Lightning, gusty winds … hail? Las Vegas bracing for Pacific storm

Goodbye April heat. Hello May showers.

A storm coming off the Pacific Ocean is expected to arrive in the Las Vegas Valley this weekend, bringing a chance of rain and below-normal temperatures into the region.

At 12:12 p.n. the National Weather Service said on X to “expect lightning, gusty winds, locally heavy rainfall, and even small hail.”

Around 2 p.m., about 160 outages were reported in the Spring Valley area, according to the NV Energy website.

Radar Update | Clark County | 12:12pm PDT
📡⛈️
Looking at showers & thunderstorms pushing northward through Clark County including the Las Vegas Valley this afternoon.

Expect lightning, gusty winds, locally heavy rainfall, and even small hail.#VegasWx #NvWx pic.twitter.com/hxn1Od7GeH

— NWS Las Vegas (@NWSVegas) May 3, 2025

May is normally one of the driest months of the year in the valley. Here’s the breakdown:

Today

“Gusty winds will pick up across the region. … Isolated-to-scattered convection will begin to increase in the afternoon,” the NWS said.

Sunday and Monday

“Temperatures will be well below normal with more widespread chances for showers and thunderstorms,” the NWS said.

Here are the forecast high/low temperatures for the next few days. The average high for early May is in tbe low 80s.

— Saturday: 85/67

— Sunday: 72/63

— Monday: 66/60

— Tuesday: 73/62

Parts of the valley have not seen significant rain since mid-March. In the nearby Spring Mountains, Lee Canyon received more than 60 inches of snow in March and early April.

Record April heat

A day after setting a record high of 93 degrees, Las Vegas officially hit 96 degrees April 11 at the Las Vegas airport. It broke the previous record of 93 degrees for April 11 set in 2023.

Weather roller coaster

For the past two months or so, the valley has been on a up-and-down weather pattern. April began with showers, small hail and below-seasonal temperatures.

The week before, on March 26, Las Vegas recorded its first 90 degree day of 2025. Death Valley in California hit 100 for first time this year, and Phoenix saw 99.

In February, Las Vegas saw its first 80-degree temperature on Feb. 3 in what turned out to be the third-warmest February on record since 1937.