Portales, New Mexico climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Portales's normal year runs from 26°F January nights to 93°F July afternoons, with 16.1 inches of precipitation and 8 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 15.6°C, January lows of −4°C, July highs of 34°C, 409 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationPortales
- Station IDUSC00297008
- Location34.17°N 103.35°W
- Elevation4,010 ft (1,222 m)
- Population11,789
On October 23, the normal high in Portales is 73°F and the normal low 42°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 16%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Portales.
- Jan 55° 26°
- Feb 61° 29°
- Mar 69° 35°
- Apr 77° 43°
- May 85° 53°
- Jun 93° 62°
- Jul 93° 66°
- Aug 91° 65°
- Sep 85° 57°
- Oct 76° 45°
- Nov 63° 33°
- Dec 55° 26°
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 Portales each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 93°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 26°F. The most precipitation falls in August (2.91 in), the least in February (0.37 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 55°F | 26°F | 40.2°F | 0.50 | 1.7 | 4 | <1 | 26 | 10 h 10 min |
| February | 61°F | 29°F | 44.6°F | 0.37 | 1.4 | 4 | <1 | 20 | 11 h |
| March | 69°F | 35°F | 51.9°F | 0.74 | 0.7 | 4 | <1 | 12 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 77°F | 43°F | 59.7°F | 0.68 | 0.2 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 13 h |
| May | 85°F | 53°F | 68.7°F | 1.51 | 0.0 | 6 | 10 | <1 | 13 h 50 min |
| June | 93°F | 62°F | 77.6°F | 2.14 | 0.0 | 8 | 21 | <1 | 14 h 30 min |
| July | 93°F | 66°F | 79.8°F | 2.29 | 0.0 | 8 | 24 | <1 | 14 h 10 min |
| August | 91°F | 65°F | 78.1°F | 2.91 | 0.0 | 9 | 20 | <1 | 13 h 30 min |
| September | 85°F | 57°F | 71.3°F | 1.92 | 0.0 | 6 | 9 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 76°F | 45°F | 60.4°F | 1.82 | 0.3 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 11 h 20 min |
| November | 63°F | 33°F | 48.3°F | 0.56 | 0.5 | 4 | <1 | 15 | 10 h 20 min |
| December | 55°F | 26°F | 40.3°F | 0.66 | 2.8 | 4 | <1 | 25 | 9 h 50 min |
| Year (annual) | 75°F | 45°F | 60.1°F | 16.10 | 7.6 | 63 | 86 | 104 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 13°C | −4°C | 4.6°C | 13 mm | 4 cm |
| February | 16°C | −2°C | 7.0°C | 9 mm | 4 cm |
| March | 20°C | 2°C | 11.1°C | 19 mm | 2 cm |
| April | 25°C | 6°C | 15.4°C | 17 mm | 1 cm |
| May | 29°C | 11°C | 20.4°C | 38 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 34°C | 17°C | 25.3°C | 54 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 34°C | 19°C | 26.6°C | 58 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 33°C | 18°C | 25.6°C | 74 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 30°C | 14°C | 21.8°C | 49 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 24°C | 7°C | 15.8°C | 46 mm | 1 cm |
| November | 17°C | 1°C | 9.1°C | 14 mm | 1 cm |
| December | 13°C | −3°C | 4.6°C | 17 mm | 7 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00297008; 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 Portales?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in March, April, May and October. Of those, April has the fewest days with rain (4).
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 USC00297008.
When is the last frost in Portales?
In Portales, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 15 in half of years and after April 30 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 26 in half of years and before October 12 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 151 year in 10 after April 30; 9 in 10 after March 30
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 261 year in 10 before October 12; 9 in 10 before November 7
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 193 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 215 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after April 2 in half of springs and before November 4 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Portales in zone 7a in ZIP code 88130, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Portales's NOAA station is in zone 7a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 4°F (30 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in New Mexico · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00297008; 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 Portales?
In a normal year in Portales, 86 days a year reach 90°F (11 of them 100°F or more), 104 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 63 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 86a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 11a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 104a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 3high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 63a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 3a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1905) is 109°F, on June 15, 1924; the lowest is −18°F, on January 4, 1947.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 2017, with 28.21 in; the snowiest season is 1931–32, with 28.5 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00297008; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00297008. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Portales?
Over a year 87% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Portales, 5.5 kWh per square metre a day. June is the sunniest month (91%) and December the cloudiest (83%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 85% | 3.4 |
| February | 83% | 4.2 |
| March | 84% | 5.5 |
| April | 87% | 6.9 |
| May | 87% | 7.5 |
| June | 91% | 7.9 |
| July | 89% | 7.4 |
| August | 89% | 6.7 |
| September | 88% | 5.7 |
| October | 86% | 4.6 |
| November | 86% | 3.5 |
| December | 83% | 3.0 |
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 Portales need?
A normal year in Portales brings 3,434 heating degree days, 36% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 1,672 cooling degree days, 84% 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 4,755 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 767 | 0 |
| February | 570 | 0 |
| March | 408 | 2 |
| April | 183 | 26 |
| May | 43 | 158 |
| June | 1 | 379 |
| July | 0 | 459 |
| August | 0 | 406 |
| September | 18 | 207 |
| October | 177 | 34 |
| November | 500 | 1 |
| December | 766 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 3,434 | 1,672 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00297008. 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 Portales been warmer than normal lately?
2024 averaged 62.2°F, 2.1°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 60.1°F. 4 of the 4 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 60.3°F | +0.2°F | 17.65 | – |
| 2022 | 60.4°F | +0.3°F | 11.91 | 6.4 |
| 2023 | 61.6°F | +1.5°F | 12.43 | 9.2 |
| 2024 | 62.2°F | +2.1°F | 25.23 | 4.3 |
Over 74 complete years from 1915 to 2024, 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 USC00297008; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Portales's climate compare?
Portales is warmer than 78 of the other 97 places with their own NOAA record in New Mexico, and wetter than 67. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 60.1°F is warmer than 75%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Portales 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 Portales share this climate record?
Floyd 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.
- Floyd, NM86 people · 13 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 Portales's climate
What is the coldest month in Portales?
January, with a normal high of 55°F and a normal low of 26°F. The warmest is July (93°F by day, 66°F at night).
Does it snow in Portales?
Yes: 8 inches in a normal year, falling on 4 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in December (2.8 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Portales?
August, with 2.91 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is February with 0.37 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Portales in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Portales in zone 7a in ZIP code 88130, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Portales's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 4°F (30 years, 1991-2020): zone 7a.
How late can frost come in Portales?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after April 15; in one year in ten it comes after April 30. Waiting until April 30 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
- Arch, NM11 miles from this station, 57.6°F a year
- Clovis, NM20 miles from this station, 58.8°F a year
- Melrose, NM24 miles from this station, 59.1°F a year
- Elida, NM24 miles from this station, 59.0°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made