) | 0.3" | 0.0" | 4.2 | 0.0 |
| April | 78°F (25°C) | 49°F (9°C) | 63°F (17°C) | 0.3" | 0.0" | 0.2 | 1.1 |
| May | 86°F (30°C) | 58°F (14°C) | 72°F (22°C) | 0.4" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 7.9 |
| June | 96°F (36°C) | 67°F (20°C) | 82°F (28°C) | 0.5" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 24.8 |
| July | 96°F (35°C) | 70°F (21°C) | 83°F (28°C) | 2.2" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 25.6 |
| August | 93°F (34°C) | 69°F (20°C) | 81°F (27°C) | 1.8" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 22.8 |
| September | 88°F (31°C) | 62°F (17°C) | 75°F (24°C) | 1.6" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 11.8 |
| October | 78°F (26°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 64°F (18°C) | 0.9" | 0.1" | 0.6 | 1.6 |
| November | 66°F (19°C) | 38°F (4°C) | 52°F (11°C) | 0.6" | 0.0" | 7.5 | 0.0 |
| December | 56°F (13°C) | 30°F (-1°C) | 43°F (6°C) | 0.6" | 0.3" | 21.6 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Elephant Butte Dam works both ends of the calendar. Normal highs climb to 97°F by June 24 and hold at or above 90°F on 105 dates, then normal lows drop to freezing or below on 60 dates, bottoming at 29°F around January 1.
When the heat sits
Normal highs reach 90°F from May 26 through September 7, covering 105 dates. The broader mild season, normal highs of 70°F or more, runs March 18 to November 5.
This counts calendar dates whose 1991–2020 normal high reaches 90°F. It is a smaller number than the 90°F+ day counts in the monthly table above, which measure how often the threshold was actually crossed in a typical year. A date can average 88°F and still exceed 90°F in half of all years.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into February 2, then returns to freezing around December 5, covering 60 dates in all.
Derived from the normal daily minimum. This is a different measure from the 50%-probability frost dates shown elsewhere on this page, which come from NOAA’s frost product.
Where the wet dates fall
The likeliest wet date is August 1, when 29% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is April 13 at 5%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 46 wet dates a year.
The widest day
March 26 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 30°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Elephant Butte Dam.
Where Elephant Butte Dam Stands Nationally
Summers here run among the most heat-heavy normals calendars in the country: on about 105 days a year the normal daily high itself reaches 90°F — a count fewer than one station in ten exceeds.
Aridity defines the water calendar: about 10 inches in a normal year lands this among the driest tenth of ranked stations.
Elephant Butte Dam earns 2 nationally notable standings (outer quintiles) against 6,860 NOAA 1991–2020 normals stations; only those extremes render.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall and snowfall
Snow: 0.2"
3.0 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.3"
2.2 days with precipitation
2.3 days with precipitation
1.3 days with precipitation
2.4 days with precipitation
2.7 days with precipitation
7.7 days with precipitation
8.2 days with precipitation
5.7 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.1"
4.2 days with precipitation
2.6 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.3"
3.1 days with precipitation
Elephant Butte Dam runs a summer-peaked wet season
45% of Elephant Butte Dam's yearly precipitation falls in June, July and August alone, against the 25% an evenly spread year would give those three months. The wettest month is July at 2.2", on a 39.9°F seasonal spread. Warm-season convection and, across the Southwest, the North American monsoon produce this shape: rain arrives in short heavy bursts during the hottest part of the year rather than as long cool-season soaking.
- Wettest three months: July, August, September, taking 56% of the annual total between them.
- Driest month: March at 0.3".
- Winter share: 14% falls in December, January and February.
Shares are computed from this station's own 1991-2020 monthly precipitation normals. A summer-peaked label means the June-August share reaches 35%; it describes timing across an average year, not any single season, and says nothing about how heavy an individual storm can be.
How Elephant Butte Dam's precipitation splits across the calendar
About 45 days a year record measurable precipitation here, carrying 9.9" between them, or roughly 0.22 inches on a typical wet day. That sits in the middle band: neither the many-light-days pattern of the Pacific Northwest and the Great Lakes, nor the few-heavy-events pattern of the Gulf and the desert Southwest.
A wet day is one recording at least 0.01 inches. These are 1991-2020 normals: they describe an average year and say nothing about the heaviest single storm on record.
Snow reaches Elephant Butte Dam, but rarely amounts to much
The normals record 0.9 inches of snow a year here, most likely in February. That is a real but marginal amount: enough that snow is part of the local record, not enough to define the winter.
A figure in this range usually reflects a handful of events that melt quickly rather than a season of accumulation; about 1 days a year record any measurable snow at all.
NOAA 1991-2020 normals. An average across thirty years can smooth away a single heavy winter, so a small annual figure does not mean a significant snowfall is impossible.
Frost Dates & Growing Season
First Fall Freeze
November 15
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
March 13
50% probability date
Growing Season
247 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
2,774
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
2,209
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
December
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside NM closest to Elephant Butte Dam on two NOAA annual-normal axes (mean temperature and annual precipitation). Chip rows use distinct link sets.
Closest by average temperature
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual mean temperature (63°F here).
- Allendale, SC 63°F · 0.0°F off
- Canton, MS 63°F · 0.0°F off
- Emory, TX 63°F · 0.0°F off
- Los Banos, CA 63°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (9.9" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Fruita, CO 9.9" · 0.0" off
- Jeffrey City, WY 9.9" · 0.0" off
- Woodruff, UT 9.9" · 0.0" off
- Buena Vista, CO 9.9" · 0.0" off
Scarce-water calendar
Where Elephant Butte Dam's limited precipitation lands
mixed demand · dry · mid swing
Local precipitation is sparse in this otherwise mixed profile. The station reports 9.9 inches annually, within PlainClimate's dry band. Annual snowfall totals 0.9 inches. The monthly distribution matters because the total alone does not reveal the timing.
July and December mark the typical warm and cold ends of the calendar in Elephant Butte Dam's middle-range seasonal profile. The measured spread is 39.9°F. The annual average is 63°F. Neither the annual mean nor one extreme month represents the full calendar on its own.
Heating and cooling both register in Elephant Butte Dam's normal, at 2,774 and 2,209 degree days respectively. Neither total exceeds the other by more than two to one, so the record is better read as a mixed-demand calendar than as heating-led or cooling-led.
Elephant Butte Dam has a long frost-free window of roughly 247 days, but the dry annual profile is a separate constraint. Growing-season length says when freezes are unlikely, not whether rainfall is sufficient.
Elephant Butte Dam wettest normal
July
July concentrates the scarce annual total (9.9 inches).
Elephant Butte Dam driest normal
March
March is typically driest; arid stations are defined by when water is absent, not by a four-season grid.
Questions about Elephant Butte Dam's climate
How dry is Elephant Butte Dam? ▼
How many days above 90°F does Elephant Butte Dam get? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Elephant Butte Dam? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Elephant Butte Dam's primary station: ELEPHANT BUTTE DAM (USC00292848). For informational purposes only.
Place identity: U.S. Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer places. The conservative exact name-and-state crosswalk finds no Census place match, so PlainClimate treats this as a station-mapped location and does not claim it is a municipality. No exact Gazetteer row for Elephant Butte Dam; facility counts that depend on place identity are therefore an upper bound, not a municipal census.
On this page every temperature, precipitation, and derived score for Elephant Butte Dam comes from its primary NOAA station record. No figure on this page is typed in by an editor - each value is rendered from NOAA 1991-2020 U.S. Climate Normals. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 1991–2020 normals.