Ruidoso, 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 Ruidoso's primary NOAA station, RUIDOSO.
The climate verdict for Ruidoso
Ruidoso, New Mexico has a mixed annual climate rather than one dominant extreme. Its NOAA normal shows an annual average of 50°F. Its climate comfort score of 59/100 (moderate) lands mid-pack nationally, exceeding 37% of station-mapped location scores.
- 50°F
- average temperature, NOAA 1991-2020 normal
- 59/100
- comfort score, above 37% of station-mapped location scores
- 22.0"
- annual precipitation · 26" snow
- 147 days
- frost-free days per growing season
Ruidoso: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00297649 · Ruidoso, NM 50°F mean · 22.0" precip
TEMP-COOL · RANK-MID · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-DRY · SWING-MID · COMF-MID · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COOL 50°F
- RANK-MID #2,744
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Cascadia
- PRCP-DRY 22.0"
- SWING-MID 32°F
- COMF-MID 59/100
- LOAD-HEAT 5,567 HDD
- STN-1 USC00297649
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Cascadia, OR (+ 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.
- Ruidoso (this station) 50°F
- Cold Raymond, WA 50°F
- Hot Cascadia, OR 50°F
- Near Glenoma, WA 50°F
- Near Mud Mtn Dam, WA 50°F
Climate Living Index · Ruidoso
Ruidoso: 38/100 · grade F
Ruidoso publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Ruidoso, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 59/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 22.0 in · 13.0 from 35 in | 54/100 · D |
| Snowfall burden | 26.2 inches/year | 42/100 · D |
| Annual temperature balance | 50.1°F · 17.4° from 67.5°F | 41/100 · D |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 171 calendar days | 31/100 · F |
| Frost-free season | 147 days/year | 23/100 · F |
Ruidoso · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Ruidoso is a temperate Köppen climate: Cfb
Coldest-month mean 34.7°F and warmest-month mean 66.2°F place this station in temperate, no dry season, warm summer climates (Cfb). Class Cfb is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: temperate, specifically temperate, no dry season, warm summer.
- Köppen code
- Cfb
- Group
- Temperate
- Warmest month
- 66.2°F
- Coldest month
- 34.7°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 Ruidoso sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Ruidoso's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- 40th percentile warmth
- Mid-pack annual mean versus 6,861 station normals.
- Annual precipitation
- 31st percentile wetness
- Neither arid nor torrential versus 6,352 station totals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Narrower than 88%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Ruidoso is compact versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Ruidoso compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Ruidoso's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
59 37th percentile score exceeds 37% 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
Ruidoso's measured station temperature trend
MethodologyAcross 36 complete annual observations from 1947 to 2023, RUIDOSO warmed at a fitted rate of 0.26°C per decade. The line shows the fitted change relative to its first year, not raw year-to-year temperatures or a forecast.
- Ruidoso primary station fitted change +0.26 °C/decade
Monthly Temperatures
Average daily high and low temperatures by month
| Month | Avg High | Avg Low | Mean | Precip | Snow | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 49°F (9°C) | 21°F (-6°C) | 35°F (2°C) | 1.1" | 7.9" | 27.1 | 0.0 |
| February | 51°F (11°C) | 23°F (-5°C) | 37°F (3°C) | 1.0" | 5.5" | 23.6 | 0.0 |
| March | 58°F (14°C) | 27°F (-3°C) | 42°F (6°C) | 0.9" | 2.2" | 23.5 | 0.0 |
| April | 65°F (18°C) | 33°F (0°C) | 49°F (9°C) | 0.7" | 0.6" | 15.3 | 0.0 |
| May | 73°F (23°C) | 40°F (5°C) | 57°F (14°C) | 1.2" | 0.0" | 3.1 | 0.1 |
| June | 82°F (28°C) | 47°F (8°C) | 65°F (18°C) | 2.0" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 3.1 |
| July | 81°F (27°C) | 51°F (11°C) | 66°F (19°C) | 4.3" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 2.2 |
| August | 79°F (26°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 64°F (18°C) | 4.2" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 0.4 |
| September | 75°F (24°C) | 44°F (7°C) | 60°F (15°C) | 2.5" | 0.0" | 1.0 | 0.0 |
| October | 67°F (19°C) | 35°F (2°C) | 51°F (11°C) | 1.7" | 1.0" | 11.5 | 0.0 |
| November | 56°F (13°C) | 26°F (-3°C) | 41°F (5°C) | 0.8" | 1.8" | 23.3 | 0.0 |
| December | 48°F (9°C) | 22°F (-6°C) | 35°F (2°C) | 1.5" | 7.2" | 27.2 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 83°F around June 23, short of 90°F on every date, while 171 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest 20°F near January 5.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into April 13, then returns to freezing around October 26, covering 171 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 30, when 52% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is April 20 at 12%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 86 wet dates a year.
