Winston, NM Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Explore NOAA NCEI's 1991–2020 climate normals → and a clearly labeled PlainClimate comfort calculation
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Winston's primary NOAA station, WINSTON.
The climate verdict for Winston
Dryness leads the climate profile for Winston, New Mexico, with 13.9 inches of precipitation a year. NOAA records an annual average of 53°F. At 54/100 (moderate) the climate comfort score falls in the bottom third of the station-mapped U.S. score corpus, exceeding only 31% of scores.
- 53°F
- average temperature, NOAA 1991-2020 normal
- 54/100
- comfort score, above 31% of station-mapped location scores
- 13.9"
- annual precipitation · 10" snow
- 151 days
- growing season, frost-free days
Winston: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00299806 · Winston, NM 53°F mean · 13.9" precip
TEMP-COOL · RANK-MID · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-DRY · SWING-MID · COMF-LOW · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COOL 53°F
- RANK-MID #3,705
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Waynesville
- PRCP-DRY 13.9"
- SWING-MID 36°F
- COMF-LOW 54/100
- LOAD-HEAT 4,844 HDD
- STN-1 USC00299806
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Waynesville, NC (+ 0.1 °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.
- Winston (this station) 53°F
- Cold Prospect, OR 53°F
- Hot Mtn City, TN 53°F
- Near Waynesville, NC 53°F
- Near Wise, VA 53°F
Climate Living Index · Winston
Winston: 40/100 · grade D
Winston publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Winston, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 54/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Snowfall burden | 9.6 inches/year | 64/100 · C |
| Annual temperature balance | 53.1°F · 14.4° from 67.5°F | 53/100 · D |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 168 calendar days | 34/100 · F |
| Frost-free season | 151 days/year | 26/100 · F |
| Precipitation balance | 13.9 in · 21.1 from 35 in | 24/100 · F |
Winston · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Winston'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
- 71.2°F
- Coldest month
- 35.5°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 Winston sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Winston's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- 54th percentile warmth
- Mid-pack annual mean versus 6,861 station normals.
- Annual precipitation
- Drier than 85%
- Winston's annual total ranks in the drier third of 6,352 measured normals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Narrower than 81%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Winston is compact versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Winston compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Winston's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
54 31st percentile score exceeds 31% 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
Monthly Temperatures
Average daily high and low temperatures by month
| Month | Avg High | Avg Low | Mean | Precip | Snow | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 53°F (12°C) | 20°F (-7°C) | 36°F (2°C) | 0.5" | 3.1" | 29.9 | 0.0 |
| February | 57°F (14°C) | 23°F (-5°C) | 40°F (4°C) | 0.4" | 1.1" | 26.3 | 0.0 |
| March | 64°F (18°C) | 27°F (-3°C) | 45°F (7°C) | 0.4" | 1.2" | 25.2 | 0.0 |
| April | 71°F (22°C) | 34°F (1°C) | 52°F (11°C) | 0.3" | 0.0" | 14.4 | 0.0 |
| May | 79°F (26°C) | 41°F (5°C) | 60°F (16°C) | 0.6" | 0.0" | 2.3 | 1.8 |
| June | 89°F (32°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 69°F (21°C) | 0.8" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 13.1 |
| July | 87°F (30°C) | 56°F (13°C) | 71°F (22°C) | 2.9" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 9.3 |
| August | 84°F (29°C) | 54°F (12°C) | 69°F (20°C) | 3.7" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 3.6 |
| September | 79°F (26°C) | 47°F (8°C) | 63°F (17°C) | 1.8" | 0.0" | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| October | 71°F (22°C) | 35°F (2°C) | 53°F (12°C) | 1.0" | 0.6" | 11.0 | 0.0 |
| November | 60°F (16°C) | 25°F (-4°C) | 43°F (6°C) | 0.7" | 0.4" | 26.4 | 0.0 |
| December | 52°F (11°C) | 19°F (-7°C) | 36°F (2°C) | 0.8" | 3.2" | 29.8 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 90°F around June 21, short of 90°F on every date, while 168 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest 19°F near December 21.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into April 9, then returns to freezing around October 25, covering 168 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 3, when 34% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is April 21 at 4%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 47 wet dates a year.
The widest day
June 3 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 41°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Winston.
Where Winston Stands Nationally
Day-to-night contrast is extreme by national standards — the widest normal daily swing reaches about 41°F, sharper than nine in ten ranked stations see.
A drier-than-most normal water year — around 14 inches, below what four out of five ranked stations collect.
Winston 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: 3.1"
2.2 days with precipitation
Snow: 1.1"
2.0 days with precipitation
Snow: 1.2"
1.9 days with precipitation
1.4 days with precipitation
2.5 days with precipitation
3.4 days with precipitation
9.8 days with precipitation
10.3 days with precipitation
5.2 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.6"
3.0 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.4"
2.0 days with precipitation
Snow: 3.2"
3.1 days with precipitation
Winston runs a summer-peaked wet season
53% of Winston'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 August at 3.7", on a 35.7°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: August, July, September, taking 61% of the annual total between them.
- Driest month: April at 0.3".
- Winter share: 12% 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 Winston's precipitation splits across the calendar
About 47 days a year record measurable precipitation here, carrying 13.9" between them, or roughly 0.30 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 Winston, but rarely amounts to much
The normals record 9.6 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 4 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 8
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
May 10
50% probability date
Growing Season
151 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
4,844
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
521
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
December
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside NM closest to Winston 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 (53°F here).
- Allentown, PA 53°F · 0.0°F off
- Dallas, OR 53°F · 0.0°F off
- Danville, IL 53°F · 0.0°F off
- Decatur, IL 53°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (13.9" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Gardiner, MT 13.9" · 0.0" off
- Oak City, UT 13.9" · 0.0" off
- Galena, AK 13.9" · 0.0" off
- College, AK 13.9" · 0.1" off
Scarce-water calendar
Where Winston's limited precipitation lands
heating led · dry · mid swing
Winston's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 4,844 annual heating degree days against 521 for cooling. Its 35.7°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.
Winston's frost-free season lasts about 151 days, a middle-length window whose endpoints matter more than the annual average. It describes freeze probability, not year-specific planting conditions.
July and December mark the typical warm and cold ends of the calendar in Winston's middle-range seasonal profile. The measured spread is 35.7°F. The annual average is 53°F. Neither the annual mean nor one extreme month represents the full calendar on its own.
Winston's cold-season load does not imply a wet climate. Annual precipitation is 13.9 inches, which places the station in PlainClimate's dry range. Annual snowfall totals 9.6 inches. The snowfall and rainfall fields should be read separately rather than inferred from temperature.
Winston wettest normal
August
August concentrates the scarce annual total (13.9 inches).
Winston driest normal
April
April is typically driest; arid stations are defined by when water is absent, not by a four-season grid.
Questions about Winston's climate
How dry is Winston? ▼
How cold does Winston get in winter? ▼
How much energy does heating and cooling require in Winston? ▼
Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Winston's primary station: WINSTON (USC00299806). 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 a census-designated place (GEOID 3585720), not an incorporated municipality. Match rule for Winston: 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 Winston 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.