Los Alamos, NM Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Explore NOAA NCEI's 1991–2020 climate normals → and a clearly labeled PlainClimate comfort calculation
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Los Alamos's primary NOAA station, LOS ALAMOS 13 W - 2 stations mapped to the area.
The climate verdict for Los Alamos
Los Alamos, New Mexico has a mixed annual climate rather than one dominant extreme. Its NOAA normal shows an annual average of 40°F. At 52/100 (moderate) the climate comfort score falls in the bottom third of the station-mapped U.S. score corpus, exceeding only 24% of scores.
- 40°F
- annual average temperature (NOAA normal)
- 52/100
- comfort score, above 24% of station-mapped location scores
- 25.5"
- yearly precipitation total
- 95 days
- frost-free growing season
Los Alamos: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USW00003062 · Los Alamos, NM 40°F mean · 25.5" precip
TEMP-COOL · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-MID · SWING-MID · COMF-LOW · LOAD-HEAT · STN-MULTI · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COOL 40°F
- RANK-COOL #412
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Juneau Forecast…
- PRCP-MID 25.5"
- SWING-MID 37°F
- COMF-LOW 52/100
- LOAD-HEAT 8,991 HDD
- STN-MULTI USW00003062
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Juneau Forecast Office, AK (+ 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.
- Los Alamos (this station) 40°F
- Hot Seward, AK 40°F
- Near Juneau Forecast…, AK 40°F
- Near Lake City, CO 40°F
- Near Florissant Foss…, CO 40°F
Climate Living Index · Los Alamos
Los Alamos: 15/100 · grade F
Los Alamos publishes 4 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 2 missing weights rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Los Alamos, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 52/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 25.5 in · 9.5 from 35 in | 67/100 · C |
| Annual temperature balance | 40.3°F · 27.2° from 67.5°F | 5/100 · F |
| Frost-free season | 95 days/year | 0/100 · F |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 233 calendar days | 0/100 · F |
Los Alamos · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Los Alamos is a continental Köppen climate: Dfb
Coldest-month mean 22.5°F and warmest-month mean 59.3°F place this station in continental, no dry season, warm summer climates (Dfb). Class Dfb is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: continental, specifically continental, no dry season, warm summer.
- Köppen code
- Dfb
- Group
- Continental
- Warmest month
- 59.3°F
- Coldest month
- 22.5°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 Los Alamos sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Los Alamos's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Cooler than 94%
- Among 6,861 stations, Los Alamos sits in the cooler third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- 35th percentile wetness
- Neither arid nor torrential versus 6,352 station totals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Narrower than 78%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Los Alamos is compact versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Los Alamos compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Los Alamos's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
52 24th percentile score exceeds 24% 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%). This entry sits in this band.
- 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 | 36°F (2°C) | 9°F (-13°C) | 23°F (-5°C) | 1.8" | N/A | 30.9 | 0.0 |
| February | 38°F (3°C) | 12°F (-11°C) | 25°F (-4°C) | 2.0" | N/A | 27.6 | 0.0 |
| March | 45°F (7°C) | 20°F (-7°C) | 32°F (0°C) | 2.4" | N/A | 29.5 | 0.0 |
| April | 52°F (11°C) | 25°F (-4°C) | 39°F (4°C) | 1.8" | N/A | 25.6 | 0.0 |
| May | 62°F (17°C) | 32°F (0°C) | 47°F (8°C) | 1.4" | N/A | 17.8 | 0.0 |
| June | 72°F (22°C) | 39°F (4°C) | 56°F (13°C) | 1.1" | N/A | 3.1 | 0.0 |
| July | 74°F (23°C) | 45°F (7°C) | 59°F (15°C) | 3.7" | N/A | 0.1 | 0.0 |
| August | 71°F (22°C) | 43°F (6°C) | 57°F (14°C) | 3.7" | N/A | 0.1 | 0.0 |
| September | 66°F (19°C) | 36°F (2°C) | 51°F (10°C) | 2.2" | N/A | 8.5 | 0.0 |
| October | 57°F (14°C) | 26°F (-3°C) | 41°F (5°C) | 2.2" | N/A | 25.0 | 0.0 |
| November | 46°F (8°C) | 17°F (-8°C) | 31°F (0°C) | 1.6" | N/A | 28.8 | 0.0 |
| December | 36°F (2°C) | 9°F (-13°C) | 23°F (-5°C) | 1.8" | N/A | 30.5 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 74°F around July 4, short of 90°F on every date, while 233 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest 8°F near January 1.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into May 17, then returns to freezing around September 28, covering 233 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 July 26, when 54% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is November 3 at 19%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 115 wet dates a year.
