Weekends are when many of us finally get a little free time. Rain or snow can make staying in more appealing — whether that means reading, watching a film, solving puzzles or playing FreeCell. At FreeCell Now (freecellnow.com), that connection between weather and downtime sparked a simple question: which major U.S. cities experience wet weekends most often? We examined NOAA precipitation records from 2021 to 2025 to find out.
What the data reveal
Jacksonville, Florida, and New York City share the highest observed rate in this 50-city comparison. Both selected weather stations recorded at least 1 mm (0.04 inches) of precipitation on Saturday or Sunday in 127 of 261 complete weekends between 2021 and 2025 — 48.66% of weekends.
Miami is close behind at 47.89%, followed by Portland, Oregon, at 46.74% and Boston at 45.98%. At the opposite end, the selected Las Vegas station recorded qualifying precipitation in only 14 of 260 complete weekends (5.38%).
Important distinction: “wet” means a selected NOAA station reported at least 1 mm of precipitation on one or both weekend days. This includes rain and the liquid-water equivalent of snow. It does not mean a city was wet everywhere, or that people stayed home.
Qualifying weekends in Jacksonville and New York — a shared first-place result.
Portland's share of complete weekends with precipitation on both days, highest in this dataset.
Las Vegas's observed rate, the lowest of the 50 selected stations.
Which cities have the wettest weekends?
The most direct comparison is the share of weekends when either Saturday or Sunday recorded at least 1 mm of precipitation. The chart below shows the top 10 under that definition. This is a frequency ranking, not a measure of total rainfall or snowfall.
Top 10 cities by wet-weekend frequency
Explore how the ranking changes with the daily precipitation threshold.
Each percentage uses complete weekends for that city's selected station. Thresholds apply to at least one day of the weekend. The 1 mm threshold defines the main ranking.
The Jacksonville–New York tie is noteworthy because the two cities have very different reputations and climates. However, their records match only under the definition and station choices used here. A different threshold, representative station or observation window could change their positions.
The full 50-city weekend precipitation ranking
Use the table to compare frequencies, both-day precipitation, dry weekends and average total precipitation. Every value is derived from the same five-year station dataset; tied cities share a rank.
Showing all 50 cities.
| Rank | City | Wet weekends | Count | Both days wet | Dry weekends | Avg. mm / weekend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jacksonville FL | 48.66% | 127 / 261 | 15.33% | 51.34% | 9.56 |
| 1 | New York NY | 48.66% | 127 / 261 | 10.73% | 51.34% | 7.85 |
| 3 | Miami FL | 47.89% | 125 / 261 | 18.77% | 52.11% | 10.57 |
| 4 | Portland OR | 46.74% | 122 / 261 | 20.69% | 53.26% | 5.47 |
| 5 | Boston MA | 45.98% | 120 / 261 | 13.41% | 54.02% | 5.70 |
| 6 | Columbus OH | 45.59% | 119 / 261 | 11.49% | 54.41% | 5.58 |
| 7 | Philadelphia PA | 45.21% | 118 / 261 | 10.34% | 54.79% | 6.48 |
| 8 | Nashville–Davidson TN | 44.44% | 116 / 261 | 13.41% | 55.56% | 8.52 |
