Elko weather in May

In May, Elko sees average daytime highs of 65°F and overnight lows near 40°F, with 1.9 in of precipitation across 9.1 wet days and about 14.2 hours of daylight. It is the 5th-warmest and 2nd-wettest month of the year here.

Highs climb over the month, from about 61°F in the first days to 70°F by the end. The sky is clear or mostly clear about 32% of the time in May, and the air most often feels dry.

Daylight stretches from about 13 h 42 min at the start of May to 14 h 42 min by month's end. Set against the rest of the year, May is Elko's 7th-clearest and 3rd-windiest month. For the whole year in context, see Elko's year-round climate.

Daytime high: 65°; 5th warmest
Overnight low: 40°; 8th coldest
Precipitation: 1.9 in; 9.1 wet days
Daylight: 14 h 18 min; 4:31 AM – 6:47 PM
Cloud cover: 55%; 7th clearest
Wind: 6 mph; 3rd windiest
Solar energy: 7.33 kWh/m²
Travel score: 6.1; out of 10

Elko is city in Elko County, Nevada, United States.

Density: 439/km²; people per km²
Founded: 1868

Air quality: WHO Ambient Air Quality Database. Density & description: Wikidata (CC0), GeoNames.

← April Elko year-round climate June →Best places to visit in May

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Temperature in May

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

Highs climb over the month, from about 61°F in the first days to 70°F by the end.

A typical May day in Elko reaches about 65°F in the afternoon and slips back to 40°F overnight — a 25°F spread between the day's warmth and the night's chill. On most days the high lands between 51°F and 79°F. Set against its neighbours, May runs about 11°F warmer than April and about 12°F cooler than June.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31
Avg high (°F)	60	60	61	61	62	62	62	63	63	63	64	64	64	65	65	65	65	66	66	66	67	67	67	68	68	69	69	69	70	70	71
Avg low (°F)	36	36	36	37	37	37	38	38	38	39	39	39	40	40	40	40	41	41	41	42	42	42	42	43	43	43	44	44	44	45	45

	Avg high (°F)	Avg low (°F)
1	60	36
2	60	36
3	61	36
4	61	37
5	62	37
6	62	37
7	62	38
8	63	38
9	63	38
10	63	39
11	64	39
12	64	39
13	64	40
14	65	40
15	65	40
16	65	40
17	65	41
18	66	41
19	66	41
20	66	42
21	67	42
22	67	42
23	67	42
24	68	43
25	68	43
26	69	43
27	69	44
28	69	44
29	70	44
30	70	45
31	71	45

How May really feels in Elko

Once humidity and wind are folded in, May averages 0 days that feel above 90°F and 4 that feel at or below 32°F — the comfort signal a plain temperature reading hides.

Days feeling ≥ 90°F

heat index over the day's high

Days feeling ≤ 32°F

wind chill below the day's low

The story in May is cold — wind chill drags the overnight "feels like" below the raw low.

Elko weather by month

How May compares with the rest of the year at a glance. May is the 5th-warmest and 2nd-wettest month here — the current month is highlighted below.

Month	High / Low (°F)	Rainfall (inches)	Wet days	Snow days	Daylight (hours)	Travel score
Jan	33° / 15°	1.6	8.9	8.6	9.4	0.0
Feb	37° / 18°	1.2	7.8	7.2	10.4	0.0
Mar	46° / 25°	1.7	9.3	6.4	11.7	1.3
Apr	54° / 31°	2.1	11.1	5.5	13.1	3.3
May	65° / 40°	1.9	9.1	1.8	14.2	6.1
Jun	77° / 49°	0.8	4	0.2	14.9	7.8
Jul	88° / 59°	0.2	1.9	0	14.6	5.7
Aug	86° / 57°	0.3	1.7	0	13.6	6.4
Sep	76° / 47°	0.7	3.8	0.2	12.3	8.3
Oct	62° / 36°	1.0	4.9	1.2	10.9	6.1
Nov	46° / 24°	1.3	6.5	5	9.7	1.4
Dec	33° / 14°	1.6	8.5	8	9.1	0.0

Cloud cover in May

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

The sky is clear or mostly clear about 32% of the time in May.

