The heat from July lingered into much of the month of August, as it ended up as the 5th warmest on record, about 3.4 degrees above average. Enough rain fell during the month so that we ended up ‘only’ about a half inch below average.

There were two main rainfall episodes lasting about 3 days each, one on Aug 12-14th, and another one on Aug 25-27th. The last one had a decent thunderstorm move right through most of the area on the 26th, bringing widespread rains of a half inch or more. Still, the northern part of the town of Taos missed out on the heaviest amounts, as rainfall for the month there totaled less than an inch (see map below). The Hondo Mesa had some of the highest amounts outside of the foothills.

The first 10 days of the month were the hottest with highs in the upper 80s to low 90s, with just a bit of rain falling on 2nd and 8th to cool things down briefly. During the two rainy periods mentioned above, highs dropped down into the mid 70s to low 80s. Otherwise highs were mainly in the mid to upper 80s during the month. There were 7 days in the month with highs of 90 degrees or more, with the hottest reading of 93 degrees occurring on the 5th and 6th. The coolest high was 73 degrees on the 14th.

As for lows, there were generally a little above average, especially from the 12th to the 28th as a moist airmass helped to keep readings up overnight. The warmest low was 63 degrees on the 22nd, while the coolest low was 48 degrees on the 17th and 29th.

Some records were broken or tied during the month. The reading of 93 degrees on the 6th tied the record warm high for the date. Daily record warm lows were tied or set on the 12th, 21st, 22nd, and 25th. And a daily rainfall record was set on the 26th with 0.63 inches falling on that day at my location.

Wind speeds overall were a little above average for the month, with 10 days having gusts of 35 mph or higher. The windiest days were on the 20th, 21st and 22nd. The highest gust of 52 mph occurred on the 31st around 645 PM from a stray weak thundershower.

Here are the actual numbers for the month…

Average Temp . . . . 69.7 degrees, +3.4 degrees above average (5th warmest)

Average High . . . . . 86.2 degrees, +3.8 degrees above average (9th warmest)

Average Low . . . . . 53.2 degrees, +3.0 degrees above average (5th warmest)

Total rainfall . . . . . . 1.34 inches, -0.53 inches below average

Total snowfall . . . . . . None

August 2023 Rainfall in the Taos area

AUG 2023

DATE	HIGH	LOW	MON. DEP.	PCPN	REMARK
1	86	55	+1.9	Trace
2	88	51	+1.6	0.06″
3	89	52	+1.9
4	91	49	+2.0
5	93	51	+2.5
6	93	49	+2.7		Tied record warm high
7	89	54	+2.9
8	82	49	+2.3	0.06″	Pea size hail 1240 PM
9	87	49	+2.1
10	89	52	+2.3
11	90	53	+2.4
12	83	58	+2.6	0.08″	Tied record warm low
13	80	54	+2.4	0.13″
14	73	57	+2.2	0.18″
15	79	53	+2.0
16	88	52	+2.1	Trace
17	89	48	+2.1	Trace
18	90	52	+2.2
19	91	52	+2.4
20	89	55	+2.6
21	88	59	+2.8		Record warm low
22	88	63	+3.2		Record warm low
23	84	58	+3.3	Trace
24	93	55	+3.3
25	85	57	+3.4	0.14″	Record warm low
26	82	52	+3.4	0.63″	Record daily pcpn
27	81	55	+3.3	0.04″
28	81	55	+3.3	Trace
29	83	48	+3.2
30	87	49	+3.3
31	90	52	+3.4	Trace
AVGS/ TOTAL	86.2	53.2	69.7	1.34″

2022-23 Water Precipitation vs. the Average

Here is a graphic showing the amount of precipitation that has fallen through the water year. The water year (Oct 1 – Sep 30) is used by hydrologists and meteorologists as it more accurately reflects the accumulation of precipitation for use during the growing season.

The current running total of precipitation here in Taos is shown by the green line below. The black line shows the average amount of precipitation based on 120 years of data. Inches of rain is the vertical axis, while the days and months of the year are on the horizontal axis.

For the 2022-23 water year, we have had above average precipitation for the entire water year (the green line) – by the second week of June we were up by over 3 inches. However, the dry spell since then almost got us caught up to the water year average (the black line), before we got some much needed rain the last week of Aug.

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