Tularosa, New Mexico climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records
Tularosa's normal year runs from 29°F January nights to 93°F July afternoons, with 10.8 inches of precipitation a year. (NOAA 1991-2020 normals)
In metric: a yearly mean of 16.2°C, January lows of −2°C, July highs of 34°C, 275 mm of precipitation a year.
- NOAA stationTularosa
- Station IDUSC00299165
- Location33.07°N 106.04°W
- Elevation4,422 ft (1,348 m)
- Population2,632
On October 23, the normal high in Tularosa is 73°F and the normal low 45°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 Tularosa.
- Jan 56° 29°
- Feb 61° 33°
- Mar 69° 39°
- Apr 77° 45°
- May 85° 53°
- Jun 94° 62°
- Jul 93° 66°
- Aug 91° 65°
- Sep 86° 59°
- Oct 76° 48°
- Nov 64° 37°
- Dec 55° 30°
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 Tularosa each month?
July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 93°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 29°F. The most precipitation falls in August (1.81 in), the least in March (0.35 in).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. | Wet days | 90°F days | Freezing nights | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 56°F | 29°F | 42.2°F | 0.45 | 3 | <1 | 22 | 10 h 10 min |
| February | 61°F | 33°F | 47.1°F | 0.48 | 4 | <1 | 13 | 11 h |
| March | 69°F | 39°F | 53.6°F | 0.35 | 3 | <1 | 6 | 12 h |
| April | 77°F | 45°F | 60.6°F | 0.35 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 13 h |
| May | 85°F | 53°F | 69.0°F | 0.49 | 3 | 8 | <1 | 13 h 50 min |
| June | 94°F | 62°F | 77.8°F | 0.75 | 4 | 25 | <1 | 14 h 20 min |
| July | 93°F | 66°F | 79.4°F | 1.79 | 8 | 25 | <1 | 14 h 10 min |
| August | 91°F | 65°F | 77.9°F | 1.81 | 9 | 22 | <1 | 13 h 20 min |
| September | 86°F | 59°F | 72.1°F | 1.73 | 6 | 10 | <1 | 12 h 30 min |
| October | 76°F | 48°F | 61.8°F | 1.09 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 11 h 20 min |
| November | 64°F | 37°F | 50.2°F | 0.67 | 3 | <1 | 9 | 10 h 30 min |
| December | 55°F | 30°F | 42.3°F | 0.87 | 4 | <1 | 21 | 10 h |
| Year (annual) | 75°F | 47°F | 61.2°F | 10.83 | 53 | 91 | 73 |
The same normals in °C and millimetres
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Precip. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 13°C | −2°C | 5.7°C | 11 mm |
| February | 16°C | 1°C | 8.4°C | 12 mm |
| March | 20°C | 4°C | 12.0°C | 9 mm |
| April | 25°C | 7°C | 15.9°C | 9 mm |
| May | 29°C | 12°C | 20.6°C | 12 mm |
| June | 34°C | 17°C | 25.4°C | 19 mm |
| July | 34°C | 19°C | 26.3°C | 45 mm |
| August | 33°C | 18°C | 25.5°C | 46 mm |
| September | 30°C | 15°C | 22.3°C | 44 mm |
| October | 24°C | 9°C | 16.6°C | 28 mm |
| November | 18°C | 3°C | 10.1°C | 17 mm |
| December | 13°C | −1°C | 5.7°C | 22 mm |
NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for this station. The nearest record that keeps one, Alamogordo (12 miles away), gets 2 inches of snow in a normal year; elevation and distance can change that.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00299165; 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 Tularosa?
Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in March, April, May and October. Of those, April has the fewest days with rain (2).
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 USC00299165.
When is the last frost in Tularosa?
In Tularosa, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 5 in half of years and after April 22 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before November 4 in half of years and before October 20 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 51 year in 10 after April 22; 9 in 10 after March 17
- First autumn frost, half of years before
- November 41 year in 10 before October 20; 9 in 10 before November 19
NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 212 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 240 days.
A hard freeze (28°F) comes after March 17 in half of springs and before November 15 in half of autumns.
The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Tularosa in zone 8a in ZIP code 88352, the nearest ZIP area. By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Tularosa's NOAA station is in zone 8a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches 13°F (27 complete years).
