Fence Lake, NM Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Average temperature and precipitation from NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 normals →, with a derived climate comfort score
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Fence Lake's primary NOAA station, FENCE LAKE.
The climate verdict for Fence Lake
Dryness leads the climate profile for Fence Lake, New Mexico, with 12.6 inches of precipitation a year. NOAA records an annual average of 49°F. At 49/100 (moderate) the climate comfort score falls in the bottom third of the station-mapped U.S. score corpus, exceeding only 18% of scores.
- 49°F
- annual average temperature (NOAA normal)
- 49/100
- comfort score, above 18% of station-mapped location scores
- 12.6"
- annual precipitation · 23" snow
- 123 days
- frost-free days per growing season
Fence Lake: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00293180 · Fence Lake, NM 49°F mean · 12.6" precip
TEMP-COOL · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-DRY · SWING-MID · COMF-LOW · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COOL 49°F
- RANK-COOL #2,470
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Diablo Dam
- PRCP-DRY 12.6"
- SWING-MID 38°F
- COMF-LOW 49/100
- LOAD-HEAT 6,012 HDD
- STN-1 USC00293180
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Diablo Dam, WA (+ 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.
- Fence Lake (this station) 49°F
- Hot Burkes Garden, VA 49°F
- Near Diablo Dam, WA 49°F
- Near Augustine, NM 49°F
- Near Prineville, OR 49°F
Climate Living Index · Fence Lake
Fence Lake: 24/100 · grade F
Fence Lake publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Fence Lake, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 49/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Snowfall burden | 23.3 inches/year | 45/100 · D |
| Annual temperature balance | 49.2°F · 18.3° from 67.5°F | 37/100 · F |
| Precipitation balance | 12.6 in · 22.4 from 35 in | 20/100 · F |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 202 calendar days | 13/100 · F |
| Frost-free season | 123 days/year | 8/100 · F |
Fence Lake · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Fence Lake'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
- 69.1°F
- Coldest month
- 30.8°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 · heating-led station
Where Fence Lake sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Fence Lake's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- 36th percentile warmth
- Mid-pack annual mean versus 6,861 station normals.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 88%
- Fence Lake's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Narrower than 72%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Fence Lake is compact versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Fence Lake compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Fence Lake's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
49 18th percentile score exceeds 18% 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%). This entry sits in this band.
- 50–60: 1,329 station-mapped locations (21%). Above this entry.
- 60–70: 1,236 station-mapped locations (20%). Above this entry.
- 70–80: 650 station-mapped locations (11%). Above this entry.
- 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
Monthly Temperatures
Average daily high and low temperatures by month
| Month | Avg High | Avg Low | Mean | Precip | Snow | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 46°F (8°C) | 16°F (-9°C) | 31°F (-1°C) | 0.9" | 6.4" | 30.0 | 0.0 |
| February | 51°F (10°C) | 20°F (-7°C) | 35°F (2°C) | 0.7" | 2.7" | 26.5 | 0.0 |
| March | 58°F (15°C) | 24°F (-4°C) | 41°F (5°C) | 0.8" | 4.5" | 28.6 | 0.0 |
| April | 66°F (19°C) | 28°F (-2°C) | 47°F (8°C) | 0.5" | 0.9" | 22.7 | 0.0 |
| May | 76°F (24°C) | 35°F (2°C) | 55°F (13°C) | 0.4" | 0.0" | 9.1 | 0.8 |
| June | 85°F (29°C) | 44°F (7°C) | 64°F (18°C) | 0.5" | 0.0" | 1.1 | 7.4 |
| July | 86°F (30°C) | 52°F (11°C) | 69°F (21°C) | 2.1" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 11.4 |
| August | 83°F (28°C) | 51°F (11°C) | 67°F (19°C) | 2.4" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 4.0 |
| September | 79°F (26°C) | 44°F (7°C) | 61°F (16°C) | 1.7" | 0.0" | 1.4 | 0.6 |
| October | 68°F (20°C) | 32°F (0°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 1.1" | 1.6" | 16.2 | 0.0 |
| November | 56°F (13°C) | 21°F (-6°C) | 38°F (4°C) | 0.8" | 2.5" | 26.6 | 0.0 |
| December | 46°F (8°C) | 16°F (-9°C) | 31°F (-1°C) | 0.8" | 4.7" | 30.1 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 87°F around July 1, short of 90°F on every date, while 202 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest 15°F near January 1.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into May 5, then returns to freezing around October 17, covering 202 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 8, when 43% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is June 6 at 10%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 71 wet dates a year.
