Average Weather at Los Alamos County Airport New Mexico, United States

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2. United States
3. New Mexico
4. Los Alamos County
5. Los Alamos County Airport

At Los Alamos County Airport, the summers are warm and partly cloudy and the winters are chilly, dry, and mostly clear. Over the course of the year, the temperature typically varies from 24°F to 83°F and is rarely below 13°F or above 90°F.

The warm season lasts for 3.6 months, from May 27 to September 15, with an average daily high temperature above 74°F. The hottest day of the year is July 4, with an average high of 83°F and low of 61°F.

The cold season lasts for 3.1 months, from November 20 to February 23, with an average daily high temperature below 49°F. The coldest day of the year is December 30, with an average low of 24°F and high of 40°F.

The figure below shows you a compact characterization of the entire year of hourly average temperatures. The horizontal axis is the day of the year, the vertical axis is the hour of the day, and the color is the average temperature for that hour and day.

At Los Alamos County Airport, the average percentage of the sky covered by clouds experiences mild seasonal variation over the course of the year.

The clearer part of the year at Los Alamos County Airport begins around August 30 and lasts for 2.3 months, ending around November 10. On September 29, the clearest day of the year, the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 79% of the time, and overcast or mostly cloudy 21% of the time.

The cloudier part of the year begins around November 10 and lasts for 9.6 months, ending around August 30. On February 13, the cloudiest day of the year, the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy 40% of the time, and clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 61% of the time.

A wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. The chance of wet days at Los Alamos County Airport varies throughout the year.

The wetter season lasts 2.1 months, from July 6 to September 9, with a greater than 22% chance of a given day being a wet day. The chance of a wet day peaks at 35% on July 31.

The drier season lasts 9.9 months, from September 9 to July 6. The smallest chance of a wet day is 8% on January 24.

Among wet days, we distinguish between those that experience rain alone, snow alone, or a mixture of the two. Based on this categorization, the most common form of precipitation at Los Alamos County Airport changes throughout the year.

Rain alone is the most common for 11 months, from January 27 to December 23. The highest chance of a day with rain alone is 35% on July 31.

Snow alone is the most common for 2.6 weeks, from December 29 to January 16. The highest chance of a day with snow alone is 4% on January 6.

Mixed snow and rain is the most common for 2.4 weeks, from January 16 to January 27 and from December 23 to December 29. The highest chance of a day with mixed snow and rain is 4% on December 14.

Rainfall

To show variation within the months and not just the monthly totals, we show the rainfall accumulated over a sliding 31-day period centered around each day of the year. Los Alamos County Airport experiences some seasonal variation in monthly rainfall.

The rainy period of the year lasts for 8.2 months, from March 21 to November 26, with a sliding 31-day rainfall of at least 0.5 inches. The most rain falls during the 31 days centered around August 2, with an average total accumulation of 1.7 inches.

The rainless period of the year lasts for 3.8 months, from November 26 to March 21. The least rain falls around January 16, with an average total accumulation of 0.3 inches.

Snowfall

The sliding 31-day liquid-equivalent quantity of snowfall at Los Alamos County Airport does not vary significantly over the course of the year, staying within 0.1 inches of 0.1 inches throughout.

The length of the day at Los Alamos County Airport varies significantly over the course of the year. In 2017, the shortest day is December 21, with 9 hours, 43 minutes of daylight; the longest day is June 21, with 14 hours, 36 minutes of daylight.

The earliest sunrise is at 5:48 AM on June 13, and the latest sunrise is 1 hour, 43 minutes later at 7:30 AM on November 4. The earliest sunset is at 4:50 PM on December 5, and the latest sunset is 3 hours, 35 minutes later at 8:25 PM on June 28.

Daylight saving time (DST) is observed at Los Alamos County Airport during 2017, starting in the spring on March 12, lasting 7.8 months, and ending in the fall on November 5.

We base the humidity comfort level on the dew point, as it determines whether perspiration will evaporate from the skin, thereby cooling the body. Lower dew points feel drier and higher dew points feel more humid. Unlike temperature, which typically varies significantly between night and day, dew point tends to change more slowly, so while the temperature may drop at night, a muggy day is typically followed by a muggy night.

The perceived humidity level at Los Alamos County Airport, as measured by the percentage of time in which the humidity comfort level is muggy, oppressive, or miserable, does not vary significantly over the course of the year, remaining a virtually constant 0% throughout.

