ACTIVITIES

Outdoor Recreation and Activities in New Mexico

With 310 average days of sunlight, New Mexico is an outdoors paradise offering all kinds of activities to residents and visitors alike. Golf, horseback riding, camping, bicycling, hunting, fishing, mountain climbing, hiking and boating are available year-round, with plenty of winter sports like skiing, snowboarding, snowmobiling and ice skating to keep you busy when there's snow on the ground. With our spectacular landscape and crystal clear skies, New Mexico also offers great opportunities for those who like to leave the ground with hot air ballooning and hang-gliding, and for those of you who'd rather watch than participate, New Mexico also offers semi-pro baseball and hockey teams (soon to have it’s own Professional teams, as well as college teams in football and basketball in the central and southern parts of the state.

No matter what kind of activities you enjoy, New Mexico is sure to have something for you. So come check out our outdoors – New Mexico certainly has a lot of it!

World Class Golf

Horseracing, Gambling, Gaming, & Casinos

Since the Wild West days of a game of cards at the saloon, New Mexico has seen its fair share of gambling, with horse-racing as the lead game until just fairly recently. Both Santa Fe and Albuquerque have their own "Downs" racetrack, but the hands-down winner for most popular racehorse-race in the state goes to the Ruidoso Downs with their "All-American Futurity" Quarter Horse race that happens every September and features a $1 million purse for the lucky winner.

Since 1997, Native American-owned tribal casinos became legal in New Mexico with the signing of the gaming compacts. Since then, 22 tribes have opted to open casinos, and visitors can now play slot machines, blackjack, bingo, keno, poker, and baccarat in casinos all over New Mexico. A year before, in 1996, the state of New Mexico got into the act with such gaming products as scratch cards, Powerball, and Pick Three, which you can find at convenience stores around the state, as well as the Instant Millionaire Game Show, which you can view on TV.

When it comes to state gaming - please play all you like, as it supports our Lottery Scholarship Fund! But with all gaming that you might try here in our state, do yourself a favor - Please Play Responsibly!

WEATHER

Weather, Altitude & Climate

Before "Land of Enchantment" became the state slogan, New Mexico went by the nickname The Sunshine State based on the fact that every part of New Mexico receives at least 70 percent sunshine year-round.

With a state as large as New Mexico, though, climate varies considerably from one place to the next. Snowfall ranges from less than 2 inches annually in the lower Rio Grande Valley to as much as 300 inches in the mountains of north-central New Mexico.

Ski and Snowboard Communities at higher elevations tend to be cooler throughout the year. Be prepared for cold weather in the winter and bring a sweater or heavy jacket in the spring and fall.

Total precipitation ranges from an annual high of 25.7 inches in Cloudcroft to a low of 8 inches in Las Cruces. Thunderstorms are most common in July and August.

Average Weather Conditions

Semiarid subtropical climate. Light precipitation, abundant sunshine, low relative humidity. July-August thunderstorms bring most of moisture. December-March snowfalls vary from 2 inches (lower Rio Grande Valley) to 300 inches (north central mountains). Humidity ranges from 60% (mornings) to 30% (afternoons). Every part of New Mexico receives no less than 70% sunshine year-round.