Frost dates for every NOAA station in New Mexico · Frost dates by ZIP code
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals (frost probabilities), station USC00299165; 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 in Tularosa?
In a normal year in Tularosa, 91 days a year reach 90°F (10 of them 100°F or more), 73 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 53 days bring measurable precipitation.
- Days at 90°F or more
- 91a normal year
- Days at 100°F or more
- 10a normal year
- Nights at 32°F or colder
- 73a normal year
- Days that stay below freezing
- fewer than 1high of 32°F or less
- Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation
- 53a normal year
The highest temperature in this station's record (since 1906) is 112°F, on July 5, 1910; the lowest is −8°F, on February 4, 2011.
The wettest calendar year on that record is 1986, with 18.29 in; the snowiest season is 1931–32, with 25.5 inches.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 annual normals, station USC00299165; records: ACIS (NOAA Regional Climate Centers), station USC00299165. Records use complete months only; a month missing more than three days is left out.
How sunny is Tularosa?
Over a year 88% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Tularosa, 5.7 kWh per square metre a day. June is the sunniest month (91%) and December the cloudiest (85%).
| Month | Share of clear-sky sunshine | Sunshine, kWh/m² a day |
|---|---|---|
| January | 86% | 3.5 |
| February | 86% | 4.5 |
| March | 88% | 5.8 |
| April | 90% | 7.2 |
| May | 91% | 7.9 |
| June | 91% | 8.0 |
| July | 85% | 7.1 |
| August | 86% | 6.6 |
| September | 88% | 5.9 |
| October | 90% | 4.9 |
| November | 87% | 3.7 |
| December | 85% | 3.1 |
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 Tularosa need?
A normal year in Tularosa brings 3,031 heating degree days, 44% fewer than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 1,661 cooling degree days, 83% 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 4,863 growing degree days a year above 50°F.
| Month | Heating | Cooling |
|---|---|---|
| January | 705 | 0 |
| February | 501 | 0 |
| March | 354 | 2 |
| April | 153 | 23 |
| May | 29 | 153 |
| June | 0 | 383 |
| July | 0 | 446 |
| August | 0 | 400 |
| September | 8 | 219 |
| October | 134 | 35 |
| November | 443 | 1 |
| December | 704 | 0 |
| Year (annual) | 3,031 | 1,661 |
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals, station USC00299165. 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.
Has Tularosa been warmer than normal lately?
Over 39 complete years from 1947 to 2018, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 1.7°F per century (+0.10°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.
Source: trend: NOAA GHCN-Monthly v4. A year counts only with all twelve months complete.
How does Tularosa's climate compare?
Tularosa is warmer than 81 of the other 97 places with their own NOAA record in New Mexico, and wetter than 25. Across the 7,247 U.S. stations with normals, its annual mean of 61.2°F is warmer than 78%.
In the Köppen classification computed from these normals, Tularosa 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 Tularosa share this climate record?
Bent 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.
- Bent, NM9 people · 11 mi NE
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 Tularosa's climate
What is the coldest month in Tularosa?
January, with a normal high of 56°F and a normal low of 29°F. The warmest is July (93°F by day, 66°F at night).
Does it snow in Tularosa?
Yes. NOAA publishes no 1991-2020 snowfall normal for Tularosa's NOAA station; the nearest record that keeps one, Alamogordo (12 miles away), records 2 inches of snow in a normal year.
What is the rainiest month in Tularosa?
August, with 1.81 in of precipitation in a normal year; the driest is March with 0.35 in.
What plant hardiness zone is Tularosa in?
The USDA's 2023 map puts Tularosa in zone 8a in ZIP code 88352, the nearest ZIP area. By the same method at Tularosa's NOAA station, the coldest night of a typical year reaches 13°F (27 years, 1991-2020): zone 8a.
How late can frost come in Tularosa?
In half of years the last 32°F night comes after April 5; in one year in ten it comes after April 22. Waiting until April 22 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
- Alamogordo, NM12 miles from this station, 63.1°F a year
- Mountain Park, NM15 miles from this station, 52.9°F a year
- Cloudcroft, NM19 miles from this station, 45.7°F a year
- White Sands National Mon, NM22 miles from this station, 60.5°F a year
- Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side
Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made