The month of August started out super hot, and it ended super hot in the Las Vegas Valley.
Not surprisingly then, with little monsoon rain, the month ended up as the warmest August on record, with an average temperature of 96.3 degrees, beating out 2020 (95.6), the National Weather Service said in a post on X.
On Aug. 1, Las Vegas saw 115, its hottest day of the year. And the month was dominated by several heat warnings, the last one expiring in the month’s final days.
The only records that were broken happened during the month’s final week. On Aug. 26, Harry Reid International Airport hit 110, breaking the daily record of 109 set in 2001. On Aug. 27, the airport reached 111 degrees, breaking the daily record of 110 set in 2017.
The airport, located just east of the Strip, is the official climate site for the valley.
Rain on Labor Day weekend?
But the month of September may start on the wet side for Southern Nevada.
Cody Moore, a meteorologist at the weather service office in Las Vegas, said there’s “a possibility” that some tropical moisture from Tropical Storm Marie may affect the valley during Labor Day weekend.
The storm formed in the Pacific Ocean early Tuesday far from the coast of southwest Mexico, the National Hurricane Center said. Forecasters said it likely will become a hurricane by Wednesday night.
But Moore said it’s too early to say if the storm will pump any showers into the Southwest, including Las Vegas.
On Tuesday, the weather service’s Climate Prediction Center said in a post on X that “an unsettled pattern and widespread above-normal precipitation are favored for the West through mid-September. Potential for tropical moisture may produce heavy rainfall for some areas, especially the Southwest.”
The monsoon season, which began in late June and lasts through September, has been almost nonexistent for the valley during a very dry year.
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. The average through late August is 2.64.
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.
Contact Mark Davis at mdavis@reviewjournal.com.
An unsettled pattern and widespread above-normal precipitation are favored for the West through mid-September. Potential for tropical moisture may produce heavy rainfall for some areas, especially the Southwest. pic.twitter.com/omTNhFqWHt
— NWS Climate Prediction Center (@NWSCPC) September 1, 2026
