Sumner Lake, NM Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Pulled from NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 normals →: climate measurements used in PlainClimate's documented score
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Sumner Lake's primary NOAA station, SUMNER LAKE.
The climate verdict for Sumner Lake
Dryness leads the climate profile for Sumner Lake, New Mexico, with 14.0 inches of precipitation a year. NOAA records an annual average of 60°F. Its climate comfort score of 68/100 (good) lands mid-pack nationally, exceeding 56% of station-mapped location scores.
- 60°F
- average temperature, NOAA 1991-2020 normal
- 68/100
- comfort score, above 56% of station-mapped location scores
- 14.0"
- annual precipitation · 10" snow
- 194 days
- growing season, frost-free days
Sumner Lake: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00298596 · Sumner Lake, NM 60°F mean · 14.0" precip
TEMP-MILD · RANK-UPPER · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-DRY · SWING-MID · COMF-MID · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-MILD 60°F
- RANK-UPPER #5,077
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Franklin Sewage…
- PRCP-DRY 14.0"
- SWING-MID 41°F
- COMF-MID 68/100
- LOAD-HEAT 3,599 HDD
- STN-1 USC00298596
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Franklin Sewage Plt, TN (+ 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.
- Sumner Lake (this station) 60°F
- Cold Neapolis Res &…, TN 60°F
- Hot Greenbrier, AR 60°F
- Near Franklin Sewage…, TN 60°F
- Near Bolivar Wtr Wks, TN 60°F
Climate Living Index · Sumner Lake
Sumner Lake: 44/100 · grade D
Sumner Lake publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Sumner Lake, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 68/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Annual temperature balance | 59.7°F · 7.8° from 67.5°F | 75/100 · B |
| Snowfall burden | 9.5 inches/year | 64/100 · C |
| Frost-free season | 194 days/year | 60/100 · C |
| Precipitation balance | 14.0 in · 21.0 from 35 in | 25/100 · F |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 210 calendar days | 9/100 · F |
Sumner Lake · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Sumner Lake's normals sit in a dry climate class: BSk
Precipitation is low relative to temperature but above true desert thresholds: cold semi-arid steppe (BSk). Class BSk is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: dry (arid or semi-arid), specifically cold semi-arid steppe.
- Köppen code
- BSk
- Group
- Dry (arid or semi-arid)
- Warmest month
- 80.3°F
- Coldest month
- 39.6°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 Sumner Lake sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Sumner Lake's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- Top 26% warmest
- Among 6,861 stations, Sumner Lake sits in the warmer third of annual means.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 85%
- Sumner Lake's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- 39th percentile swing
- Typical seasonal amplitude versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Sumner Lake compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Sumner Lake's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
68 Top 44% score exceeds 56% 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%). Below this entry.
- 60–70: 1,236 station-mapped locations (20%). This entry sits in this band.
- 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
Sumner Lake's measured station temperature trend
MethodologyAcross 41 complete annual observations from 1976 to 2025, SUMNER LAKE warmed at a fitted rate of 0.39°C per decade. The line shows the fitted change relative to its first year, not raw year-to-year temperatures or a forecast.
- Sumner Lake primary station fitted change +0.39 °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 | 55°F (13°C) | 24°F (-4°C) | 40°F (4°C) | 0.3" | 2.4" | 27.4 | 0.0 |
| February | 60°F (15°C) | 28°F (-2°C) | 44°F (6°C) | 0.4" | 1.7" | 21.1 | 0.0 |
| March | 68°F (20°C) | 34°F (1°C) | 51°F (10°C) | 0.6" | 0.7" | 13.0 | 0.0 |
| April | 75°F (24°C) | 41°F (5°C) | 58°F (15°C) | 0.8" | 0.3" | 3.4 | 1.0 |
| May | 85°F (29°C) | 51°F (11°C) | 68°F (20°C) | 1.2" | 0.0" | 0.2 | 9.7 |
| June | 94°F (35°C) | 61°F (16°C) | 78°F (25°C) | 1.5" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 21.6 |
| July | 96°F (35°C) | 65°F (18°C) | 80°F (27°C) | 2.5" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 25.3 |
| August | 93°F (34°C) | 64°F (18°C) | 79°F (26°C) | 2.2" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 22.1 |
| September | 86°F (30°C) | 56°F (13°C) | 71°F (22°C) | 1.9" | 0.0" | 0.1 | 10.4 |
| October | 76°F (24°C) | 44°F (7°C) | 60°F (16°C) | 1.5" | 0.3" | 2.2 | 1.5 |
| November | 65°F (18°C) | 32°F (0°C) | 48°F (9°C) | 0.5" | 0.7" | 15.5 | 0.0 |
| December | 55°F (13°C) | 25°F (-4°C) | 40°F (5°C) | 0.6" | 3.4" | 26.4 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Sumner Lake works both ends of the calendar. Normal highs climb to 96°F by June 27 and hold at or above 90°F on 97 dates, then normal lows drop to freezing or below on 113 dates, bottoming at 24°F around January 1.
