The Carlsbad 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.
Partly cloudy
Mostly sunny
Mostly cloudy; cooler
Mostly sunny
Mostly sunny; warmer
Partly cloudy
Mostly sunny
10° on Nov. 14, 1976, the coldest reading for this week of the year since 1930. Next is 15° in 1950.
Carlsbad’s center stands about 3,110 ft above sea level. Within three miles the land runs from 3,080 ft to 3,350 ft, a difference of 270 ft: rolling country. The highest named summit within 15 miles is Azotea Peak, about 4,280 ft, 15 miles west-southwest.
Under the town center the state geologic map shows Alluvium (unconsolidated), from the Pleistocene to Holocene, less than 0.1 million years old.
The section below crosses 6 rock units mapped at the surface.
Heights every 0.1 mile from the Copernicus GLO-90 surface model; vertical exaggeration about 24×. 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 0.1 million years old. About 6 mi of the line.
Sandstone, carbonate, siltstone. Age: Permian, 260 to 273 million years old. About 6 mi of the line.
Unconsolidated. Age: Pleistocene to Holocene, less than 0.8 million years old. About 5 mi of the line.
Unconsolidated. Age: Pleistocene to Holocene, less than 2.6 million years old. About 4 mi of the line.
Unconsolidated. Age: Pleistocene, 0.1 to 2.6 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 Carlsbad reaches the Gulf of America by way of the Pecos and the Rio Grande: about 1,100 river miles.
Lakes on the way: Paz Ramirez Lake, Amistad Reservoir and Red Bluff Reservoir.
410 miles of the trip are on the Pecos.
Traced down the USGS NHDPlus V2.1 river network from the Census center point of Carlsbad; river miles along the main stem, rounded.
Carlsbad has a cold desert climate. Summer afternoons average 96° in June; winter nights fall to about 29° in January. About 12 inches of rain fall in a normal year.
On November 14 Carlsbad normally reaches 67° and falls to 37°. The record high is 86°, in 2025; the record low 10°, in 1976. The most rain on this date, 0.70 in, fell in 2004.
Normals 1991–2020 and records since 1930 at Cavern City Airport, 6 miles south-southwest, 140 ft higher. NOAA, through RCC-ACIS.