Beyond those clear spells, partly cloudy skies cover about 21% of May, with mostly cloudy or overcast conditions the remaining 47%.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31
Clearer (%)	52	53	53	53	53	53	53	52	52	52	51	51	51	52	51	51	51	51	52	52	52	53	54	54	55	56	57	58	59	60	61
Cloudier (%)	48	47	47	47	47	47	47	48	48	48	49	49	49	48	49	49	49	49	48	48	48	47	46	46	45	44	43	42	41	40	39

	Clearer (%)	Cloudier (%)
1	52	48
2	53	47
3	53	47
4	53	47
5	53	47
6	53	47
7	53	47
8	52	48
9	52	48
10	52	48
11	51	49
12	51	49
13	51	49
14	52	48
15	51	49
16	51	49
17	51	49
18	51	49
19	52	48
20	52	48
21	52	48
22	53	47
23	54	46
24	54	46
25	55	45
26	56	44
27	57	43
28	58	42
29	59	41
30	60	40
31	61	39

Chance of precipitation in May

Any precipitationSnow

Elko gets around 1.9 in of rain and snow over 9.1 wet days in May. The line is the day-by-day chance of measurable precipitation.

Day to day, the chance of measurable precipitation averages around 30% and peaks near 33% on the wettest days, and about 2 days bring snow.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31
Rain chance (%)	33	32	31	31	30	29	29	29	28	28	29	29	29	29	30	30	30	31	31	31	31	31	31	31	30	30	29	28	27	27	26
Snow chance (%)	10	10	9	9	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	7	7	7	7	7	7	6	6	6	5	5	5	4	4	3	3	3	3	3	2

	Rain chance (%)	Snow chance (%)
1	33	10
2	32	10
3	31	9
4	31	9
5	30	8
6	29	8
7	29	8
8	29	8
9	28	8
10	28	8
11	29	8
12	29	7
13	29	7
14	29	7
15	30	7
16	30	7
17	30	7
18	31	6
19	31	6
20	31	6
21	31	5
22	31	5
23	31	5
24	31	4
25	30	4
26	30	3
27	29	3
28	28	3
29	27	3
30	27	3
31	26	2

Humidity in May

DryComfortableHumidMuggyOppressiveMiserable

Most of May feels dry — the stacked bands show each day's mix of comfort levels, read off the dew point.

By dew point, May lands in the dry band about 100% of days. It rarely turns muggy — the humid and sticky bands barely register.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31
Dry (%)	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100

	Dry (%)
1	100
2	100
3	100
4	100
5	100
6	100
7	100
8	100
9	100
10	100
11	100
12	100
13	100
14	100
15	100
16	100
17	100
18	100
19	100
20	100
21	100
22	100
23	100
24	100
25	100
26	100
27	100
28	100
29	100
30	100
31	100

Wind in May

Winds average 6 mph in May.

Across May, daily wind ranges from about 6 mph on the calmest days to 6 mph at its breeziest. It stays fairly steady from day to day.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31
Wind speed (mph)	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6
Feels	calm	calm	calm	calm	calm	calm	calm	calm	calm	calm	calm	calm	calm	calm	calm	calm	calm	calm	calm	calm	calm	calm	calm	calm	calm	calm	calm	calm	calm	calm	calm

	Wind speed (mph)	Feels
1	6	calm
2	6	calm
3	6	calm
4	6	calm
5	6	calm
6	6	calm
7	6	calm
8	6	calm
9	6	calm
10	6	calm
11	6	calm
12	6	calm
13	6	calm
14	6	calm
15	6	calm
16	6	calm
17	6	calm
18	6	calm
19	6	calm
20	6	calm
21	6	calm
22	6	calm
23	6	calm
24	6	calm
25	6	calm
26	6	calm
27	6	calm
28	6	calm
29	6	calm
30	6	calm
31	6	calm

Sunrise & sunset in May

DaylightNight

Daylight runs from about 13 h 42 min at the start of May to 14 h 42 min by month's end. The lit band spans sunrise to sunset each day.

Days grow by about 60 minutes over May. Sunrise moves from 4:49 AM to 4:20 AM, and sunset from 6:32 PM to 7:01 PM.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31
Daylight (h)	13.7	13.8	13.8	13.8	13.9	13.9	14.0	14.0	14.0	14.1	14.1	14.1	14.2	14.2	14.2	14.3	14.3	14.3	14.4	14.4	14.4	14.5	14.5	14.5	14.5	14.6	14.6	14.6	14.6	14.7	14.7
Sunrise (AM)	4:49	4:47	4:46	4:45	4:43	4:42	4:41	4:40	4:39	4:37	4:36	4:35	4:34	4:33	4:32	4:31	4:30	4:29	4:28	4:28	4:27	4:26	4:25	4:24	4:24	4:23	4:22	4:22	4:21	4:20	4:20
Sunset (PM)	6:32	6:33	6:34	6:35	6:36	6:37	6:38	6:39	6:40	6:41	6:42	6:43	6:44	6:45	6:46	6:47	6:48	6:49	6:50	6:51	6:52	6:53	6:54	6:55	6:56	6:57	6:58	6:58	6:59	7:00	7:01

