The Arroyo Seco plate. Relief from Copernicus GLO-30; rivers and lakes from USGS NHD; watersheds from the USGS Watershed Boundary Dataset; roads and city limits from Census TIGER 2024.
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−17° on Nov. 17, 2014, the coldest reading for this week of the year since 1929. Next is −15° in 1951.
Arroyo Seco’s center stands about 7,640 ft above sea level. Within three miles the land runs from 7,290 ft to 9,750 ft, a difference of 2,460 ft: mountain country. The highest named summit within 15 miles is Wheeler Peak, about 13,120 ft, 9 miles east-northeast.
Under the town center the state geologic map shows Piedmont alluvial deposits (unconsolidated), from the Pleistocene to Holocene, less than 2.6 million years old.
The section below crosses 8 rock units mapped at the surface.
Heights every 0.1 mile from the Copernicus GLO-90 surface model; vertical exaggeration about 3×. The colored band under the surface is the rock the state geologic map shows at the surface, not a picture of what lies beneath.
Unconsolidated. Age: Pleistocene to Holocene, less than 2.6 million years old. About 11 mi of the line.
Metavolcanic, metaclastic, gneiss. Age: Paleoproterozoic, 1.6 to 1.8 billion years old. About 3 mi of the line.
Granitic, syenitic. Age: Eocene to Pliocene, 2.6 to 56 million years old. About 3 mi of the line.
Basalt, andesite. Age: Pliocene, 2.6 to 5.3 million years old. About 3 mi of the line.
Unconsolidated. Age: Pleistocene, less than 0.8 million years old. About 2 mi of the line.
Granodiorite, diorite, gabbro. Age: Paleoproterozoic, 1.7 to 1.8 billion years old. About 2 mi of the line.
From the USGS State Geologic Map Compilation (Horton and others, 2017), the states’ geologic maps joined at a common scale. 2 smaller units along the line are not listed.
Heights from Copernicus GLO-90 (a surface model: it includes buildings and tree canopy); summits from USGS GNIS; rivers from USGS NHDPlus HR; rock from the USGS State Geologic Map Compilation.
A raindrop that lands in Arroyo Seco reaches the Gulf of America by way of the Rio Fernando de Taos and the Rio Grande: about 1,690 river miles.
Lakes on the way: Paz Ramirez Lake, Amistad Reservoir, Elephant Butte Reservoir and Caballo Reservoir.
760 miles of the trip are on the Rio Grande.
Traced down the USGS NHDPlus V2.1 river network from the Census center point of Arroyo Seco; river miles along the main stem, rounded.
Arroyo Seco has a warm-summer humid continental climate. Summer afternoons average 79° in July; winter nights fall to about 5° in January. About 17 inches of rain fall in a normal year.
On November 14 Arroyo Seco normally reaches 49° and falls to 16°. The record high is 69°, in 1999; the record low −10°, in 1940. The most rain on this date, 0.24 in, fell in 2022.
Normals 1991–2020 and records since 1929 at Eagle Nest, 17 miles east, 640 ft higher. NOAA, through RCC-ACIS.
