LAS VEGAS · MARCH · THE MONTH GUIDE
March is when Las Vegas gets its afternoons back. The normal high at the airport thermometer reaches 71.1°F, up from 62.9°F in February, and the normal low sits at 50.5°F. Rain stays close to a rounding error: 0.42 inches for the whole month, landing on 1.3 days that record a tenth of an inch or more. For a trip built on walking a boulevard and driving out to sandstone, those are working numbers.
What March does not settle is the room. Our sourced material covers weather and daylight, and it carries no monthly hotel-rate series for Las Vegas, no lodging-tax figure and no confirmed March event dates, so none of those are invented here. The numbers we do have settle the shape of the day, the clothes in the bag, and whether a rental car is worth its cost on a three-night trip.
LAS VEGAS IN MARCH · AT A GLANCE
March gives Las Vegas 71.1°F afternoons and 0.42 inches of rain, which makes it the month to rent a car and spend the middle of the day outside the city.
NOAA 1991-2020 NORMALS · MEASURED AT MCCARRAN AIRPORT · 71.1°F DAYS · 50.5°F NIGHTS
Go for: midday desert walking at Red Rock Canyon and Valley of Fire, 12 hours and 1 minute of daylight on March 15, and a 6:49 p.m. sunset that leaves the evening for the Strip.
Think twice before: booking a pool-first trip. The normal low is 50.5°F, the afternoon tops out near 71.1°F, and an unheated outdoor pool in March is a place to sit beside.
Normals: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020, station USW00023169 · Daylight: sunrise-sunset.org · full sources at the end
On this page
- Las Vegas weather in March71.1°F days, 50.5°F nights, 1.3 wet days
- How cold it gets at nightThe 20.6-degree gap and the freeze count
- Crowds, booking and the lodging taxSchool-break weeks and what our data does not cover
- Things to do in Las Vegas in MarchRed Rock Canyon, Valley of Fire, Mount Charleston
- A two-day plan for MarchHour by hour, and the wet-day swap
- March vs February and AprilHow the three months compare, in one table
- Is March a good time to visit?Who should come now and who should wait for April
The month either side of yours sits in the navigation at the foot of the page, and the twelve-month argument lives on the best time to visit Las Vegas page. If the destination itself is still open, our month-by-month planner compares cities for the same dates. The normals below come from a single airport station, and the caveat that travels with them matters more than it sounds.
Las Vegas weather in March: average highs, lows and rain days
| March at Las Vegas McCarran Airport | Normal |
|---|---|
| Average high | 71.1°F (21.7°C) |
| Average low | 50.5°F (10.3°C) |
| Precipitation | 0.42 in |
| Days with 0.10 in or more | 1.3 |
| Days with 1 in or more | 0.0 |
| Nights at 32°F or below | 0.1 |
| Daylight on March 15 | 12 h 01 min |
Every figure here comes from the NOAA NCEI monthly normals for 1991-2020, station USW00023169, the thermometer at Las Vegas McCarran Airport on the valley floor. That is a real station reading rather than a grid-cell reanalysis, and its address matters: the open desert west of town and the Spring Mountains above it both run colder after dark than the airport does. Read 50.5°F as a valley-floor number and add a layer for anywhere higher.
Rain totals 0.42 inches across the month, and the normals count 1.3 days at a tenth of an inch or more. That works out to measurable rain on roughly one March day in twenty-four. Days at an inch or more: 0.0. A four-night trip therefore stands a good chance of no wet day at all, and the wet day it does draw is more likely to be a gray morning and a damp hour than a washout that rewrites the itinerary.
Between 71.1°F and 50.5°F there are 20.6 degrees, and the desert covers that ground every single day of the month. Pack for two climates in one bag: a fleece or light jacket for anything before 9 a.m. and after sunset, short sleeves for the middle of the day. Sunglasses and lip balm do more work than an umbrella. If Mount Charleston is on the list, the jacket needs to become a coat.
On March 15 the sun rises at 6:48 a.m. and sets at 6:49 p.m. local time, giving 12 hours and 1 minute of daylight. The gain over midwinter is all in the evening: you can drive back from the desert at six with light still on the road. Dark then arrives quickly and cool, with the thermometer heading toward the 50s, so any dinner plan that involves standing outside wants a jacket left in the car.
