The Artesia 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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6° on Nov. 14, 1976, the coldest reading for this week of the year since 1905. Next is 7° in 1922.
Artesia’s center stands about 3,390 ft above sea level. Within three miles the land runs from 3,310 ft to 3,490 ft, a difference of 180 ft: gently rolling country. The highest named summit within 15 miles is Pavo Mesa, about 3,770 ft, 15 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 4 rock units mapped at the surface.
Heights every 0.1 mile from the Copernicus GLO-90 surface model; vertical exaggeration about 38×. 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 15 mi of the line.
Mixed-clastic, anhydrite, dolostone. Age: Permian, 260 to 273 million years old. About 5 mi of the line.
Unconsolidated. Age: Pleistocene to Holocene, less than 0.1 million years old. About 2 mi of the line.
Salt. Age: Permian, 252 to 260 million 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.
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 Artesia reaches the Gulf of America by way of Eagle Creek, the Pecos and the Rio Grande: about 1,150 river miles.
Lakes on the way: Paz Ramirez Lake, Amistad Reservoir, Red Bluff Reservoir and Lake McMillan.
410 miles of the trip are on the Pecos.
Traced down the USGS NHDPlus V2.1 river network from the Census center point of Artesia; river miles along the main stem, rounded.
Artesia has a cold semi-arid climate. Summer afternoons average 95° in June; winter nights fall to about 23° in January. About 12 inches of rain fall in a normal year, with about 4 inches of snow.
On November 14 Artesia normally reaches 66° and falls to 32°. The record high is 87°, in 1942; the record low 6°, in 1976. The most rain on this date, 0.53 in, fell in 2004.
Normals 1991–2020 and records since 1905 at Artesia 6 S, 6 miles south. NOAA, through RCC-ACIS.