When the heat sits
Normal highs reach 90°F from May 30 through September 3, covering 97 dates. The broader mild season, normal highs of 70°F or more, runs March 25 to November 1.
This counts calendar dates whose 1991–2020 normal high reaches 90°F. It is a smaller number than the 90°F+ day counts in the monthly table above, which measure how often the threshold was actually crossed in a typical year. A date can average 88°F and still exceed 90°F in half of all years.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into March 7, then returns to freezing around November 16, covering 113 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 August 2, when 26% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is January 18 at 8%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 52 wet dates a year.
The widest day
April 6 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 Sumner Lake.
Where Sumner Lake Stands Nationally
Summers here run among the most heat-heavy normals calendars in the country: on about 97 days a year the normal daily high itself reaches 90°F — a count fewer than one station in ten exceeds.
A drier-than-most normal water year — around 14 inches, below what four out of five ranked stations collect.
Sumner Lake 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
Snow: 2.4"
2.4 days with precipitation
Snow: 1.7"
2.4 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.7"
3.1 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.3"
3.3 days with precipitation
4.2 days with precipitation
5.6 days with precipitation
7.2 days with precipitation
8.0 days with precipitation
5.7 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.3"
4.6 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.7"
2.4 days with precipitation
Snow: 3.4"
2.9 days with precipitation
Sumner Lake runs a summer-peaked wet season
44% of Sumner Lake'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 2.5", on a 40.7°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 47% of the annual total between them.
- Driest month: January at 0.3".
- Winter share: 10% 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 Sumner Lake's precipitation splits across the calendar
About 52 days a year record measurable precipitation here, carrying 14.0" between them, or roughly 0.27 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.
Snow reaches Sumner Lake, but rarely amounts to much
The normals record 9.5 inches of snow a year here, most likely in December. That is a real but marginal amount: enough that snow is part of the local record, not enough to define the winter.
A figure in this range usually reflects a handful of events that melt quickly rather than a season of accumulation; about 5 days a year record any measurable snow at all.
NOAA 1991-2020 normals. An average across thirty years can smooth away a single heavy winter, so a small annual figure does not mean a significant snowfall is impossible.
Frost Dates & Growing Season
First Fall Freeze
October 28
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
April 17
50% probability date
Growing Season
194 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
3,599
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
1,687
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside NM closest to Sumner Lake 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 (60°F here).
- Cary, NC 60°F · 0.0°F off
- Centre, AL 60°F · 0.0°F off
- Chapel Hill, NC 60°F · 0.0°F off
- Emporia, VA 60°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (14.0" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Manley Hot Springs, AK 14.0" · 0.0" off
- Culver City, CA 14.1" · 0.0" off
- Lemon Cove, CA 14.1" · 0.0" off
- Alder, MT 14.1" · 0.0" off
Scarce-water calendar
Where Sumner Lake's limited precipitation lands
heating led · dry · mid swing
Sumner Lake's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 3,599 annual heating degree days against 1,687 for cooling. Its 40.7°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.
Sumner Lake's frost-free season lasts about 194 days, a middle-length window whose endpoints matter more than the annual average. It describes freeze probability, not year-specific planting conditions.
July and January mark the typical warm and cold ends of the calendar in Sumner Lake's middle-range seasonal profile. The measured spread is 40.7°F. The annual average is 60°F. Neither the annual mean nor one extreme month represents the full calendar on its own.
Sumner Lake's cold-season load does not imply a wet climate. Annual precipitation is 14.0 inches, which places the station in PlainClimate's dry range. Annual snowfall totals 9.5 inches. The snowfall and rainfall fields should be read separately rather than inferred from temperature.
Sumner Lake wettest normal
July
July concentrates the scarce annual total (14.0 inches).
Sumner Lake driest normal
January
January is typically driest; arid stations are defined by when water is absent, not by a four-season grid.
Questions about Sumner Lake's climate
How dry is Sumner Lake? ▼
How many days above 90°F does Sumner Lake get? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Sumner Lake? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Sumner Lake's primary station: SUMNER LAKE (USC00298596). For informational purposes only.
Place identity: U.S. Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer places. The conservative exact name-and-state crosswalk finds no Census place match, so PlainClimate treats this as a station-mapped location and does not claim it is a municipality. No exact Gazetteer row for Sumner Lake; facility counts that depend on place identity are therefore an upper bound, not a municipal census.
On this page every temperature, precipitation, and derived score for Sumner Lake 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.