Elephant Butte, New Mexico climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Elephant Butte's normal year runs from 30°F December nights to 96°F July afternoons, with 9.9 inches of precipitation and less than an inch of snow (0.9 in) a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 17.4°C, December lows of −1°C, July highs of 35°C, 251 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationElephant Butte Dam
- Station IDUSC00292848
- Location33.15°N 107.18°W
- Elevation4,571 ft (1,393 m)
- Population1,439
On October 14, the normal high in Elephant Butte is 79°F and the normal low 51°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 Elephant Butte.
- Jan 57° 30°
- Feb 62° 34°
- Mar 69° 40°
- Apr 78° 49°
- May 86° 58°
- Jun 96° 67°
- Jul 96° 70°
- Aug 93° 69°
- Sep 88° 62°
- Oct 78° 50°
- Nov 66° 38°
- Dec 56° 30°
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 Elephant Butte each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 96°F; December the coldest, with normal lows of 30°F. The most precipitation falls in July (2.17 in), the least in March (0.26 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 57°F | 30°F | 43.3°F | 0.42 | 3 | <1 | 22 | 10 h 10 min |
| February | 62°F | 34°F | 48.1°F | 0.33 | 2 | <1 | 13 | 11 h |
| March | 69°F | 40°F | 54.9°F | 0.26 | 2 | <1 | 4 | 12 h |
| April | 78°F | 49°F | 63.0°F | 0.28 | 1 | 1 | <1 | 13 h |
| May | 86°F | 58°F | 71.9°F | 0.43 | 2 | 8 | <1 | 13 h 50 min |
| June | 96°F | 67°F | 81.7°F | 0.48 | 3 | 25 | <1 | 14 h 20 min |
| July | 96°F | 70°F | 82.9°F | 2.17 | 8 | 26 | <1 | 14 h 10 min |
| August | 93°F | 69°F | 80.9°F | 1.81 | 8 | 23 | <1 | 13 h 30 min |
| September | 88°F | 62°F | 74.7°F | 1.58 | 6 | 12 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 78°F | 50°F | 64.1°F | 0.87 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 11 h 20 min |
| November | 66°F | 38°F | 52.0°F | 0.62 | 3 | <1 | 8 | 10 h 30 min |
| December | 56°F | 30°F | 43.0°F | 0.64 | 3 | <1 | 22 | 10 h |
| Year (annual) | 77°F | 50°F | 63.4°F | 9.89 | 45 | 96 | 69 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 14°C | −1°C | 6.3°C | 11 mm |
| February | 17°C | 1°C | 8.9°C | 8 mm |
| March | 21°C | 5°C | 12.7°C | 7 mm |
| April | 25°C | 9°C | 17.2°C | 7 mm |
| May | 30°C | 14°C | 22.2°C | 11 mm |
| June | 36°C | 20°C | 27.6°C | 12 mm |
| July | 35°C | 21°C | 28.3°C | 55 mm |
| August | 34°C | 20°C | 27.2°C | 46 mm |
| September | 31°C | 17°C | 23.7°C | 40 mm |
| October | 26°C | 10°C | 17.8°C | 22 mm |
| November | 19°C | 4°C | 11.1°C | 16 mm |
| December | 13°C | −1°C | 6.1°C | 16 mm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00292848; 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 Elephant Butte?
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 USC00292848.
When is the last frost in Elephant Butte?
In Elephant Butte, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after March 13 in half of years and after April 2 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before November 15 in half of years and before November 1 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 131 year in 10 after April 2; 9 in 10 after February 26
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- November 151 year in 10 before November 1; 9 in 10 before November 28
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 243 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 269 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after March 1 in half of springs and before November 26 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Elephant Butte in zone 8a in ZIP code 87935. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Elephant Butte's NOAA station is in zone 8b: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 16°F (17 complete years); the map interpolates between stations and terrain, so the station and the ZIP area can differ by half a zone.
Frost dates for every NOAA station in New Mexico · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00292848; 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 Elephant Butte?
In a normal year in Elephant Butte, 96 days a year reach 90°F (20 of them 100°F or more), 69 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 45 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 96a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 20a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 69a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 1high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 45a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1908) is 111°F, on June 27, 1994; the lowest is −7°F, on January 11, 1962.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1986, with 16.94 in; the snowiest season is 1912–13, with 28.5 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00292848; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00292848. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Elephant Butte?
Over a year 86% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Elephant Butte, 5.6 kWh per square metre a day. April is the sunniest month (90%) and July the cloudiest (80%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 86% | 3.5 |
| February | 86% | 4.5 |
| March | 88% | 5.9 |
| April | 90% | 7.2 |
| May | 89% | 7.8 |
| June | 88% | 7.8 |
| July | 80% | 6.7 |
| August | 81% | 6.3 |
| September | 85% | 5.7 |
| October | 89% | 4.9 |
| November | 88% | 3.8 |
| December | 85% | 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 Elephant Butte need?
A normal year in Elephant Butte brings 2,774 heating degree days, 48% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 2,209 cooling degree days, 2.4 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 5,574 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 674 | 0 |
| February | 475 | 0 |
| March | 322 | 7 |
| April | 111 | 51 |
| May | 17 | 231 |
| June | 0 | 500 |
| July | 0 | 557 |
| August | 0 | 494 |
| September | 5 | 298 |
| October | 97 | 70 |
| November | 392 | 2 |
| December | 682 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 2,774 | 2,209 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00292848. 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 Elephant Butte been warmer than normal lately?
2024 averaged 65.6°F, 2.2°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 63.4°F. 3 of the 3 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 63.9°F | +0.5°F | 5.81 |
| 2023 | 64.6°F | +1.2°F | 6.51 |
| 2024 | 65.6°F | +2.2°F | 7.10 |
Over 70 complete years from 1914 to 2024, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 2.2°F per century (+0.12°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00292848; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Elephant Butte's climate compare?
Elephant Butte is warmer than 94 of the other 97 places with their own NOAA record in New Mexico, and wetter than 10. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 63.4°F is warmer than 84%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Elephant Butte 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.
Questions about Elephant Butte's climate
What is the coldest month in Elephant Butte?
December, with a normal high of 56°F and a normal low of 30°F. The warmest is July (96°F by day, 70°F at night).
Does it snow in Elephant Butte?
Rarely: NOAA's normal is 0.9 inch a year.
What is the rainiest month in Elephant Butte?
July, with 2.17 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is March with 0.26 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Elephant Butte in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Elephant Butte in zone 8a in ZIP code 87935. By the same method at Elephant Butte's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 16°F (17 years, 1991-2020): zone 8b.
How late can frost come in Elephant Butte?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after March 13; in one year in ten it comes after April 2. Waiting until April 2 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
- Truth or Consequences, NM3 miles from this station, 62.6°F a year
- Truth Or Consequence Airport, NM8 miles from this station, 61.6°F a year
- Caballo, NM19 miles from this station, 63.2°F a year
- Hillsboro, NM27 miles from this station, 58.1°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made