The widest day
June 13 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 35°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Ruidoso.
Where Ruidoso Stands Nationally
Daily temperature swings run wider than most of the country, peaking near 35°F between the normal high and low.
Ruidoso earns one nationally notable standing (outer quintile) against 6,860 NOAA 1991–2020 normals stations, middle-of-the-pack metrics stay silent here.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall and snowfall
Snow: 7.9"
4.8 days with precipitation
Snow: 5.5"
4.5 days with precipitation
Snow: 2.2"
4.5 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.6"
3.8 days with precipitation
4.5 days with precipitation
8.7 days with precipitation
15.0 days with precipitation
15.3 days with precipitation
8.8 days with precipitation
Snow: 1.0"
6.7 days with precipitation
Snow: 1.8"
3.9 days with precipitation
Snow: 7.2"
5.0 days with precipitation
Ruidoso runs a summer-peaked wet season
48% of Ruidoso'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 July at 4.3", on a 31.5°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: July, August, September, taking 50% of the annual total between them.
- Driest month: April at 0.7".
- Winter share: 17% 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.
How Ruidoso's precipitation splits across the calendar
About 86 days a year record measurable precipitation here, carrying 22.0" between them, or roughly 0.26 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.
Winter brings real snow to Ruidoso
Ruidoso averages 26.2 inches of snowfall a year, with January the snowiest month on the normals, spread across roughly 12 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: 26.2 inches of depth.
- Days recording measurable snow: about 12 a year.
- At a rough ten-to-one melt ratio, snow accounts for on the order of 12% 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 5
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
May 11
50% probability date
Growing Season
147 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
5,567
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
143
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside NM closest to Ruidoso 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 (50°F here).
- Akron, CO 50°F · 0.0°F off
- Ansonia, CT 50°F · 0.0°F off
- Austin, NV 50°F · 0.0°F off
- Banner Elk, NC 50°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (22.0" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Colorado City, TX 22.0" · 0.0" off
- Cooperstown, ND 22.0" · 0.0" off
- Dodge City, KS 22.0" · 0.0" off
- Faulkton, SD 22.0" · 0.0" off
Snow and freeze rhythm
When cold and snow define Ruidoso
heating led · moderate · mid swing
Ruidoso's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 5,567 annual heating degree days against 143 for cooling. Its 31.5°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.
Only about 147 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. Ruidoso coldest normal
January
The monthly mean of 35°F (2°C) sits near freezing, so cold nights and above-freezing afternoons share the same month.
-
2. Ruidoso typical freeze period
January through December
The station reports average freezing days from January through December.
-
3. Ruidoso snow peak
January
Ruidoso averages 26.2 inches of snow a year, with January the snowiest month on the normals.
Questions about Ruidoso's climate
How much snow does Ruidoso get? ▼
How cold does Ruidoso get in winter? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Ruidoso? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Ruidoso's primary station: RUIDOSO (USC00297649). 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 an incorporated place (GEOID 3565210). Match rule for Ruidoso: 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 Ruidoso 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.