Will showers return to Las Vegas Valley today? There’s a chance
Monsoon storms made a brief appearance in the Las Vegas Valley on Tuesday.
It may be even briefer today, if at all.
There’s a 15 percent chance of rain this afternoon, said Matt Woods of the National Weather Service. On Tuesday, Harry Reid International Airport recorded a trace. The last time the airport saw measurable rain was July 3, at the beginning of monsoon season, when it recorded .02 inches.
Very dry monsoon season
So far, this is the fourth-driest monsoon season on record, said Chris Outler of the National Weather Service. The Las Vegas monsoon season runs from July 1 to Sept. 30.
The driest years are 2020 and 1944 (tied with a trace) and 2010 (0.01).
So far in 2025, the airport has seen 2.05 inches (average is 2.27). A normal rainfall year in Las Vegas is 4.18 inches. The average August rainfall at Reid is 0.34 inches.
Dry in Phoenix too
In Phoenix, conditions have been drier than usual this year, the Associated Press reported.
The city usually gets 7 inches of annual precipitation, with a third to half of that falling during the monsoon season. But so far it has recorded only about 2 inches of precipitation, or more than 2.5 inches below normal, according to the National Weather Service.
That includes the almost one-third of an inch of rain that came with Monday’s haboob, according to Tom Frieders, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Phoenix.
Parts of southeast and north-central Arizona, meanwhile, have had a fair amount of rain, according to meteorologist Mark O’Malley with the weather service in Phoenix.
2025 rain events
July 18: A few monsoon storms soaked parts of the valley.
July 2: Some showers fell across the area but a strong dust storm caused widespread power outages in the east valley.
June 5: In a rare event for June, showers caused a few disruptions across the valley.
May 6: An “exceptionally rare” May storm shattered rain records.
March 17: Strong winds and a few showers swept through the valley on St. Patrick’s Day.
March 5: A Pacific storm brought light rain to parts of the valley. The nearby mountains saw snow.
Contact Mark Davis at mdavis@reviewjournal.com.