	Daylight (h)	Sunrise (AM)	Sunset (PM)
1	13.7	4:49	6:32
2	13.8	4:47	6:33
3	13.8	4:46	6:34
4	13.8	4:45	6:35
5	13.9	4:43	6:36
6	13.9	4:42	6:37
7	14.0	4:41	6:38
8	14.0	4:40	6:39
9	14.0	4:39	6:40
10	14.1	4:37	6:41
11	14.1	4:36	6:42
12	14.1	4:35	6:43
13	14.2	4:34	6:44
14	14.2	4:33	6:45
15	14.2	4:32	6:46
16	14.3	4:31	6:47
17	14.3	4:30	6:48
18	14.3	4:29	6:49
19	14.4	4:28	6:50
20	14.4	4:28	6:51
21	14.4	4:27	6:52
22	14.5	4:26	6:53
23	14.5	4:25	6:54
24	14.5	4:24	6:55
25	14.5	4:24	6:56
26	14.6	4:23	6:57
27	14.6	4:22	6:58
28	14.6	4:22	6:58
29	14.6	4:21	6:59
30	14.7	4:20	7:00
31	14.7	4:20	7:01

Solar energy in May

Daily solar energy (kWh/m²)

Average shortwave solar energy reaching the ground each day in May, about 7.33 kWh/m².

For context, solar energy here swings from a low near 2.26 kWh/m² to a high of 8.18 kWh/m² in July across the year — May's 7.33 kWh/m² falls in the middle.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31
Solar energy (kWh/m²)	7.0	7.0	7.0	7.1	7.1	7.1	7.1	7.2	7.2	7.2	7.2	7.2	7.2	7.3	7.3	7.3	7.3	7.3	7.3	7.4	7.4	7.4	7.5	7.5	7.5	7.5	7.6	7.6	7.6	7.7	7.7
Level	Intense	Intense	Intense	Intense	Intense	Intense	Intense	Intense	Intense	Intense	Intense	Intense	Intense	Intense	Intense	Intense	Intense	Intense	Intense	Intense	Intense	Intense	Intense	Intense	Intense	Intense	Intense	Intense	Intense	Intense	Intense

	Solar energy (kWh/m²)	Level
1	7.0	Intense
2	7.0	Intense
3	7.0	Intense
4	7.1	Intense
5	7.1	Intense
6	7.1	Intense
7	7.1	Intense
8	7.2	Intense
9	7.2	Intense
10	7.2	Intense
11	7.2	Intense
12	7.2	Intense
13	7.2	Intense
14	7.3	Intense
15	7.3	Intense
16	7.3	Intense
17	7.3	Intense
18	7.3	Intense
19	7.3	Intense
20	7.4	Intense
21	7.4	Intense
22	7.4	Intense
23	7.5	Intense
24	7.5	Intense
25	7.5	Intense
26	7.5	Intense
27	7.6	Intense
28	7.6	Intense
29	7.6	Intense
30	7.7	Intense
31	7.7	Intense

Planning a trip in May

Is May a good time to visit Elko?

Our two travel scores rate May for general sightseeing and for beach or pool weather — 0 (poor) to 10 (ideal).

6.1

Sightseeing

4th-best month of the year

2.4

Beach & pool

5th-best month of the year

May is a reasonable time to visit Elko for sightseeing.

What to pack for Elko in May

From May's temperature range, rain chance, sun and wind — what's worth putting in the bag.

In May, Elko sees daytime highs around 65°F and nights near 40°F. Pack sun protection. Worth having: a warm layer and rain gear. About 9 days see rain.

sun protectiona warm layerrain gear

UV index in Elko in May

LowModerateHighVery highExtreme

Clear-sky midday UV in May peaks around 8 (very high — sun protection essential). The full-year curve, shaded by WHO exposure level, is below.

Under clear skies, the midday UV index in Elko peaks around June 21 at about 10 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near November 23 at about 2 (moderate).

The index reaches 3 or more — the level where the WHO recommends sun protection — in 9 months of the year.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
UV index (midday)	3	3	5	6	8	10	10	9	7	5	2	2
Level	Moderate	Moderate	High	High	Very high	Extreme	Very high	Very high	High	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate

	UV index (midday)	Level
Jan	3	Moderate
Feb	3	Moderate
Mar	5	High
Apr	6	High
May	8	Very high
Jun	10	Extreme
Jul	10	Very high
Aug	9	Very high
Sep	7	High
Oct	5	Moderate
Nov	2	Moderate
Dec	2	Moderate

Air quality in Elko in May

GoodModeratePoorUnhealthyVery unhealthy

Average fine-particle pollution (PM2.5) through the year — so you can see where May falls, not just the annual average.

