Phoenix hasn't had rain in 151 days, could break record next week

Phoenix’s winter months have blessed residents with sunny clear skies and beautiful afternoon temperatures in the mid-70s. That’s why it may be easy to overlook the last time rain fell onto the city’s sidewalks.

It’s been months since it rained in Phoenix. In fact, the city hasn’t seen measurable precipitation at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport since Aug. 22 — a span of 151 days. That’s more than a third of a year.

Rain has been scarce in Phoenix for a while. The city usually averages 7.36 inches of rain per year but saw only 3.9 inches in 2024. During seven months of last year, it didn’t even rain a single hundredth of an inch, according to data from the National Weather Service.

Winter is when the rain tends to come, but not this year. According to NWS meteorologist Isaac Smith, though, a dry patch like this is “not unheard of” and isn’t necessarily out of the ordinary. Other dry streaks have occurred during similar months.

That means the Valley’s rainless streak may stretch on, potentially into record-breaking territory. Here are the five longest rain-free streaks in Phoenix history.

Tie-4. 143 days

Phoenix first went without rain for this long from March 2 to July 22, 1960. The second such streak mirrored the current one's fall-to-spring arc, beginning Oct. 19, 2005, and lasting until March 10, 2006.

3. 147 days

Phoenix’s second-longest dry spell was recent, lasting from March 23 to Aug. 16, 2023, or more than 40% of the year. It also overlapped with a brutal stretch of 110-degree-or-hotter days.

2. 151 days (current)

The current dry spell will tie the record for the longest ever in nine days.

1. 160 days

At the tail end of the first Richard Nixon administration, the Valley went 42% of a year — from Dec. 30, 1971, to June 6 — without rain.