Local Conditions
If you go a few miles in any direction, the weather and sky conditions can change dramatically.
Go west about 15 miles from New Mexico Skies, towards Cloudcroft and you'll soon understand why they call it CLOUDcroft.
The prevailing wind in our area is from the west-northwest (it
generally follows the James Canyon - Highway 82 valley). When the
warm, dry desert winds raise up from the desert floor to the mountain
tops at Cloudcroft, the air cools dramatically, and the little bit
of moisture that's in the air can turn to clouds. It's not
unusual for Cloudcroft to be totally socked in with clouds FOR DAYS ON END, and we've
got perfectly clear skies here at New Mexico Skies. Even though
Cloudcroft has an EXCELLENT light pollution law, when the clouds do
cover the town, it can create a small light dome that can affect the
night skies for 5 to 7 miles from town. Also, as the winds blow across
the mountain tops, you'll find quite a bit of turbulence for the next 5
to 10 miles downwind from Cloudcroft, which can definitely affect the
seeing. By time the air travels the 15 miles from Cloudcroft to New
Mexico Skies, it has generally become very stable (it's not unusual to
see less than 1 arc-second seeing at New Mexico Skies), and the
clouds are normally gone. You can always check the local sky conditions by going to the NM Skies weather page. Most of the land to our west is part of the Lincoln National Forest.
If you go south
a few miles, it's not unusual to find the winds 10 to 20 miles per hour
higher than at New Mexico Skies. The wind gusts can be brutal. Generally speaking,
the skies to the south are pretty dark (although there can be a light-dome from El Paso, TX - the further south you go, the worse it gets), they generally have similar weather
conditions (except for the wind ) to New Mexico Skies,
and the transparency is generally good. Most of the land to the south is part of
the Lincoln National Forest.
If you go east
from New Mexico Skies, the seeing and the transparency start to drop
off pretty fast. As you go further east, the elevation drops off fairly
quickly, and you'll be imaging thru much more of the atmosphere.
To the east, the skies are dark, but the seeing can
be disappointing. Much of the land to the east is part of the
Lincoln National Forest and if you go further east, you're into the
desert.
If you go north from
New Mexico Skies and there really is not much private property
available for astronomy. The Lincoln National Forest starts just across
the valley from New Mexico Skies and continues until it meets the
Mescalero Apache Indian Tribal Lands which continues all the way to
Ruidoso. There is a VERY small amount of private land available to
the north, but most of it is valley land. Unfortunately for us
astronomers, the valley land is not as good at the mountain-top. The
valleys usually experience more winds and more turbulent winds, they
experience greater temperature swings at night, and the little bit of
moisture we do get tends to concentrate in the valleys. We've had
perfectly sunny mornings on the mountain top here at New Mexico Skies,
yet the valley was fogged in for hours.
Simply
put, you'll be hard pressed to find any where in North America that
offers you the excellent conditions that exist at New Mexico Skies.
The weather here is very special. Due to NM Skies Astronomy Enclave's unique location, there is a “micro-climate” that offers us spectacular skies, day and night. In any given year, up to 80% of our night time hours are clear, and we typically exceed 60% of our nights that qualify as “perfectly clear” and “photometric”. With pristine skies and as many as 300 clear nights per year, you won't a better place for your astronomy.
In 2017, Vik Kohli (one of our community members) had his observatory open and imaging 262 nights. That's over 70% of the available nights in a single year. Our night skies are like no others, so please don't compare us to the dusty, high wind DESERT properties. As a true MOUNTAIN-TOP Astronomy Community we're 'worlds apart' from the Desert properties...
We're a community for amateur astronomers,
by amateur astronomers.