Air quality in Elko is worst in August — around 18 µg/m³ PM2.5 (moderate), about 4.2× the cleanest month (December, 4 µg/m³).

Modeled monthly averages (CAMS reanalysis, 2015–2024).

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
PM2.5 (µg/m³)	5	7	9	9	10	9	11	18	12	7	6	4
Level	Good	Good	Good	Good	Good	Good	Good	Moderate	Good	Good	Good	Good

	PM2.5 (µg/m³)	Level
Jan	5	Good
Feb	7	Good
Mar	9	Good
Apr	9	Good
May	10	Good
Jun	9	Good
Jul	11	Good
Aug	18	Moderate
Sep	12	Good
Oct	7	Good
Nov	6	Good
Dec	4	Good

Location & terrain

Where is Elko?

Elko sits at 40.8°N, 115.8°W, 5,066 ft above sea level, in United States. The nearest listed city is Twin Falls, 137 mi away.

Topography around Elko

How much the land rises and falls, and what covers it, within 2, 10 and 50 miles of Elko.

Within 2 miles, the terrain around Elko has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 548 ft around an average of 5,171 ft above sea level; within 10 miles, large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 2,530 ft; within 50 miles, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 7,201 ft.

The land around Elko is covered by grassland (38%) and artificial surfaces (30%) within 2 miles, grassland (83%) within 10 miles, and grassland (74%) within 50 miles.

2 miles

548 ft

grassland 38%

10 miles

2,530 ft

grassland 83%

50 miles

7,201 ft

grassland 74%

treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfacesbare terrain

← April Elko year-round climate June →Best places to visit in May

May weather nearby: Twin Falls 137 mi · Tooele 183 mi · Kuna 187 mi · Nampa 191 mi · Magna 192 mi · Boise 193 mi · Syracuse 194 mi · Meridian 194 mi

United States travel facts

Power plugs: Type A / B; 120 V · 60 Hz
Prices: ≈ 100% of US; price level, 2025
GDP per capita: $90,027; 2025
Happiness: 6.8 / 10; World Happiness, 2025
Safe drinking water: 98%; of population, 2024
Homicide rate: 5.8; per 100k, 2023
Road deaths: 12.7; per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group: High; World Bank
Religion

Sources: World Bank, US State Department, World Happiness Report, WHO/UNICEF, EF EPI, CIA World Factbook.

Data sources

Temperature, precipitation, cloud, humidity, wind and solar figures are a 1991–2020 climatology for Elko (40.8324°, -115.7631°, elevation 5,066 ft), computed from hourly ERA5 reanalysis — contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information. Sun figures are astronomical calculations, not observations. City data © GeoNames, CC BY 4.0. Map outlines from Natural Earth (public domain); interactive map © Google. UV index is derived from CAMS (Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service) clear-sky UV data — contains modified Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service information. Monthly air-quality (PM2.5) seasonality is from the CAMS EAC4 reanalysis (Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service), scaled to the WHO annual mean where available. Topography is sampled from the Copernicus DEM GLO-90 elevation model (© ESA/Airbus) and ESA WorldCover 2021 land cover (CC BY 4.0).

	Avg high (°F)	Avg low (°F)
1	60	36
2	60	36
3	61	36
4	61	37
5	62	37
6	62	37
7	62	38
8	63	38
9	63	38
10	63	39
11	64	39
12	64	39
13	64	40
14	65	40
15	65	40
16	65	40
17	65	41
18	66	41
19	66	41
20	66	42
21	67	42
22	67	42
23	67	42
24	68	43
25	68	43
26	69	43
27	69	44
28	69	44
29	70	44
30	70	45
31	71	45

	Clearer (%)	Cloudier (%)
1	52	48
2	53	47
3	53	47
4	53	47
5	53	47
6	53	47
7	53	47
8	52	48
9	52	48
10	52	48
11	51	49
12	51	49
13	51	49
14	52	48
15	51	49
16	51	49
17	51	49
18	51	49
19	52	48
20	52	48
21	52	48
22	53	47
23	54	46
24	54	46
25	55	45
26	56	44
27	57	43
28	58	42
29	59	41
30	60	40
31	61	39

