There is no bad stretch of weather to avoid. Even on very hot days, Vegas benefits from being in the top 5 major cities in the U.S. for lowest relative humidity.

March-April and October-November are the best weather months to visit Vegas. If you are trying to avoid crowds as well, fall is better as average daily visitor counts are usually about 1,000 or so lower. Please see our Convention section for the average daily visitor counts.

Visitors from New York City and Chicago may be accustomed to monthly peak humidity in the 79-86% range. Tourists from New Orleans and Houston see humidity peaking around 84-91% for their most sticky months. Relative humidity in Vegas peaks at 57% in January during the mornings and it is often under 5% in the summer afternoons.

A tourist to Las Vegas who suffered through 50% humidity at 100 degrees back home probably felt as if it were 118.3 degrees. If the humidity is 10% in Vegas, that same 100 degrees will actually feel like 94.8 degrees or about 23.5 degrees cooler.

The heat index chart below shows relative humidity of 0-100% and Fahrenheit temperatures from 80 to 115 degrees across the top. Notice that humidity makes a ridiculous impact at extremes.

Even if you don’t sunburn very easily, VegasMadeEasy.com recommends SPF 15 or higher sunscreen and lip balm, sunglasses and non-open weave clothes if you are outdoors a lot. Sunscreen requires repeated applications and some have not tested well so consider high SPF clothing if you burn easily. A typical t-shirt has an SPF of roughly 7 while high UV protection clothing goes into the 40-50+ range.

Here is a link to an American company that supplies UV protective clothing. Note that Australia tests for ultraviolet protection on new clothes while U.S. testing is after the equivalent of 40 washings. VegasMadeEasy.com recommends both Australian and American high UV protection clothing but with the edge to the U.S.

Some visitors to Vegas from the east coast are used to UV Index peaks in the 6-8 range but a few times, Vegas UV peaks have been over 12. Recently July has been averaging 10.96 at peak readings. Each point on the UV scale is 25 milliwatts per square meter.

Las Vegas has a Mexican Monsoon season from Mid-July to Mid-September. However, rainfall for the year is only 4 1/2 inches and our monsoon season only averages about 1.2 inches. Unless you really need to protect your hair-do, don’t pack anything for rain—gamble on sunny, dry weather.

Las Vegas has above average daylight from April to September with May to July over 14 hours. December and January are the months with the least (10 hours or less). Peak daylight hours occur in June at 14 hours and 37 minutes. December’s low is 9 hours and 42 minutes.

U.S. Daylight Savings (not including Hawaii and Arizona except for the Navajo reservation) starts the second Sunday of March and clocks turn back an hour the first Sunday of November. If visiting from overseas, our daylight savings changeovers may differ from yours.

Civil dawn and civil dusk (both are civil twilight) is that time when the sun is 6 or fewer degrees (depression angle below horizon) away from rising or after setting. There is enough non-direct light for you to see okay but not great if outdoors. You should expect roughly 25-29 minutes in Las Vegas for each civil twilight.

If you are visiting from some overseas areas such as Hong Kong or Japan, this may be a bit more civil twilight by a minute or so. However, if you are visiting from London or Moscow, you may be used to a civil twilight about 9 to 13 minutes longer than in Las Vegas.

Nightclubs and some fine dining require dressier clothes (such as Pure at Caesars and Le Cirque at Bellagio) but mostly expect casual dress. Shorts, polo shirts, t-shirts and sneakers suffice. Men should bring dark dress shoes, slacks and a collared shirt; and Women may bring heels or flats and a favorite dress or dressy jeans for nightclubbing or the stricter restaurants.

You only need a coat about 4 months of the year and may not even need a light jacket or sweater during June through August. You might want to pack one if air conditioning in a movie or casino is chilly for you. Pack a bathing suit or swim trunks from Mid-March to early October. The swimming season is the same as the Sunscreen season below.