How warm is Las Vegas in March, day and night?
Take the two normals as bookends: 71.1°F by mid-afternoon, 50.5°F in the hour before dawn, 20.6 degrees between them. February’s pair is 62.9°F and 44.1°F, so March adds 8.2 degrees to the afternoon and 6.4 to the night. The climb is steady rather than sudden, and the last week of the month reads warmer than the first.
In practice you will want sleeves at breakfast and none by two o’clock. An outdoor pool in March is a sunbathing proposition unless the hotel heats it, and heating varies property by property, so ask the front desk before you book the room for its deck. The same 71.1°F that feels generous on a trail feels thin in a wet swimsuit once the wind crosses the valley.
Freezing nights barely register: the normals give 0.1 nights per March at 32°F or below, roughly one March in ten with a single freezing night at the airport. Nobody packs for that. The station note is the part to keep, since the higher ground west and north of the city runs several degrees colder at dawn than the valley floor, and an early trailhead deserves its own forecast check.
How busy is Las Vegas in March? Crowds, prices and when to book
Start with what is missing. No occupancy series, no monthly hotel-rate data and no verified March event dates came through in our sourced material, so we puts March nowhere on a price ladder and names no festival. The calendar is the one signal we can offer, flagged as editorial: March carries spring school-break weeks across much of the country, and Las Vegas sits a short domestic flight from nearly all of it.
Treat that as a reason to fix your dates early. For a Friday-to-Sunday trip in the middle weeks, six to eight weeks of lead time (est.) is a sensible target, and a refundable rate costs little to hold. Midweek nights give the same 71.1°F afternoons as weekend nights, so an itinerary that can start on a Tuesday keeps more options open at both the hotel and the rental counter.
On the lodging tax, we publish no rate because our sources carry none for Las Vegas. That line is itemized on your own booking confirmation, alongside any nightly resort fee, and both belong in the comparison before you decide between two hotels. A room that looks twelve dollars cheaper per night can lose that advantage once the bottom of the receipt is read.
The one line where spending more genuinely changes the month is the car. A 71.1°F afternoon puts Red Rock Canyon, Valley of Fire and the Spring Mountains back within a day’s reach, and none of them is walkable from a hotel. Collect it at the airport on arrival rather than mid-trip, and the whole three days stop revolving around one boulevard.
Things to do in Las Vegas in March: Red Rock Canyon, Valley of Fire and the Spring Mountains
A 71.1°F afternoon is the whole case for March outdoors. July midday in this valley is something to plan around, and February afternoons at 62.9°F turn cool in the wind once the sun drops behind a ridge. March hands you a window where a desert walk at noon and an evening on the Strip fit into the same twelve-hour day, with one jacket covering both ends.
The names worth putting in the plan: Red Rock Canyon and its scenic loop west of town, Valley of Fire State Park northeast, Hoover Dam southeast, Mount Charleston up in the Spring Mountains, and the Strip and Fremont Street in the city itself. We carry no entry fee, timed-entry rule or opening hour for any of them, and those move with the season, so confirm each on the managing agency’s own site the week before you drive out.
The rock does not change temperature with your calendar. The air above it does, and between February and April the normal high climbs 15.6 degrees, with March sitting mid-climb at 71.1°F. That is the difference between a hike planned around the sun and a hike planned around lunch. Up in the Spring Mountains the same day reads colder than the airport number, which is where a plan can still need a coat and a conditions check.
Free in March, as far as our sources reach, means daylight: 12 hours and 1 minute of it on March 15, with sunset at 6:49 p.m., enough to walk a long stretch of the Strip after dinner in 50s air. We hold no verified admission price, free day or free hour for any Las Vegas attraction, so we list none. Where a venue advertises one, its own page is where to confirm it.
Las Vegas in March: a two-day itinerary
Day one runs on the light. Leave the hotel by 7:30 a.m., while the valley is still near its 50.5°F low, and be at Red Rock Canyon for the first walk of the morning. Stay out between 9 and noon as the air climbs toward 71.1°F, then drive back for a late lunch and an hour indoors. From 5 p.m. take the Strip on foot with the light still holding, and put the jacket on around 6:49 p.m. when the sun goes.
