Looking for rain? Las Vegas may get wet this week

by · Las Vegas Review-Journal

Tired of reading about Arizona and New Mexico getting rain while Las Vegas stays dry?

The valley’s weather fortunes are about to change.

There’s a 50 percent chance of rain Monday for Southern Nevada, said Sam Meltzer, a meteorologist with the the National Weather Service office in Las Vegas. The showers likely will arrive in the afternoon and stay through the evening and into Tuesday.

He said the eastern parts of the valley, including Henderson, have the best chances of receiving rain. The valley could get between 0.1 and 0.4 inches of rain by Tuesday night.

Expect highs in the low 80s, about 10 degrees below normal, thanks to extensive cloud cover.

On Sunday, a few isolated storms soaked parts of the eastern and southern valleys. Harry Reid International Airport registered a trace of rain by 5 p.m.

A low-pressure system from the Pacific Ocean is moving into the region and is pulling up moisture from the remnants of Hurricane Odalys, creating the chances for showers, Meltzer said.

Another Pacific hurricane, Polo, is expected to make landfall in Mexico on Monday and will send rain into Arizona and New Mexico.

Weak monsoon season

The monsoon season, which began in late June and lasts through September, has been almost nonexistent for the valley during a very dry year.

The airport registered traces of rain on Sept. 6 and Sunday, but it has seen no measurable rain this month. The average September precipitation for Las Vegas is 0.32 inches. In September 2025, the valley recorded 0.28 inches.

In August, the airport recorded 0.18 inches of rain, its wettest month since February (0.35). But the August average is 0.32. Reid has registered 0.69 inches of precipitation so far in 2026.

Reid saw no measurable rain in July. On June 23, the airport recorded 0.02 inches of rain, breaking a rainless streak of 124 days. It was the only rainfall of the month. Las Vegas receives about four inches of rain in an average calendar year.