RANGE MANAGEMENT IN NEW MEXICo. 5 
received 3.44 inches in 1894; Mesilla Park (8,863 feet) received 
3.49 inches in 1873; Deming (4,333 feet) received 3.42 inches in 
1910, while the same year Carlsbad (3,120 feet) received only 3.95 
inches. 
The variation in the amount of precipitation from year to year 
is also great. An extreme case is shown at Mesilla Park. In a 
record for this region extending over 47 years, the average rainfall 
is 8.62 inches. For five of those years the total amount was just 
about half of the normal supply. Five other years show from one 
and one-half to nearly two times the average. It will thus be seen 
that there is a range from the lowest amount recorded, 3.49 inches, 
to almost five times that amount, 17.09 inches, the highest record. 
For one period of ten consecutive years the total annual precipita- 
tion was each year below the average quoted above, and periods of 
three to five years in which the annual rainfall is two-thirds of the 
normal or less have occurred three times within the time for which 
the observations have been made. 
Snow occurs at some time every winter at all points in the State. 
At the lower levels the occurrence is rare and the quantity that 
falls is small, nor does it he long. In the higher mountains of the 
northern part of the State considerable of the precipitation comes 
as snow, and in favorable locations it drifts and hes for most of the 
winter. From such regions stock are excluded for at least part of 
the year. 
Cloudy weather is the exception, and one bright sunshiny day 
after another is the rule throughout the State. 
Temperature.—The most characteristic peculiarity of the tem- 
perature and one which applies at all points in the State is the great 
range which occurs yearly, monthly, and daily. A daily range 
of 45° F. is not uncommon, and one of 30° or more may be said 
to be almost therule. This condition is, of course, due to the altitude 
and the lack of moisture in the air. | 
The mean temperatures of different localities are exceedingly 
misleading when one is considering climate in New Mexico, because 
they are made up of high maximum and low minimum temperatures. 
This statement applies to all the means, daily, monthly, and annual. 
The highest recorded temperature for the State is 113° F. at San 
Marcial. A summer maximum of over 100° F. is common for many 
of the stations at the lower altitudes. The higher elevations, of course, 
have lower temperatures. The absolute minimum temperatures 
recorded for the different stations range from 4° to —29° F., and 
there is always a winter season of three months or more anywhere 
in the State during which one may expect it to freeze any night. 
_ This condition would hardly be expected when one considers the 
latitude alone and is another consequence of high altitude and aridity. 
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