| 9 | Indianapolis IN | 43.68% | 114 / 261 | 14.56% | 56.32% | 5.43 |
| 10 | Washington DC | 43.08% | 112 / 260 | 8.46% | 56.92% | 5.67 |
| 11 | Virginia Beach VA | 42.91% | 112 / 261 | 6.13% | 57.09% | 5.90 |
| 12 | Baltimore MD | 41.76% | 109 / 261 | 7.66% | 58.24% | 5.41 |
| 13 | Raleigh NC | 41.38% | 108 / 261 | 8.05% | 58.62% | 6.69 |
| 14 | Seattle WA | 41.09% | 106 / 258 | 14.34% | 58.91% | 3.62 |
| 15 | Louisville KY | 41.00% | 107 / 261 | 8.43% | 59.00% | 5.59 |
| 16 | Charlotte NC | 40.61% | 106 / 261 | 9.96% | 59.39% | 5.57 |
| 17 | Tampa FL | 40.23% | 105 / 261 | 9.58% | 59.77% | 7.16 |
| 18 | Memphis TN | 39.08% | 102 / 261 | 9.96% | 60.92% | 8.36 |
| 19 | Detroit MI | 39.06% | 100 / 256 | 8.98% | 60.94% | 3.85 |
| 20 | Chicago IL | 38.08% | 99 / 260 | 10.77% | 61.92% | 5.06 |
| 21 | Milwaukee WI | 37.93% | 99 / 261 | 10.73% | 62.07% | 4.68 |
| 22 | Atlanta GA | 37.16% | 97 / 261 | 10.34% | 62.84% | 5.79 |
| 23 | Houston TX | 31.80% | 83 / 261 | 6.90% | 68.20% | 4.45 |
| 24 | Minneapolis MN | 30.65% | 80 / 261 | 8.43% | 69.35% | 3.72 |
| 25 | Oklahoma City OK | 30.27% | 79 / 261 | 5.75% | 69.73% | 6.07 |
| 26 | Kansas City MO | 29.96% | 77 / 257 | 5.06% | 70.04% | 3.93 |
| 27 | Tulsa OK | 29.50% | 77 / 261 | 8.05% | 70.50% | 6.96 |
| 28 | Colorado Springs CO | 27.97% | 73 / 261 | 5.36% | 72.03% | 2.35 |
| 28 | Omaha NE | 27.97% | 73 / 261 | 3.83% | 72.03% | 3.12 |
| 30 | Dallas TX | 27.31% | 71 / 260 | 5.00% | 72.69% | 5.82 |
| 31 | Austin TX | 25.29% | 66 / 261 | 1.92% | 74.71% | 3.38 |
| 31 | San Antonio TX | 25.29% | 66 / 261 | 4.21% | 74.71% | 2.78 |
| 33 | Fort Worth TX | 24.81% | 64 / 258 | 4.65% | 75.19% | 3.76 |
| 34 | Aurora CO | 21.84% | 57 / 261 | 3.83% | 78.16% | 2.27 |
| 35 | San Francisco CA | 21.48% | 55 / 256 | 8.20% | 78.52% | 3.22 |
| 36 | Denver CO | 21.07% | 55 / 261 | 5.75% | 78.93% | 2.07 |
| 37 | Sacramento CA | 19.54% | 51 / 261 | 6.13% | 80.46% | 2.62 |
| 38 | Oakland CA | 17.62% | 46 / 261 | 6.51% | 82.38% | 2.70 |
| 39 | Albuquerque NM | 16.48% | 43 / 261 | 3.83% | 83.52% | 1.14 |
| 40 | Tucson AZ | 15.71% | 41 / 261 | 3.07% | 84.29% | 1.60 |
| 40 | San Jose CA | 15.71% | 41 / 261 | 4.98% | 84.29% | 1.57 |
| 42 | Fresno CA | 14.18% | 37 / 261 | 3.83% | 85.82% | 1.31 |
| 43 | Phoenix AZ | 12.11% | 31 / 256 | 2.73% | 87.89% | 1.25 |
| 44 | El Paso TX | 11.49% | 30 / 261 | 1.15% | 88.51% | 1.24 |
| 45 | Bakersfield CA | 11.11% | 29 / 261 | 2.68% | 88.89% | 0.88 |
| 45 | Long Beach CA | 11.11% | 29 / 261 | 2.68% | 88.89% | 1.82 |
| 45 | San Diego CA | 11.11% | 29 / 261 | 3.45% | 88.89% | 1.40 |
| 48 | Mesa AZ | 10.89% | 28 / 257 | 2.33% | 89.11% | 1.15 |
| 49 | Los Angeles CA | 9.58% | 25 / 261 | 3.83% | 90.42% | 1.99 |
| 50 | Las Vegas NV | 5.38% | 14 / 260 | 0.38% | 94.62% | 0.33 |
Totals are based on complete station-weekends only, so the denominator can range from 256 to 261. “Dry” means neither day reached the 1 mm threshold; it does not necessarily mean absolutely no precipitation.
The surprising extremes
Where weekends are driest
At the selected Las Vegas station, only 5.38% of complete weekends met the 1 mm rule. Los Angeles recorded 9.58%; Mesa, Arizona, 10.89%; and San Diego and Long Beach each 11.11%. Those percentages describe frequency, not sunshine or how pleasant the weather felt.
