Sumner Lake, New Mexico climate: Climate normals at a NOAA weather station
Sumner Lake's normal year runs from 24°F January nights to 96°F July afternoons, with 14.0 inches of precipitation and 10 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 15.4°C, January lows of −4°C, July highs of 35°C, 357 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationSumner Lake
- Station IDUSC00298596
- Location34.60°N 104.38°W
- Elevation4,306 ft (1,313 m)
On October 23, the normal high in Sumner Lake is 74°F and the normal low 41°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 13%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Sumner Lake.
- Jan 55° 24°
- Feb 60° 28°
- Mar 68° 34°
- Apr 75° 41°
- May 85° 51°
- Jun 94° 61°
- Jul 96° 65°
- Aug 93° 64°
- Sep 86° 56°
- Oct 76° 44°
- Nov 65° 32°
- Dec 55° 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 at Sumner Lake each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 96°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 24°F. The most precipitation falls in July (2.47 in), the least in January (0.35 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 55°F | 24°F | 39.6°F | 0.35 | 2.4 | 2 | <1 | 27 | 10 h |
| February | 60°F | 28°F | 43.6°F | 0.39 | 1.7 | 2 | <1 | 21 | 11 h |
| March | 68°F | 34°F | 50.8°F | 0.61 | 0.7 | 3 | <1 | 13 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 75°F | 41°F | 58.2°F | 0.81 | 0.3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 13 h |
| May | 85°F | 51°F | 68.0°F | 1.16 | 0.0 | 4 | 10 | <1 | 14 h |
| June | 94°F | 61°F | 77.6°F | 1.51 | 0.0 | 6 | 22 | <1 | 14 h 30 min |
| July | 96°F | 65°F | 80.3°F | 2.47 | 0.0 | 7 | 25 | <1 | 14 h 20 min |
| August | 93°F | 64°F | 78.5°F | 2.23 | 0.0 | 8 | 22 | <1 | 13 h 30 min |
| September | 86°F | 56°F | 71.2°F | 1.90 | 0.0 | 6 | 10 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 76°F | 44°F | 59.9°F | 1.51 | 0.3 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 11 h 20 min |
| November | 65°F | 32°F | 48.4°F | 0.49 | 0.7 | 2 | <1 | 16 | 10 h 20 min |
| December | 55°F | 25°F | 40.1°F | 0.61 | 3.4 | 3 | <1 | 26 | 9 h 50 min |
| Year (annual) | 76°F | 44°F | 59.7°F | 14.04 | 9.5 | 52 | 92 | 109 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 13°C | −4°C | 4.2°C | 9 mm | 6 cm |
| February | 15°C | −2°C | 6.4°C | 10 mm | 4 cm |
| March | 20°C | 1°C | 10.4°C | 15 mm | 2 cm |
| April | 24°C | 5°C | 14.6°C | 21 mm | 1 cm |
| May | 29°C | 11°C | 20.0°C | 29 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 35°C | 16°C | 25.3°C | 38 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 35°C | 18°C | 26.8°C | 63 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 34°C | 18°C | 25.8°C | 57 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 30°C | 13°C | 21.8°C | 48 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 24°C | 7°C | 15.5°C | 38 mm | 1 cm |
| November | 18°C | 0°C | 9.1°C | 12 mm | 2 cm |
| December | 13°C | −4°C | 4.5°C | 15 mm | 9 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00298596; 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.
Which months are mildest at Sumner Lake?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in March, April, May and October. Of those, March has the fewest days with rain (3).
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 USC00298596.
When is the last frost at Sumner Lake?
In Sumner Lake, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 17 in half of years and after April 30 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 28 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 171 year in 10 after April 30; 9 in 10 after March 31
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 281 year in 10 before October 13; 9 in 10 before November 8
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 192 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 213 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after April 3 in half of springs and before November 5 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Sumner Lake in zone 7a in ZIP code 88119, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, the station is in zone 7b: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 5°F (28 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 USC00298596; 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 at Sumner Lake?
In a normal year in Sumner Lake, 92 days a year reach 90°F (17 of them 100°F or more), 109 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 52 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 92a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 17a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 109a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 5high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 52a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 4a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1948) is 112°F, on June 12, 2022; the lowest is −24°F, on January 13, 1963.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 2015, with 26.07 in; the snowiest season is 2014–15, with 33.1 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00298596; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00298596. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is it at Sumner Lake?
Over a year 87% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds at Sumner Lake, 5.6 kWh per square metre a day. June is the sunniest month (90%) and December the cloudiest (84%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 86% | 3.4 |
| February | 84% | 4.3 |
| March | 85% | 5.6 |
| April | 87% | 6.9 |
| May | 87% | 7.6 |
| June | 90% | 7.9 |
| July | 88% | 7.4 |
| August | 87% | 6.7 |
| September | 87% | 5.8 |
| October | 86% | 4.6 |
| November | 86% | 3.6 |
| December | 84% | 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 many heating and cooling degree days does Sumner Lake record?
A normal year at Sumner Lake brings 3,599 heating degree days, 33% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 1,687 cooling degree days, 86% 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 4,694 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 789 | 0 |
| February | 599 | 0 |
| March | 442 | 2 |
| April | 224 | 20 |
| May | 58 | 151 |
| June | 1 | 379 |
| July | 0 | 476 |
| August | 0 | 417 |
| September | 23 | 209 |
| October | 191 | 31 |
| November | 499 | 1 |
| December | 772 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 3,599 | 1,687 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00298596. 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.
Have recent years at Sumner Lake been warmer than normal?
2025 averaged 60.5°F, 0.8°F above the 1991-2020 normal of 59.7°F. 4 of the 5 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.
| Year | Mean | Against normal | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 60.0°F | +0.3°F | 12.54 | 3.0 |
| 2022 | 59.6°F | −0.1°F | 9.10 | 4.3 |
| 2023 | 61.2°F | +1.5°F | 10.96 | 4.9 |
| 2024 | 62.0°F | +2.3°F | 15.63 | 5.0 |
| 2025 | 60.5°F | +0.8°F | 19.78 | 9.4 |
Over 41 complete years from 1976 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 7.0°F per century (+0.39°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: observed years: ACIS, station USC00298596; trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Sumner Lake's climate compare?
Sumner Lake is warmer than 75 of the 98 places with their own NOAA record in New Mexico, and wetter than 55. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 59.7°F is warmer than 74%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Sumner Lake 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 Sumner Lake share this climate record?
Lake Sumner 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.
- Lake Sumner, NM66 people · 2 mi NW
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 Sumner Lake's climate
What is the coldest month at Sumner Lake?
January, with a normal high of 55°F and a normal low of 24°F. The warmest is July (96°F by day, 65°F at night).
Does it snow at Sumner Lake?
Yes: 10 inches in a normal year, falling on 5 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in December (3.4 inches).
What is the rainiest month at Sumner Lake?
July, with 2.47 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is January with 0.35 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Sumner Lake in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Sumner Lake in zone 7a in ZIP code 88119, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at the station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 5°F (28 years, 1991-2020): zone 7b.
How late can frost come at Sumner Lake?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after April 17; 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
- Fort Sumner, NM12 miles from this station, 59.2°F a year
- Fort Sumner (5 mi S), NM16 miles from this station, 59.3°F a year
- Yeso (2 mi S), NM19 miles from this station, 58.2°F a year
- Santa Rosa, NM31 miles from this station, 58.4°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made