Hillsboro, New Mexico climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Hillsboro's normal year runs from 25°F December nights to 92°F July afternoons, with 12.3 inches of precipitation and 3 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 14.5°C, December lows of −4°C, July highs of 33°C, 312 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationHillsboro
- Station IDUSC00294009
- Location32.92°N 107.57°W
- Elevation5,267 ft (1,605 m)
- Population (census place)220
On October 23, the normal high in Hillsboro is 73°F and the normal low 39°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 12%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Hillsboro.
- Jan 55° 25°
- Feb 60° 28°
- Mar 67° 34°
- Apr 75° 40°
- May 83° 48°
- Jun 93° 56°
- Jul 92° 62°
- Aug 89° 60°
- Sep 84° 53°
- Oct 75° 42°
- Nov 63° 31°
- Dec 54° 25°
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 Hillsboro each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 92°F; December the coldest, with normal lows of 25°F. The most precipitation falls in August (2.41 in), the least in March (0.30 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 55°F | 25°F | 39.9°F | 0.64 | 1.2 | 3 | <1 | 26 | 10 h 10 min |
| February | 60°F | 28°F | 44.0°F | 0.42 | 0.3 | 2 | <1 | 20 | 11 h |
| March | 67°F | 34°F | 50.6°F | 0.30 | 0.0 | 2 | <1 | 14 | 12 h |
| April | 75°F | 40°F | 57.6°F | 0.35 | 0.0 | 2 | <1 | 4 | 13 h |
| May | 83°F | 48°F | 65.5°F | 0.68 | 0.0 | 3 | 7 | <1 | 13 h 50 min |
| June | 93°F | 56°F | 74.4°F | 0.83 | 0.0 | 4 | 22 | <1 | 14 h 20 min |
| July | 92°F | 62°F | 76.7°F | 2.08 | 0.0 | 10 | 22 | <1 | 14 h 10 min |
| August | 89°F | 60°F | 74.6°F | 2.41 | 0.0 | 10 | 17 | <1 | 13 h 20 min |
| September | 84°F | 53°F | 68.5°F | 1.97 | 0.0 | 7 | 6 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 75°F | 42°F | 58.4°F | 0.99 | 0.3 | 4 | <1 | 3 | 11 h 30 min |
| November | 63°F | 31°F | 47.2°F | 0.74 | 0.3 | 3 | <1 | 17 | 10 h 30 min |
| December | 54°F | 25°F | 39.3°F | 0.87 | 0.6 | 4 | <1 | 26 | 10 h |
| Year (annual) | 74°F | 42°F | 58.1°F | 12.28 | 2.7 | 53 | 75 | 108 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 13°C | −4°C | 4.4°C | 16 mm | 3 cm |
| February | 16°C | −2°C | 6.7°C | 11 mm | 1 cm |
| March | 20°C | 1°C | 10.3°C | 8 mm | 0 cm |
| April | 24°C | 5°C | 14.2°C | 9 mm | 0 cm |
| May | 29°C | 9°C | 18.6°C | 17 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 34°C | 13°C | 23.6°C | 21 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 33°C | 17°C | 24.8°C | 53 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 32°C | 16°C | 23.7°C | 61 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 29°C | 12°C | 20.3°C | 50 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 24°C | 5°C | 14.7°C | 25 mm | 1 cm |
| November | 17°C | 0°C | 8.4°C | 19 mm | 1 cm |
| December | 12°C | −4°C | 4.1°C | 22 mm | 2 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00294009; 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 Hillsboro?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in March, April, May, September and October. 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 USC00294009.
When is the last frost in Hillsboro?
In Hillsboro, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 23 in half of years and after May 7 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 23 in half of years and before October 13 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 231 year in 10 after May 7; 9 in 10 after April 5
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 231 year in 10 before October 13; 9 in 10 before November 3
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 183 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 207 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after April 7 in half of springs and before November 2 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Hillsboro in zone 8a in ZIP code 88042, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Hillsboro's NOAA station is in zone 7b: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 9°F (29 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 USC00294009; 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 Hillsboro?
In a normal year in Hillsboro, 75 days a year reach 90°F (7 of them 100°F or more), 108 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 53 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 75a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 7a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 108a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- fewer than 1high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 53a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 1a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1893) is 107°F, on June 16, 1896; the lowest is −14°F, on January 11, 1962.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1986, with 20.30 in; the snowiest season is 1987–88, with 42.1 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00294009; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00294009. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Hillsboro?
Over a year 89% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Hillsboro, 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 Hillsboro need?
A normal year in Hillsboro brings 3,677 heating degree days, 32% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 1,173 cooling degree days, 29% 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 4,041 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 778 | 0 |
| February | 588 | 0 |
| March | 445 | 0 |
| April | 230 | 8 |
| May | 67 | 82 |
| June | 3 | 285 |
| July | 0 | 364 |
| August | 0 | 298 |
| September | 22 | 127 |
| October | 212 | 9 |
| November | 534 | 0 |
| December | 798 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 3,677 | 1,173 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00294009. 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 Hillsboro been warmer than normal lately?
2025 averaged 60.0°F, 1.9°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 58.1°F. 4 of the 5 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 58.8°F | +0.7°F | 9.54 | – |
| 2022 | 57.7°F | −0.4°F | 14.22 | 0.6 |
| 2023 | 58.6°F | +0.5°F | 9.23 | 0.5 |
| 2024 | 59.3°F | +1.2°F | 10.11 | 0.5 |
| 2025 | 60.0°F | +1.9°F | 8.24 | 1.8 |
Over 55 complete years from 1956 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 1.7°F per century (+0.09°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00294009; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Hillsboro's climate compare?
Hillsboro is warmer than 65 of the other 97 places with their own NOAA record in New Mexico, and wetter than 39. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 58.1°F is warmer than 69%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Hillsboro 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 Hillsboro share this climate record?
Kingston has no NOAA station with 1991-2020 normals of its 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.
- Kingston, NM116 people · 8 mi W
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 Hillsboro's climate
What is the coldest month in Hillsboro?
December, with a normal high of 54°F and a normal low of 25°F. The warmest is July (92°F by day, 62°F at night).
Does it snow in Hillsboro?
Yes: 3 inches in a normal year, falling on 1 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in January (1.2 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Hillsboro?
August, with 2.41 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is March with 0.30 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Hillsboro in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Hillsboro in zone 8a in ZIP code 88042, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Hillsboro's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 9°F (29 years, 1991-2020): zone 7b.
How late can frost come in Hillsboro?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after April 23; in one year in ten it comes after May 7. Waiting until May 7 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
- Caballo, NM15 miles from this station, 63.2°F a year
- Truth or Consequences, NM24 miles from this station, 62.6°F a year
- Faywood, NM27 miles from this station, 58.6°F a year
- Elephant Butte, NM27 miles from this station, 63.4°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made