The five driest by the main measure
Lower figures indicate fewer weekends with ≥1 mm on at least one day.
Where both Saturday and Sunday are wet
Portland ranks fourth for a wet day somewhere in the weekend, but rises to first on a stricter question: how often does each day individually reach 1 mm? Its station did so on 20.69% of complete weekends, followed by Miami at 18.77%.
Wet on both weekend days
Separate measure: Saturday ≥1 mm and Sunday ≥1 mm, at each selected station.
Frequency and total precipitation are different
Miami's selected station recorded an average of 10.57 mm of precipitation per complete weekend, the highest average among the 50 stations. Jacksonville averaged 9.56 mm, while New York averaged 7.85 mm. So the city with the greatest typical amount is not necessarily the one with the most qualifying weekends.
Did wet-weekend frequency change year to year?
Across all 50 selected stations, the proportion of complete station-weekends meeting the 1 mm criterion varied from 27.88% in 2022 to 31.86% in 2023. These are pooled station observations, not a national population-weighted estimate. Five years is also too short to interpret these variations as a long-term climate trend.
Wet weekends by year, all 50 stations
Weighted by available, complete station-weekends for each year. Year is assigned by the Saturday date.
What counts as a “wet weekend”?
The chosen threshold matters. At 0.1 mm on either weekend day, Boston leads this dataset (56.32%). At 1 mm, Jacksonville and New York share the lead (48.66%). At 10 mm, Miami has the highest rate (26.44%). The chart toggle above lets you explore lighter and heavier thresholds.
We use 1 mm as the primary threshold because it sets a clear, measurable boundary above the trace-precipitation category. It is our editorial definition, not a universal NOAA definition of a bad-weather weekend.
Methodology
FreeCell Now analysed NOAA Global Historical Climatology Network Daily (GHCN-Daily) PRCP observations for a selected station near each of the 50 largest incorporated U.S. places by July 2025 estimated population. The station comparison covers weekend dates from January 2021 through December 2025.
Limitations and interpretation
This is a comparison of stations, not complete urban weather conditions. Large cities can have meaningful differences across neighbourhoods. Stations may have different observation-time conventions, including UTC or local daily reporting periods. Because of these conventions, “Saturday” and “Sunday” in GHCN-Daily records are not guaranteed to correspond exactly to local midnight-to-midnight days.
How sensitive are these comparisons to station choice? The selected Jacksonville Craig Airport station has a 48.66% wet-weekend rate, while a separately checked Jacksonville International Airport station has 46.36%. For Seattle, Boeing Field has 41.09% after correcting missing records, compared with 47.31% at Sea-Tac in the alternative-station check. We kept the consistently selected stations rather than choosing whichever result produced a stronger headline. Different stations can produce different rankings, so these findings describe the specified observing sites rather than every neighbourhood of a city.
Timing caveat: we grouped NOAA precipitation totals under the dates NOAA labels Saturday and Sunday. Most stations reported a midnight observation time, but some have unreported or non-midnight observation times. These dates do not necessarily represent identical local midnight-to-midnight periods. This study does not measure cloud cover, wind, temperature, cancelled plans, time indoors or gaming behaviour.
Sources and research notes
- NOAA NCEI — GHCN-Daily data dictionary and source documentation. PRCP variable, measurement flags and quality flags.
- NOAA NCEI — GHCN-Daily data archive. Station records underlying the analysis.
- U.S. Census Bureau — Vintage 2025 city and town population estimates. Basis for selecting cities.
- FreeCell Now research calculations: QA-corrected station-level exports, 2021–2025; NOAA daily-file cross-check performed. Station identifiers and a machine-readable summary are included in the downloadable dataset.
Download the 50-city research dataset (CSV) — contains the selected NOAA station for each city, observation coverage and the metrics used in this article.
Research transparency: NOAA station-level records were cross-checked against the original daily archive, and four discrepancies involving absent precipitation observations were handled as missing data. Station location, measurement period and alternative-station sensitivity can affect individual city results. This is an observational comparison, not a weather forecast or a measure of how people spent their weekends.
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