The widest day
June 15 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 33°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Los Alamos.
Where Los Alamos Stands Nationally
Winters bite deep and often: the normal nightly low dips to freezing or below on around 233 nights a year, placing this among the most frost-prone tenth of ranked stations.
Daily temperature swings run wider than most of the country, peaking near 33°F between the normal high and low.
Los Alamos 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
8.6 days with precipitation
9.2 days with precipitation
8.7 days with precipitation
8.1 days with precipitation
8.3 days with precipitation
6.6 days with precipitation
16.6 days with precipitation
15.2 days with precipitation
10.3 days with precipitation
7.7 days with precipitation
5.9 days with precipitation
9.7 days with precipitation
Los Alamos spreads its precipitation across the year
Neither half of the year dominates here: June through August take 33% of the annual total and December through February 22%, with neither reaching the 35% that would mark a distinct wet season. Los Alamos has no dry season to plan around, though it does carry a 36.8°F seasonal spread.
The gap between the wettest and driest month still matters: July averages 3.7" and June 1.1". The three wettest months together take 38% of the year, against the 25% a perfectly flat distribution would give them.
Shares are computed from this station's own 1991-2020 monthly precipitation normals. "Spread across the year" means neither the June-August nor the December-February share reaches 35%; it describes an average year, not the variability of any single one.
How Los Alamos's precipitation splits across the calendar
About 115 days a year record measurable precipitation here, carrying 25.5" 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.
Frost Dates & Growing Season
First Fall Freeze
September 13
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
June 10
50% probability date
Growing Season
95 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
8,991
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
2
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside NM closest to Los Alamos 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 (40°F here).
- Deer Lodge, MT 40°F · 0.0°F off
- Elliston, MT 40°F · 0.0°F off
- Jamestown, ND 40°F · 0.0°F off
- Lake City, CO 40°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (25.5" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Raymondville, TX 25.5" · 0.0" off
- Red Cloud, NE 25.5" · 0.0" off
- Sisseton, SD 25.4" · 0.0" off
- Anson, TX 25.4" · 0.1" off
Data-derived climate profile
How Los Alamos's climate pattern fits together
heating led · moderate · mid swing
Los Alamos's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 8,991 annual heating degree days against 2 for cooling. Its 36.8°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.
Only about 95 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.
July and January mark the typical warm and cold ends of the calendar in Los Alamos's middle-range seasonal profile. The measured spread is 36.8°F. The annual average is 40°F. Neither the annual mean nor one extreme month represents the full calendar on its own.
Los Alamos's 25.5 inches of annual precipitation falls in PlainClimate's middle band, so “wet” or “dry” is not the leading description. Snowfall is not added to the interpretation because its annual value is missing. Temperature balance and the calendar distribution carry more information than the annual moisture label alone.
These labels group NOAA 1991-2020 normals from Los Alamos's primary station, so the winter figures are a thirty-year average and not a floor: a single hard season can run well below them. Treat each band as a descriptive range for Los Alamos, not an official NOAA class or a year-ahead forecast.
Questions about Los Alamos's climate
How much rain does Los Alamos get? ▼
How cold does Los Alamos get in winter? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Los Alamos? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Los Alamos's primary station: LOS ALAMOS 13 W (USW00003062). 2 NOAA stations are mapped to the Los Alamos area; the primary station's record is used for consistency. 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 3542320), not an incorporated municipality. Match rule for Los Alamos: 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 Los Alamos 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.