Geography and Climate
Taos is located at 36°23′38″N 105°34′36″W / 36.39389°N 105.57667°W / 36.39389; -105.57667 (36.393979, -105.576705).
The town has a total area of 5.4 square miles (14 km2), all land.
Taos is located near the Rio Pueblo de Taos, a tributary of the Rio Grande. Just to the west of Taos is the Rio Grande Gorge, cutting through the basalt flows of the Taos Plateau volcanic field and crossed by the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge, now a part of U.S. Route 64.
The elevation of the town is 6,967 feet (2,124 m). Just north of Taos is Wheeler Peak, at 13,161 feet (4,011 m), the highest point in New Mexico. Taos has a semi-arid climate (Köppen BSk) with extreme diurnal variations of temperature and low rainfall. Even when summer days get extremely hot, nights can be pleasantly cool.
| Climate data for Taos, New Mexico | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °F (°C) | 66 (19) |
73 (23) |
77 (25) |
82 (28) |
93 (34) |
97 (36) |
99 (37) |
99 (37) |
94 (34) |
86 (30) |
83 (28) |
66 (19) |
99 (37) |
| Average high °F (°C) | 40.0 (4.4) |
45.4 (7.4) |
52.9 (11.6) |
62.8 (17.1) |
72.0 (22.2) |
82.1 (27.8) |
85.6 (29.8) |
83.3 (28.5) |
76.5 (24.7) |
65.9 (18.8) |
52.2 (11.2) |
41.8 (5.4) |
63.4 (17.4) |
| Average low °F (°C) | 9.7 (−12.4) |
16.3 (−8.7) |
22.9 (−5.1) |
29.6 (−1.3) |
37.6 (3.1) |
45.6 (7.6) |
51.0 (10.6) |
49.8 (9.9) |
42.6 (5.9) |
32.0 (0.0) |
20.9 (−6.2) |
12.2 (−11.0) |
30.8 (−0.7) |
| Record low °F (°C) | −27 (−33) |
−27 (−33) |
−11 (−24) |
0 (−18) |
13 (−11) |
28 (−2) |
36 (2) |
36 (2) |
22 (−6) |
0 (−18) |
−21 (−29) |
−27 (−33) |
−27 (−33) |
| Precipitation inches (mm) | 0.67 (17) |
0.61 (15.5) |
0.82 (20.8) |
0.90 (22.9) |
1.20 (30.5) |
0.90 (22.9) |
1.64 (41.7) |
1.85 (47) |
1.28 (32.5) |
1.08 (27.4) |
0.73 (18.5) |
0.63 (16) |
12.31 (312.7) |
| Snowfall inches (cm) | 7.2 (18.3) |
5.2 (13.2) |
4.9 (12.4) |
1.8 (4.6) |
0.4 (1) |
0.0 (0) |
0.0 (0) |
0.0 (0) |
0.0 (0) |
0.5 (1.3) |
2.8 (7.1) |
6.2 (15.7) |
29 (74) |
| Avg. precipitation days | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 10 | 10 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 69 |
| Source: Western Regional Climate Centre | |||||||||||||
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