Ruidoso, New Mexico climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records

What is the weather like in Ruidoso each month?

July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 81°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 21°F. The most precipitation falls in July (4.31 in), the least in April (0.67 in).

Each month has its own page with the day-by-day normals, the month's records and its recent years:

• Jan
• Feb
• Mar
• Apr
• May
• Jun
• Jul
• Aug
• Sep
• Oct
• Nov
• Dec

When is the best weather to visit Ruidoso?

Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in May, June, July, August, September and October. Of those, May has the fewest days with rain (5).

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.

When is the last frost in Ruidoso?

In Ruidoso, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after May 11 in half of years and after May 22 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 5 in half of years and before September 24 in one year in ten.

Last spring frost, half of years after

May 111 year in 10 after May 22; 9 in 10 after April 30

First autumn frost, half of years before

October 51 year in 10 before September 24; 9 in 10 before October 20

NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 147 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 170 days.

A hard freeze (28°F) comes after April 30 in half of springs and before October 17 in half of autumns.

The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Ruidoso in zone 7a across its 2 ZIP code areas (7a in 88345, the largest). By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Ruidoso's NOAA station is in zone 6b: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 0°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

What hardiness zone is each Ruidoso ZIP code in?

The USDA's 2023 map gives each ZIP code area one zone. Ruidoso's 2 ZIP code areas are all in zone 7a. Each ZIP's frost dates are in the frost tool.

How hot and how cold does it get in Ruidoso?

In a normal year in Ruidoso, 6 days a year reach 90°F, 156 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 86 days bring measurable precipitation.

Days at 90°F or more

6a normal year

Days at 100°F or more

fewer than 1a normal year

Nights at 32°F or colder

156a normal year

Days that stay below freezing

3high of 32°F or less

Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation

86a normal year

Days with 1 inch of snow or more

8a normal year

The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1941) is 98°F, on June 26, 1994; the lowest is −26°F, on January 6, 1971.

The wettest calendar year on that record is 1965, with 34.81 in; the snowiest season is 1976–77, with 78.5 inches.

How sunny is Ruidoso?

Over a year 86% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Ruidoso, 5.6 kWh per square metre a day. April is the sunniest month (89%) and July the cloudiest (81%).

How much heating and cooling does Ruidoso need?

A normal year in Ruidoso brings 5,567 heating degree days, 4% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 143 cooling degree days, 84% fewer than the median (908). Seven months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 2,048 growing degree days a year above 50°F.

Has Ruidoso been warmer than normal lately?

Over 36 complete years from 1947 to 2023, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 4.6°F per century (+0.26°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.

Which places near Ruidoso share this climate record?

Ruidoso Downs 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.

• Ruidoso Downs, NM2,627 people · 4 mi SE

Nearby and next

• Ruidoso in OctoberThis month day by day, its records and recent years
• New Mexico climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
• Capitan, NM12 miles from this station, 53.6°F a year
• Carrizozo, NM22 miles from this station, 56.2°F a year
• Cloudcroft, NM29 miles from this station, 45.7°F a year
• Tularosa, NM30 miles from this station, 61.2°F a year
• Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side

Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made