Placitas, New Mexico Weather
Placitas, New Mexico — live current conditions, hourly and 7-day forecasts, NWS alerts, aviation weather, radar and satellite imagery, soil and crop conditions for Placitas, Rio Arriba County.
Flight conditions near Placitas. Data source: locating…
Soil conditions, frost risk and crop weather for Placitas.
About Placitas, New Mexico
Placitas unfolds across the high desert foothills, a scattering of homes and ranches clinging to the flanks of the Sandia Mountains. It lies 59.5 miles north-north-west of Santa Fe, NM (from Santa Fe, NM: bearing 332°T), and is situated 15.8 miles west-north-west of El Rito. The air here, when the wind is still, carries the dry, clean scent of piñon and juniper, a fragrance that seems to bake into the very earth under the vast New Mexico sky. Jagged arroyos, carved by infrequent but powerful rains, snake down the slopes, their dry beds whispering tales of flash floods. The landscape is a study in muted earth tones – ochre, rust, and a pale, sun-bleached sage – punctuated by the vibrant green of cholla cactus and the stoic silhouette of cottonwoods lining the few permanent watercourses. At dusk, the light softens, painting the mountains in hues of rose and violet, a spectacle that seems to hold the land in a moment of quiet, profound beauty. This high desert haven, Placitas, traces its roots back to ancient peoples who found sustenance and shelter in these rugged lands, their presence a silent echo in the wind-scoured canyons. Later, Spanish settlers arrived, drawn by the promise of fertile valleys and a life tied to the land, establishing homesteads that still bear the imprint of generations. The local economy, once largely agrarian, now leans towards a more diverse blend, with many residents commuting to nearby cities for work, while others find their livelihood in small businesses, artisan crafts, and the burgeoning tourism drawn by the area's natural splendor and proximity to national forests. The distinctive character of Placitas is a blend of independent spirit and a deep respect for the wild beauty that surrounds it, a place where the old ways and the new coexist under the unwavering gaze of the sun.
Live animated radar for Placitas and surroundings — RainViewer.
NOAA GOES-16 GEOCOLOR — live animated loop updated every 10 minutes. Shows cloud cover, storm systems and weather patterns across the continental US.
Source: NOAA/NESDIS GOES-East · Public domain · Auto-updates on page reload
| Location | Placitas, Rio Arriba County, New Mexico |
| Coordinates | 36.44585°N, 106.441698°W |
| Timezone | Mountain Time (America/Denver) |
| ZIP Code(s) | 87515, 87937, 87939, 87043 |
| Area Code | 575, 505 |
| Page generated | July 2026 |
| Weather data | Open-Meteo (open-source), NOAA National Weather Service |
About This Placitas, New Mexico Weather Page
This page provides live weather conditions and forecasts for Placitas, New Mexico, including current conditions, a 24-hour hourly forecast, 7-day outlook, NWS extended text forecast, real-time aviation weather (live METAR and TAF reports from the nearest reporting airport, with a modeled estimate shown when no station is in range), precipitation radar and NOAA GOES-16 satellite imagery. Additional sections may include tide predictions, wave height, wave direction and sea-surface temperature, a barometric pressure trend, and a solunar-based fishing forecast with a fishing-conditions rating for coastal localities, and soil temperature, crop weather and live USGS river gauge data for agricultural areas near a monitored waterway. All data updates automatically on every page visit.
Location data for Placitas includes coordinates 36.445850°N, 106.441698°W, situated in Rio Arriba County. ZIP code 87515, 87937, 87939, 87043. Telephone area code: 575, 505. Timezone: Mountain Time (America/Denver).
Weather data is sourced from the NOAA National Weather Service (NWS) and the open-source Open-Meteo API. Aviation data is sourced from aviationweather.gov (NOAA), with a modeled estimate used where no nearby reporting station is available. River and stream data is sourced from the USGS National Water Information System. Tide predictions are sourced from NOAA CO-OPS; marine and solunar data are modeled from Open-Meteo and public sunrise/moon calculations and should be treated as a general guide alongside on-the-water conditions. Radar is provided by RainViewer. Satellite imagery is sourced from NOAA/NESDIS GOES-East and is public domain.