	Rain chance (%)	Snow chance (%)
1	33	10
2	32	10
3	31	9
4	31	9
5	30	8
6	29	8
7	29	8
8	29	8
9	28	8
10	28	8
11	29	8
12	29	7
13	29	7
14	29	7
15	30	7
16	30	7
17	30	7
18	31	6
19	31	6
20	31	6
21	31	5
22	31	5
23	31	5
24	31	4
25	30	4
26	30	3
27	29	3
28	28	3
29	27	3
30	27	3
31	26	2

	Dry (%)
1	100
2	100
3	100
4	100
5	100
6	100
7	100
8	100
9	100
10	100
11	100
12	100
13	100
14	100
15	100
16	100
17	100
18	100
19	100
20	100
21	100
22	100
23	100
24	100
25	100
26	100
27	100
28	100
29	100
30	100
31	100

	Avg high (°F)	Avg low (°F)
1	60	36
2	60	36
3	61	36
4	61	37
5	62	37
6	62	37
7	62	38
8	63	38
9	63	38
10	63	39
11	64	39
12	64	39
13	64	40
14	65	40
15	65	40
16	65	40
17	65	41
18	66	41
19	66	41
20	66	42
21	67	42
22	67	42
23	67	42
24	68	43
25	68	43
26	69	43
27	69	44
28	69	44
29	70	44
30	70	45
31	71	45

	Clearer (%)	Cloudier (%)
1	52	48
2	53	47
3	53	47
4	53	47
5	53	47
6	53	47
7	53	47
8	52	48
9	52	48
10	52	48
11	51	49
12	51	49
13	51	49
14	52	48
15	51	49
16	51	49
17	51	49
18	51	49
19	52	48
20	52	48
21	52	48
22	53	47
23	54	46
24	54	46
25	55	45
26	56	44
27	57	43
28	58	42
29	59	41
30	60	40
31	61	39

	Rain chance (%)	Snow chance (%)
1	33	10
2	32	10
3	31	9
4	31	9
5	30	8
6	29	8
7	29	8
8	29	8
9	28	8
10	28	8
11	29	8
12	29	7
13	29	7
14	29	7
15	30	7
16	30	7
17	30	7
18	31	6
19	31	6
20	31	6
21	31	5
22	31	5
23	31	5
24	31	4
25	30	4
26	30	3
27	29	3
28	28	3
29	27	3
30	27	3
31	26	2

	Dry (%)
1	100
2	100
3	100
4	100
5	100
6	100
7	100
8	100
9	100
10	100
11	100
12	100
13	100
14	100
15	100
16	100
17	100
18	100
19	100
20	100
21	100
22	100
23	100
24	100
25	100
26	100
27	100
28	100
29	100
30	100
31	100

	Avg high (°F)	Avg low (°F)
1	60	36
2	60	36
3	61	36
4	61	37
5	62	37
6	62	37
7	62	38
8	63	38
9	63	38
10	63	39
11	64	39
12	64	39
13	64	40
14	65	40
15	65	40
16	65	40
17	65	41
18	66	41
19	66	41
20	66	42
21	67	42
22	67	42
23	67	42
24	68	43
25	68	43
26	69	43
27	69	44
28	69	44
29	70	44
30	70	45
31	71	45

	Clearer (%)	Cloudier (%)
1	52	48
2	53	47
3	53	47
4	53	47
5	53	47
6	53	47
7	53	47
8	52	48
9	52	48
10	52	48
11	51	49
12	51	49
13	51	49
14	52	48
15	51	49
16	51	49
17	51	49
18	51	49
19	52	48
20	52	48
21	52	48
22	53	47
23	54	46
24	54	46
25	55	45
26	56	44
27	57	43
28	58	42
29	59	41
30	60	40
31	61	39

	Rain chance (%)	Snow chance (%)
1	33	10
2	32	10
3	31	9
4	31	9
5	30	8
6	29	8
7	29	8
8	29	8
9	28	8
10	28	8
11	29	8
12	29	7
13	29	7
14	29	7
15	30	7
16	30	7
17	30	7
18	31	6
19	31	6
20	31	6
21	31	5
22	31	5
23	31	5
24	31	4
25	30	4
26	30	3
27	29	3
28	28	3
29	27	3
30	27	3
31	26	2

	Dry (%)
1	100
2	100
3	100
4	100
5	100
6	100
7	100
8	100
9	100
10	100
11	100
12	100
13	100
14	100
15	100
16	100
17	100
18	100
19	100
20	100
21	100
22	100
23	100
24	100
25	100
26	100
27	100
28	100
29	100
30	100
31	100