Day two gives the morning to Fremont Street and one museum, then the afternoon to Hoover Dam or Valley of Fire if the car is booked. Should your trip catch one of the month’s 1.3 wet days, swap the drive for the indoor version and keep the desert for the following morning: the normal count of days with an inch or more is 0.0, so a March shower rarely holds a plan hostage past lunchtime.
Las Vegas in March vs February and April
| Normal (1991-2020) | February | March | April |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average high | 62.9°F | 71.1°F | 78.5°F |
| Average low | 44.1°F | 50.5°F | 56.9°F |
| Precipitation | 0.80 in | 0.42 in | 0.20 in |
| Days with 0.10 in or more | 2.1 | 1.3 | 0.5 |
| Water temperature | Not in our sources | Not in our sources | Not in our sources |
The three months read as one steady climb: 62.9°F, 71.1°F and 78.5°F in the afternoon, 44.1°F, 50.5°F and 56.9°F overnight. Rain moves the other way, from 0.80 inches to 0.42 to 0.20, with wet days falling from 2.1 to 1.3 to 0.5. There is no water column because our sources hold no reading for the lakes near the city. Where such a figure appears elsewhere it is usually an average of daily maxima, a little warmer than a 24-hour mean.
Push your dates four weeks later and you gain 7.4 degrees of afternoon and half the rain again, at 0.20 inches over 0.5 wet days. You pay for it at the top end, since a 78.5°F normal is where desert walking starts asking for an early start. Pull them four weeks earlier and February gives cooler hiking at 62.9°F, twice the rain, and 44.1°F nights that make outdoor dinners a coat decision.
Is March a good time to visit Las Vegas?
Yes for anyone who wants the city and the desert in the same three nights. The 71.1°F normal high is the best midday temperature of the first half of the year for being on a trail, and 1.3 wet days means the outdoor half of the plan almost always survives. It is a weaker month for a pool-first trip, and we cannot promise a quiet week, since no occupancy data supports that claim either way.
If the water is the point of the trip, April is the better booking: 78.5°F afternoons, 56.9°F nights and 0.20 inches of rain across 0.5 wet days. If long hikes in cool air matter more than anything else, February at 62.9°F does that job, with 0.80 inches of rain as the price of admission.
What March alone offers across this trio is an afternoon at 71.1°F paired with nights still at 50.5°F, warm enough to walk after dark and cool enough to sleep with the window open.
The last word
Book the car before you book the show. Across February to April the normal high gains 15.6 degrees, close to half a degree for every day of March, so the first week of the month is a slightly different trip from the last: early in the month, put the long walks at midday, late in the month start them at nine. Then pick your nights, take the airport pickup on arrival, and read the tax line on the confirmation before you compare two rooms.
Sources & data for this guide
- March normals: high 71.1°F, low 50.5°F, 0.42 in · NOAA NCEI monthly normals 1991-2020, station USW00023169 (Las Vegas McCarran Airport) · checked Sep 15, 2026
- Wet days: 1.3 days at 0.10 in or more, 0.0 days at 1 in or more · NOAA NCEI 1991-2020, same station · checked Sep 15, 2026
- Freezing nights: 0.1 per March at 32°F or below · NOAA NCEI 1991-2020, same station · checked Sep 15, 2026
- February (62.9°F / 44.1°F / 0.80 in / 2.1 wet days) and April (78.5°F / 56.9°F / 0.20 in / 0.5 wet days) · NOAA NCEI 1991-2020, same station · checked Sep 15, 2026
- Daylight 12 h 01 min on March 15, sunrise 6:48 a.m. and sunset 6:49 p.m. local · sunrise-sunset.org · checked Sep 15, 2026
- Station caveat: the thermometer sits at the airport on the valley floor, and the surrounding desert and the Spring Mountains run colder at night · NOAA NCEI station note · checked Sep 15, 2026
- Editorial admission: our sourced material carries no hotel-rate series, no lodging-tax rate, no attraction fees or hours and no March event dates for Las Vegas, so none appear above · fees, hours and taxes change · confirm with each operator and on your booking confirmation.