What's on in Albuquerque, United States through the year

Busy — Winter / Christmas break in United States, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in January.

Shoulder season — an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in February.

Busy — Spring break in United States

• Hazard

  Spring wind and blowing dust

  1 Mar – 31 MayDust season

  The windiest stretch of the year across the Rio Grande valley, with afternoon gusts that lift dust off the mesa and shut down balloon flights and small aircraft. Sensitive lungs feel it before the forecast mentions it. Source ↗

Busy — one of its best months for weather

Nothing new starts in April.

Still on: Spring wind and blowing dust (1 Mar – 31 May)

Busy — one of its best months for weather

Nothing new starts in May.

Still on: Spring wind and blowing dust (1 Mar – 31 May)

Busy — Summer break in United States, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

• Season

  North American monsoon

  25 Jun – 20 Sep · usuallyRisk

  From late June the afternoons build thunderheads over the Sandias and drop an hour of hard rain, then clear. It is the greenest, most dramatic light of the year here, and the only reason to carry a jacket in July.

Busy — Summer break in United States, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in July.

Still on: North American monsoon (25 Jun – 20 Sep (usually))

Busy — Summer break in United States, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

• Season

  Green chile harvest

  1 Aug – 30 Sep

  Drum roasters appear outside every supermarket and roadside stand from August, and the whole city smells of it for two months. Buy a sack roasted, freeze it, and the year is sorted.

Still on: North American monsoon (25 Jun – 20 Sep (usually))

Peak crowds — New Mexico State Fair, Summer break in United States

• Festival

  New Mexico State Fair

  10–20 SepMajor festivalCrowded

  Eleven days at Expo New Mexico in the middle of September, with rodeo most nights and a midway that is half the point. Traffic on Central and San Pedro is the only real cost to the rest of the city. Source ↗

Still on: North American monsoon (25 Jun – 20 Sep (usually)), Green chile harvest (1 Aug – 30 Sep)

Busy — Balloon Fiesta

• Festival

  Balloon Fiesta

  3–11 OctMajor festivalCrowdedBook early

  Nine days from the first Saturday of October, with hundreds of balloons going up in waves at dawn on the two weekends and the Wednesday. Hotels sell out the previous winter and the field opens before five in the morning. Source ↗

Busy — Thanksgiving break in United States

Nothing new starts in November.

Peak crowds — Christmas luminarias, Winter / Christmas break in United States

• Holiday

  Christmas luminarias

  20–26 DecChristmas & New YearCrowded

  Old Town and the Country Club streets line their walls and rooftops with paper-bag candles on Christmas Eve, and the city runs bus tours through it because the traffic is otherwise unmovable. Source ↗