Taos, New Mexico climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Taos's normal year runs from 12°F January nights to 87°F July afternoons, with 12.7 inches of precipitation and 28 inches of snow a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 9.2°C, January lows of −11°C, July highs of 30°C, 323 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationTaos
- Station IDUSC00298668
- Location36.39°N 105.59°W
- Elevation6,965 ft (2,123 m)
- Population6,453
On October 23, the normal high in Taos is 64°F and the normal low 30°F, and the chance of measurable rain or snow is 14%.
Normals describe a typical year at the station, not a forecast. The National Weather Service forecast for Taos.
- Jan 42° 12°
- Feb 46° 19°
- Mar 55° 25°
- Apr 63° 31°
- May 73° 37°
- Jun 84° 47°
- Jul 87° 53°
- Aug 84° 51°
- Sep 78° 45°
- Oct 67° 32°
- Nov 53° 22°
- Dec 42° 14°
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 Taos each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 87°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 12°F. The most precipitation falls in August (1.77 in), the least in February (0.45 in).
Each month has its own page with the day-by-day normals, the month's records and its recent years:
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 42°F | 12°F | 27.1°F | 0.67 | 6.0 | 4 | <1 | 31 | 10 h |
| February | 46°F | 19°F | 32.9°F | 0.45 | 3.3 | 4 | <1 | 28 | 10 h 50 min |
| March | 55°F | 25°F | 40.2°F | 0.71 | 4.0 | 4 | <1 | 28 | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 63°F | 31°F | 46.8°F | 0.83 | 1.9 | 4 | <1 | 18 | 13 h 10 min |
| May | 73°F | 37°F | 55.0°F | 1.22 | 0.0 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 14 h |
| June | 84°F | 47°F | 65.5°F | 0.86 | 0.0 | 5 | 5 | <1 | 14 h 40 min |
| July | 87°F | 53°F | 69.6°F | 1.53 | 0.0 | 7 | 12 | <1 | 14 h 30 min |
| August | 84°F | 51°F | 67.7°F | 1.77 | 0.0 | 10 | 4 | <1 | 13 h 40 min |
| September | 78°F | 45°F | 61.4°F | 1.37 | 0.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 67°F | 32°F | 49.7°F | 1.34 | 1.4 | 5 | <1 | 16 | 11 h 20 min |
| November | 53°F | 22°F | 37.8°F | 0.88 | 2.8 | 4 | <1 | 28 | 10 h 20 min |
| December | 42°F | 14°F | 28.0°F | 1.07 | 9.0 | 4 | <1 | 30 | 9 h 40 min |
| Year (annual) | 65°F | 32°F | 48.5°F | 12.70 | 28.4 | 61 | 23 | 183 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 6°C | −11°C | −2.7°C | 17 mm | 15 cm |
| February | 8°C | −7°C | 0.5°C | 11 mm | 8 cm |
| March | 13°C | −4°C | 4.6°C | 18 mm | 10 cm |
| April | 17°C | −1°C | 8.2°C | 21 mm | 5 cm |
| May | 23°C | 3°C | 12.8°C | 31 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 29°C | 9°C | 18.6°C | 22 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 30°C | 12°C | 20.9°C | 39 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 29°C | 11°C | 19.8°C | 45 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 26°C | 7°C | 16.3°C | 35 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 19°C | 0°C | 9.8°C | 34 mm | 4 cm |
| November | 12°C | −5°C | 3.2°C | 22 mm | 7 cm |
| December | 6°C | −10°C | −2.2°C | 27 mm | 23 cm |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00298668; 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 Taos?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in May, June, August, September and October. Of those, October 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.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00298668.
When is the last frost in Taos?
In Taos, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after May 19 in half of years and after May 31 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 3 in half of years and before September 23 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
- May 191 year in 10 after May 31; 9 in 10 after May 7
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- October 31 year in 10 before September 23; 9 in 10 before October 14
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 136 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 156 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after May 7 in half of springs and before October 10 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Taos in zone 5b in ZIP code 87529, the nearest ZIP area.
Frost dates for every NOAA station in New Mexico · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00298668; USDA 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map, ZIP listings: PRISM Group, Oregon State University, https://prism.oregonstate.edu, accessed October 8, 2026. 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 Taos?
In a normal year in Taos, 23 days a year reach 90°F, 183 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 61 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 23a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- fewer than 1a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 183a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- 10high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 61a normal year
- Days with 1 inch of snow or more
- 10a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1892) is 101°F, on July 28, 1894; the lowest is −27°F, on January 6, 1971.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1911, with 18.78 in; the snowiest season is 1972–73, with 77.0 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00298668; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00298668. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Taos?
Over a year 82% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Taos, 5.3 kWh per square metre a day. October is the sunniest month (86%) and July the cloudiest (77%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 84% | 3.2 |
| February | 82% | 4.1 |
| March | 82% | 5.4 |
| April | 82% | 6.6 |
| May | 82% | 7.3 |
| June | 84% | 7.7 |
| July | 77% | 6.7 |
| August | 80% | 6.2 |
| September | 84% | 5.6 |
| October | 86% | 4.6 |
| November | 85% | 3.4 |
| December | 81% | 2.8 |
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 Taos need?
A normal year in Taos brings 6,350 heating degree days, 18% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 351 cooling degree days, 61% fewer than the median (908). Eight months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 2,285 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1,173 | 0 |
| February | 899 | 0 |
| March | 767 | 0 |
| April | 548 | 0 |
| May | 316 | 6 |
| June | 58 | 75 |
| July | 6 | 148 |
| August | 15 | 100 |
| September | 129 | 22 |
| October | 476 | 0 |
| November | 818 | 0 |
| December | 1,147 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 6,350 | 351 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00298668. 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.
How does Taos's climate compare?
Taos is warmer than 11 of the other 97 places with their own NOAA record in New Mexico, and wetter than 43. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 48.5°F is warmer than 34%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Taos 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 Taos share this climate record?
10 places have no NOAA station with 1991-2020 normals of their 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.
- Ranchos de Taos, NM2,348 people · 2 mi SW
- Arroyo Seco, NM2,107 people · 9 mi N
- Taos Pueblo, NM1,294 people · 5 mi N
- Talpa, NM1,126 people · 3 mi S
- Rio Lucio, NM625 people · 16 mi SW
- Peñasco, NM613 people · 16 mi S
- Chamisal, NM367 people · 18 mi SW
- Vadito, NM340 people · 15 mi S
- Arroyo Hondo, NM198 people · 11 mi NW
- Picuris Pueblo, NM80 people · 15 mi SW
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 Taos's climate
What is the coldest month in Taos?
January, with a normal high of 42°F and a normal low of 12°F. The warmest is July (87°F by day, 53°F at night).
Does it snow in Taos?
Yes: 28 inches in a normal year, falling on 12 days with 0.1 inch or more, the most in December (9.0 inches).
What is the rainiest month in Taos?
August, with 1.77 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is February with 0.45 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Taos in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Taos in zone 5b in ZIP code 87529, the nearest ZIP area.
How late can frost come in Taos?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after May 19; in one year in ten it comes after May 31. Waiting until May 31 leaves about a one-in-ten chance of a later frost.
Nearby and next
- Taos in OctoberThis month day by day, its records and recent years
- New Mexico climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
- Angel Fire, NM17 miles from this station, 41.4°F a year
- Eagle Nest, NM21 miles from this station, 41.7°F a year
- Red River, NM24 miles from this station, 39.1°F a year
- Cerro, NM24 miles from this station, 45.1°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made