Death Valley weather by month. When it’s mild, when it’s mean.

Here is Death Valley weather by month at Furnace Creek, the weather station about 190 feet below sea level near the visitor center. Highs, lows and rain are NOAA’s 1991–2020 averages. Record highs come from Death Valley’s own records.

On average, Furnace Creek hits 100°F or more on 147 days a year.

Death Valley weather in September

Average high 108°F, low 79°F. On the valley floor, September is still summer with a different name.

Death Valley weather in October

Average high 93°F, low 64°F. That is 15 degrees off September’s high, and the first month most people can stand in the sun on purpose.

Death Valley weather in November

Average high 77°F, low 51°F, and about a tenth of an inch of rain. November is when the valley floor turns friendly. Pahrump, up the road, runs about ten degrees cooler by day: 67°F, with 34°F nights.

December, January and February

Highs of 66 to 74°F, lows of 41 to 49°F. Winter days are mild on the low valley floor, and nights only occasionally reach freezing. The mountains are colder: temperatures drop 3 to 5°F for every thousand feet you climb.

March and April

Average highs of 83°F in March and 91°F in April. Spring is the windy season, and dust storms can blow up suddenly ahead of a cold front.

May

Average high 101°F, low 75°F. The heat is back. The low campgrounds, Sunset, Texas Springs and Stovepipe Wells, usually close in mid-April, and Death Valley’s summer camping season runs mid-April to mid-October.

June, July and August average 111°F, 117°F and 116°F at Furnace Creek. July’s average low is 91°F. That is the low.

Summer highs often top 120°F in the shade, and some nights never drop below 100°F, so the coolest part of a summer day is usually just before sunrise. The valley is a long, narrow basin, 282 feet below sea level at Badwater, walled in by steep mountains. Hot air gets trapped, sinks back to the floor and heats up again on the way down.

In 2024, Death Valley set a summer record: an average high of 117.3°F, 37 days over 120°F and nine days in a row that never dropped below 100°F.

Driving through Death Valley in the summer

• The main sights stay open all summer. Death Valley’s advice is to stay on paved roads and close to your vehicle.
• If your car breaks down, stay with it. Tow trucks can be hours away, so carry what you need to change a tire.
• Carry extra drinking water in the car, and drink at least a gallon a day.
• For summer camping, Death Valley recommends its developed campgrounds only. As of September 28, 2026, Furnace Creek, Mesquite Spring and Wildrose (no water) are open, and Emigrant is closed indefinitely for water system repairs.

The highest air temperature ever recorded on Earth, 134°F, was measured at Furnace Creek on July 10, 1913. During that heat wave, five days in a row reached 129°F or more. The same year brought Furnace Creek’s coldest reading: 15°F on January 8, 1913.

• Longest run of 100°F days: 154 in a row, in the summer of 2001.
• Longest run of 120°F days: 43 in a row, in 1917.
• Hottest summer by the count: 1996, with 40 days over 120°F and 105 over 110°F.
• Driest years: no rain at all in 1929 or 1953.

Stovepipe Wells temperature

Stovepipe Wells sits about 84 feet above sea level, 25 miles up the road from Furnace Creek. NOAA’s averages there run a degree or two cooler: 115°F highs and 90°F lows in July, 65°F and 42°F in January. Nobody can feel the difference in July.

Drive times are from a routing service, rounded.

Pahrump’s weather station sits at about 2,570 feet, nearly 2,800 feet above Furnace Creek. That buys you about 16 degrees in July. These are NOAA’s 1991–2020 averages.

Pahrump weather year round

• Summer: still triple digits. July averages 101°F, and Pahrump sees about 59 days a year at 100°F or more, against Furnace Creek’s 147.
• Winter: nights average 27 to 32°F from December through February. Snow is rare: less than half an inch a year in the long-term record.
• Rain: about 5 inches a year, more than twice Furnace Creek’s.

From Pahrump, Furnace Creek is about 59 miles, an hour and 20 minutes. Drive times are from a routing service, rounded. Farther north, see Beatty weather and Tonopah weather.

Death Valley calls its winter and spring “very pleasant,” and it would know. It does not suggest low-elevation hiking from May through October.

When we ride

Death Valley Roundup rides Saturdays from September until it gets too hot, usually in May. June through August, the bikes stay in the shade. In Pahrump, where we start, that means average highs of 93°F in September, 67°F in November and 69 to 85°F from March to May. See the Saturday schedule and our page on the dirt riding season and visitor rules.

Soaking season

Hot water feels better when the air is not. Tecopa Hot Springs Resort is open October through May. See every hot spring near Death Valley, or go straight to Tecopa hot springs.

Backcountry roads

In summer, Death Valley says to stay on paved roads, and it warns drivers to use extreme caution on the road to the Racetrack Playa in the heat. Saline Valley is about 40 miles of dirt from the nearest pavement.

Furnace Creek averages about 2.2 inches of rain a year, less than half of Pahrump’s. Thunderstorms, especially in late summer, can cause flash floods. On August 20, 2023, 2.2 inches fell, about a year’s worth, and caused massive flooding and damage across Death Valley.

Flood repairs are still under way. As of September 28, 2026, Scotty’s Castle and Bonnie Clare Road are closed for flood recovery work, and the washed-out road to Darwin Falls is likely to stay closed until summer 2027.