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West Texas/Southern New Mexico is too cold for me as far as year-round climates go.I much prefer somewhere like San Antone or Corpus or Phoenix but thats just me.
Wow... I thought people in those places were born there or landed there for job reasons... and just suffered through the long, oppressive, hotter than hell summers. I lived in the Phoenix area for 2 years. It would take a lot of incentive to make me do it again.
I'll gladly "suffer" through a "cold" sunny Jan with an average high of 50-60, so I can have a July with an average high of only 80-90, rather than 108!
I'm stuck in gloomy rainy north Alabama and can't wait to get back to the desert soon. I LOVE the heat and I don't mind the cold of the desert in winter. Now as to wind.... That's something that people just have to put up with, in both AZ and NM. The upside is that the air is almost always far more fresh and clean (NM, not so much AZ). I have serious lung issues, but I wasn't sick even once when I lived in NM for almost 2 years. My friends in NM told me it's already gotten really cold there. I don't mind it. I find it invigorating. That's because the wind is blowing and the sun is often shining after storm and the snow melts.
My friends in NM told me it's already gotten really cold there.
I live at 7,000 ft and didn't turn on my furnace until the last day of Oct!
We had a couple cold days then and just had another couple, with snow even, but it promptly melted. Highs in the 60s every day in between, and the forecast is high 50s to low 60s for the next 10 days. I'll survive.
I moved here in 2006 and I think last winter was coldest. I actually went through the stats, and the average high was about 6 degrees below the long term normal. Hope that was a fluke...
Cool! Yes, it's amazing what the body gets used to. Those are amazing stats. I love the way it snows in NM and then melts right away, with the blue skies and sun. It's so pretty. I tried my best to get used to my new area (for the past 3 years), but I just couldn't. AZ and NM are in my soul and I know they aren't leaving! I haven't ever been to Ruidoso, but hopefully someday I'll make it! It looks like a beautiful place. My parents visited some college friends in Alamagordo (they were attending graduate school there!) when I was a little kid back in the 1950's. We might have passed through Ruidoso. I vaguely remember White Sands and vividly remember the Bat Cave. Oh, and our weather here is wildly swinging back and forth. My father lives in Oregon, they had a drought this year and very hot weather. What was it like this past spring and summer in Ruidoso?
As a California girl, I was incredulous that I could live at 0 degrees temp, with a -11 degrees real feel, especially without getting sick. I was living on a very primitive homestead. The -11 only happened once that year, though.
Cool! Yes, it's amazing what the body gets used to. Those are amazing stats. I love the way it snows in NM and then melts right away, with the blue skies and sun. It's so pretty. I tried my best to get used to my new area (for the past 3 years), but I just couldn't. AZ and NM are in my soul and I know they aren't leaving! I haven't ever been to Ruidoso, but hopefully someday I'll make it! It looks like a beautiful place. My parents visited some college friends in Alamagordo (they were attending graduate school there!) when I was a little kid back in the 1950's. We might have passed through Ruidoso. I vaguely remember White Sands and vividly remember the Bat Cave. Oh, and our weather here is wildly swinging back and forth. My father lives in Oregon, they had a drought this year and very hot weather. What was it like this past spring and summer in Ruidoso?
As a California girl, I was incredulous that I could live at 0 degrees temp, with a -11 degrees real feel, especially without getting sick. I was living on a very primitive homestead. The -11 only happened once that year, though.
Summers in NM have been relatively cool, which is to say--normal. Long-term residents, from back in the 50's and earlier, have told me, that SF had Bay Area weather: cool summers except for a month-long "heat wave", that pushed the temps into the 80's. After a global-warming 15 years from 2001 to 2015, when the temps were kicked upward about 10 degrees (or more! )for 5 months each year, the temps have settled back down to "normal", except sometimes fall weather comes later than before. Climatologists say, that that 15-year "anomaly" will occur again, as part of the climate-change process. But the last few summers, the monsoons at least have been happening, which helps keep things cool and livable, no to mention--providing vital moisture.
Ruidoso, being higher in elevation, is cool like Santa Fe. It's where a number of Texans go for the summer (Santa Fe, too). People in Las Cruces also use it as an escape hatch for part of the summer.
Ruidoso, being higher in elevation, is cool like Santa Fe. It's where a number of Texans go for the summer (Santa Fe, too). People in Las Cruces also use it as an escape hatch for part of the summer.
People from Mexico also. The climate is really fine all year IMO, and I'm picky... avg high of 50 in Jan, and 80 in July. I lived on Kauai before here and much prefer this climate. Santa Fe actually has quite a bit bigger swings, with 43 in Jan and 87 in July. https://wrcc.dri.edu/summary/Climsmnm.html
Spring wind can be annoying. I don't mind so long as there are plenty of "relief" days, but it seems like 1 year out of 10 it's just relentless... like half the days are >30 mph, and none are calm. I ride bicycles on the road for recreation, so you can probably imagine how much of a slog 30 miles into that kind of wind would be.
Oh okay.I have heard online in other places that New Mexico suffers from quite a bit of brain drain as a result of that.
It's a poor state with poor wages generally, and not a lot of industry or high tech industry.
I guess it makes sense that the most talented people will tend to go to where they will make more money, and young people tend to prefer the most trendy cities, even if they work from home.
Well, it''s not as if dentists have a WFH option...
But your overall point is well taken. Does Taos also have a primary care doc shortage? People keep moving there, so I'm assuming there's at least primary care available? And there's a hospital. It also has what's considered a very good orthopedic group, rated close to par with the ones serving Colorado's ski resort communities. I assume they're in Taos for the same reason as the ones in CO--high-end ski patients, among others. They also have a schedule in Santa Fe.
There's a primary care shortage in the entire state, including ABQ!
There's a primary care shortage in the entire state, including ABQ!
That's nation wide, doesn't matter where you are really.
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That's something that people just have to put up with, in both AZ and NM. The upside is that the air is almost always far more fresh and clean (NM, not so much AZ). I have serious lung issues, but I wasn't sick even once when I lived in NM for almost 2 years. My friends in NM told me it's already gotten really cold there. I don't mind it. I find it invigorating. That's because the wind is blowing and the sun is often shining after storm and the snow melts.
Yes, it's amazing what the body gets used to. Those are amazing stats. I love the way it snows in NM and then melts right away, with the blue skies and sun. It's so pretty. I tried my best to get used to my new area (for the past 3 years), but I just couldn't. AZ and NM are in my soul and I know they aren't leaving! I haven't ever been to Ruidoso, but hopefully someday I'll make it! It looks like a beautiful place. My parents visited some college friends in Alamagordo (they were attending graduate school there!) when I was a little kid back in the 1950's. We might have passed through Ruidoso. I vaguely remember White Sands and vividly remember the Bat Cave. Oh, and our weather here is wildly swinging back and forth. My father lives in Oregon, they had a drought this year and very hot weather. What was it like this past spring and summer in Ruidoso?
)for 5 months each year, the temps have settled back down to "normal", except sometimes fall weather comes later than before. Climatologists say, that that 15-year "anomaly" will occur again, as part of the climate-change process. But the last few summers, the monsoons at least have been happening, which helps keep things cool and livable, no to mention--providing vital moisture. 
