Things to Do in Palm Springs in July

July is the hottest month of the year in Greater Palm Springs, and it holds the all-time record. It is also the month the monsoon starts, which means the driest place in the state can get a flash flood.

This page is about what July here actually is: what the numbers mean, what is closed, and what is still worth doing.

124 degrees

On 5 July 2024 Palm Springs hit 124 degrees. That is the highest temperature recorded here since records began in 1893.

It broke a record of 123 that had been reached four separate times: 1 August 1993, 28 and 29 July 1995, and 17 June 2021. The old record for that specific calendar date was 120, set in 1931.

The part of that day people forget is the overnight low. It was 88 degrees, which was also a record. The heat did not break at night, which is what makes a stretch like that dangerous rather than just uncomfortable.

Normal is 108.6

The record is the headline. The normal is the thing that matters.

July’s average high is 108.6 degrees. That is the typical day, not the bad one. The valley averages about 115 days a year at or above 100, and roughly 80 of those fall across June, July and August.

Nights average around 79, which is why the swimming pool is warm at midnight and why the air conditioning never stops.

The monsoon arrives

The National Weather Service runs its monsoon season from 15 June to 30 September, and July is when the desert starts getting thunderstorms off it.

The normal July rainfall is a quarter of an inch, which sounds trivial. It does not arrive as a quarter inch. It arrives as one storm. The record for the month is 2.80 inches, set in 1948.

What that looks like on the ground: on 20 July 1979 a thunderstorm over Palm Desert and Rancho Mirage sent a debris flow through town that killed one person and did $7 million in damage. In July 1997 Desert Hot Springs took two inches of rain in a day.

Ground this dry does not absorb water. It moves it, and it moves it through the washes.

What is closed in July

More than people expect.

• Indian Canyons and Tahquitz Canyon drop to Friday, Saturday and Sunday only from 6 July, and stay that way until the start of October.
• The 49 Palms Oasis Trail in Joshua Tree National Park is closed 1 June to 30 September, explicitly to prevent heat deaths — no shade, hard terrain. Five backcountry zones close too.
• The Skyline Trail, the Cactus to Clouds route out of Palm Springs, has been closed in July for extreme heat after a run of rescues for heat exhaustion. It is about 21 miles round trip with over 10,000 feet of climbing, and people attempt it in summer anyway.
• Sunnylands is closed for the summer.
• The Living Desert is on 7 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. summer hours.
• Restaurants close for weeks at a time. Call first.

What is open, and when

The tram does not close for heat. This is the most common wrong assumption about summer here. It runs all through July on extended hours, with the last car down as late as 10:30 on Friday and Saturday nights. Its only long closure is scheduled maintenance, and that lands in late summer or early autumn.

The Mountain Station is at 8,516 feet and runs 30 to 40 degrees cooler than the valley. On a 110-degree afternoon that is the mid seventies.

VillageFest runs Thursday nights, 7 to 10 p.m. in summer instead of its 6 p.m. winter start — an hour later so the pavement has had time to cool.

Riverside County’s 69 cool centers are open, free, from 1 June through 15 October.

More: the Aerial Tramway · hiking at the top of the tram · VillageFest

The Fourth

The valley cities put on fireworks, and the details tend not to be published until late June. The heat means most displays start well after dark and the crowds show up at the last possible minute.

More: Fourth of July fireworks in the valley

If you are here in July anyway

• Do everything outdoors before 9 a.m. The Park Service guidance is before nine and after five, with four litres of water a person.
• Go up the tram and stay up there for the afternoon.
• Swim at night. The pool does not cool down and neither does the air.
• Take the hotel rate. July is among the cheapest months of the year and the rooms are empty.
• Do not park in a wash, and do not drive through moving water on Indian Canyon, Gene Autry or Vista Chino.

More guides

• Things to do in Palm Springs this weekend
• August in Palm Springs
• June in Palm Springs
• How to get through a heatwave here
• Idyllwild as a day trip
• The Palm Springs weather guide

Weather figures are NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals for Palm Springs International Airport. Records and the monsoon season are from the National Weather Service. Hours and closures change; check the operator before you go.