This section discusses the wide-area hourly average wind vector (speed and direction) at 10 meters above the ground. The wind experienced at any given location is highly dependent on local topography and other factors, and instantaneous wind speed and direction vary more widely than hourly averages.

The average hourly wind speed at Los Alamos County Airport experiences mild seasonal variation over the course of the year.

The windier part of the year lasts for 5.2 months, from January 15 to June 22, with average wind speeds of more than 3.8 miles per hour. The windiest day of the year is April 11, with an average hourly wind speed of 4.8 miles per hour.

The calmer time of year lasts for 6.8 months, from June 22 to January 15. The calmest day of the year is August 3, with an average hourly wind speed of 2.8 miles per hour.

The predominant average hourly wind direction at Los Alamos County Airport varies throughout the year.

The wind is most often from the south for 3.3 weeks, from July 14 to August 6, with a peak percentage of 37% on July 20. The wind is most often from the west for 11 months, from August 6 to July 14, with a peak percentage of 48% on January 1.

This section discusses the total daily incident shortwave solar energy reaching the surface of the ground over a wide area, taking full account of seasonal variations in the length of the day, the elevation of the Sun above the horizon, and absorption by clouds and other atmospheric constituents. Shortwave radiation includes visible light and ultraviolet radiation.

The average daily incident shortwave solar energy experiences extreme seasonal variation over the course of the year.

The brighter period of the year lasts for 2.7 months, from April 24 to July 15, with an average daily incident shortwave energy per square meter above 7.3 kWh. The brightest day of the year is June 10, with an average of 8.4 kWh.

The darker period of the year lasts for 3.2 months, from November 4 to February 9, with an average daily incident shortwave energy per square meter below 4.1 kWh. The darkest day of the year is December 23, with an average of 3.0 kWh.

For the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Los Alamos County Airport are 35.880 deg latitude, -106.273 deg longitude, and 7,011 ft elevation.

The topography within 2 miles of Los Alamos County Airport contains very significant variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 896 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 7,008 feet. Within 10 miles contains very significant variations in elevation (5,407 feet). Within 50 miles also contains extreme variations in elevation (7,999 feet).

The area within 2 miles of Los Alamos County Airport is covered by shrubs (91%), within 10 miles by shrubs (67%) and trees (32%), and within 50 miles by shrubs (55%) and trees (40%).

This report illustrates the typical weather at Los Alamos County Airport, based on a statistical analysis of historical hourly weather reports and model reconstructions from January 1, 1980 to December 31, 2016.

Temperature and Dew Point

Los Alamos County Airport has a weather station that reported reliably enough during the analysis period that we have included it in our network. When available, historical temperature and dew point measurements are taken directly from this weather station. These records are obtained from NOAA's Integrated Surface Hourly data set, falling back on ICAO METAR records as required.

In the case of missing or erroneous measurements from this station, we fall back on records from nearby stations, adjusted according to typical seasonal and diurnal intra-station differences. For a given day of the year and hour of the day, the fallback station is selected to minimize the prediction error over the years for which there are measurements for both stations.

The stations on which we may fall back are Santa Fe Municipal Airport, Taos Regional Airport, Double Eagle II Airport, Albuquerque International Airport, Clines Corners, Angel Fire Airport, Las Vegas Municipal Airport, and Grants-Milan Municipal Airport.

Other Data

All data relating to the Sun's position (e.g., sunrise and sunset) are computed using astronomical formulas from the book, Astronomical Tables of the Sun, Moon and Planets , by Jean Meeus.

All other weather data, including cloud cover, precipitation, wind speed and direction, and solar flux, come from NASA's MERRA-2 Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis . This reanalysis combines a variety of wide-area measurements in a state-of-the-art global meteorological model to reconstruct the hourly history of weather throughout the world on a 50-kilometer grid.

Land Use data comes from the Global Land Cover SHARE database , published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Elevation data comes from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) , published by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Names, locations, and time zones of places and some airports come from the GeoNames Geographical Database .

Time zones for aiports and weather stations are provided by AskGeo.com .

Maps are © Esri, with data from National Geographic, Esri, DeLorme, NAVTEQ, UNEP-WCMC, USGS, NASA, ESA, METI, NRCAN, GEBCO, NOAA, and iPC.