Weather in Reno in August

A good month. August is a solid month to be in Reno. Highs average 32.5 °C, lows 15.6 °C, and rain falls on 2 days — nothing in the month is working against you.

August ranks 5 of 12 in Reno: past the worst of the year but short of June, which is the month to book if the dates are open.

Rain falls on only 2 days, so an itinerary with no wet-weather fallback is a reasonable risk. Pack for 32.5 °C days and 15.6 °C nights; the spread matters more here than any single number.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: 6 days clear 35 °C, so a serious heatwave is normal rather than notable; the day swings 16.9 °C from low to high, which means one bag has to cover both. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest August day reached 38.5 °C and the coldest night fell to 6.2 °C.

August is dependably dry, and that reliability is the point: across the twenty years measured, the wettest August on record still only managed 26 mm, and the driest managed 0 mm. There is no meaningful variability to plan around, which makes this one of the few months anywhere that you can build a fixed outdoor itinerary against without a fallback. The wettest single day in twenty years of Augusts brought 10 mm. Rain simply is not the variable that decides this trip — heat, crowds and cost are.

Wind is light at 4.9 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and the air is dry at 29% humidity, which makes the heat far more bearable than the same figure somewhere humid — and dehydrates you faster than you expect.

How August sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 33.4 °C in July, 32.5 here, 27.8 in September. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much.

Daylight in August

13.8 hours of daylight, losing 1.1 hours across the month. That is between Reno's extremes of 14.9 and 9.4 hours, so days are long enough not to constrain the plan.

An inland climate

With no coast nearby, the year swings a fair way — 35.8 °C between the warmest afternoons and the coldest nights, wider than any coastal city at this latitude would manage. At 1373 m the air is thin enough to matter — sun that burns faster than the temperature suggests, and nights that cool off quickly. Within August itself the daily swing is 16.9 °C, so mornings and afternoons need different clothes.

How busy it gets

Busy. Popular without being frantic; book the things you care about, improvise the rest.

Crowd levels are estimated from climate desirability and school-holiday calendars, not from visitor numbers.

August in Reno versus nearby

If Reno is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Sacramento is the weaker option in August — 4.2 °C warmer, 2 days less rain. Napa is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 2 days less rain.

So: August is a compromise. June is 23 points better and is what Reno is actually like at its best — worth moving the trip for if that is possible, and worth adjusting expectations for if it is not.

Every month in Reno

See all twelve months in Reno, or where else to go in August.