The widest day
June 1 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 42°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Fence Lake.
Where Fence Lake Stands Nationally
Winters bite deep and often: the normal nightly low dips to freezing or below on around 202 nights a year, placing this among the most frost-prone tenth of ranked stations.
Day-to-night contrast is extreme by national standards — the widest normal daily swing reaches about 42°F, sharper than nine in ten ranked stations see.
Fence Lake 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: 6.4"
6.0 days with precipitation
Snow: 2.7"
5.1 days with precipitation
Snow: 4.5"
5.6 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.9"
3.7 days with precipitation
3.6 days with precipitation
2.7 days with precipitation
9.6 days with precipitation
13.7 days with precipitation
6.4 days with precipitation
Snow: 1.6"
5.9 days with precipitation
Snow: 2.5"
4.2 days with precipitation
Snow: 4.7"
4.6 days with precipitation
Fence Lake runs a summer-peaked wet season
40% of Fence Lake'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 August at 2.4", on a 38.3°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: August, July, September, taking 50% of the annual total between them.
- Driest month: May at 0.4".
- Winter share: 19% 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.
Fence Lake is dry, and what does fall arrives gently
Only about 71 days a year record measurable precipitation here, 19% of the calendar, and they carry 12.6" between them. At roughly 0.18 inches on an average wet day, this is not the damp drizzle of a marine climate; it is an arid record in which precipitation is both uncommon and light when it appears.
The wettest month by count is August at about 14 wet days; the driest is June at about 3.
A low per-event average in a dry record is a statement about typical days only. Arid regions can still take a large share of a year's total from a single convective storm, which a normal cannot show.
A wet day is one recording at least 0.01 inches. These are 1991-2020 normals: they describe an average year, not the extremes within it.
Winter brings real snow to Fence Lake
Fence Lake averages 23.3 inches of snowfall a year, with January the snowiest month on the normals, spread across roughly 10 days that record measurable snow. That is depth accumulating on the ground, which is why it can exceed the annual precipitation figure: precipitation counts the liquid the snow melts down to, and fresh snow is mostly air.
- Annual snowfall: 23.3 inches of depth.
- Days recording measurable snow: about 10 a year.
- At a rough ten-to-one melt ratio, snow accounts for on the order of 19% of the year's precipitation.
NOAA 1991-2020 normals. The ten-to-one ratio is a convention, not a measurement: real ratios vary with temperature, so treat the share as an order of magnitude rather than an exact split.
Frost Dates & Growing Season
First Fall Freeze
October 1
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
May 31
50% probability date
Growing Season
123 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
6,012
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
283
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
December
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside NM closest to Fence Lake 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 (49°F here).
- Battle Creek, MI 49°F · 0.0°F off
- Beaconsfield, IA 49°F · 0.0°F off
- Black Forest, CO 49°F · 0.0°F off
- Council, ID 49°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (12.6" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Rocky Ford, CO 12.6" · 0.0" off
- Carefree, AZ 12.6" · 0.0" off
- Kermit, TX 12.6" · 0.0" off
- Marathon, TX 12.6" · 0.0" off
Snow and freeze rhythm
When cold and snow define Fence Lake
heating led · dry · mid swing
Fence Lake's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 6,012 annual heating degree days against 283 for cooling. Its 38.3°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.
Only about 123 days are frost-free in a normal year. That short interval is consistent with the cold-season signal, but the measure does not predict the exact first or last freeze in any one year.
-
1. Fence Lake coldest normal
December
The monthly mean of 31°F (-1°C) sits near freezing, so cold nights and above-freezing afternoons share the same month.
-
2. Fence Lake typical freeze period
January through December
The station reports average freezing days from January through December.
-
3. Fence Lake snow peak
January
Fence Lake averages 23.3 inches of snow a year, with January the snowiest month on the normals.
Questions about Fence Lake's climate
How much snow does Fence Lake get? ▼
How cold does Fence Lake get in winter? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Fence Lake? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Fence Lake's primary station: FENCE LAKE (USC00293180). For informational purposes only.
Place identity: U.S. Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer places. The 2024 Census Gazetteer identifies the exact name-and-state match as a census-designated place (GEOID 3526010), not an incorporated municipality. Match rule for Fence Lake: exact normalized name + state only, no fuzzy expansion, so nearby differently spelled facilities stay unmatched.
On this page every temperature, precipitation, and derived score for Fence Lake 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.