When Does It Rain in Stardew Valley?

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Rain can be a farmer’s best friend, especially in Stardew Valley when you have so much to do. Being able to ignore massive fields of crops that have no sprinklers, or only partial areas of sprinkler coverage, can be a huge boon to getting more done with the limited time you have each day. This makes rainy days in Stardew Valley a precious commodity, and it makes sense that after that first one new players will want to know more about when does it rain in Stardew Valley versus when will it be sunny.

In Stardew Valley it always rains on Day 3 of your first Spring, otherwise rainy days occur at random in Spring, Summer, and Fall. It is always stormy on Summer 13 and Summer 26 of every year. Crafting Rain Totems in the late game allows the player to set the next day’s weather to rainy, or snowy if it’s winter.

That said, there are some things you can do to tilt the odds in your favor. Let’s dive in so you know all there is to know about rain in Stardew Valley and what you can do to make the days a bit more cloudy on the farm!

rainy day developed fan stardew
Wonderful late stage farm doing its thing during a rainy day, the original picture comes from here (kudos to the player who made such a cool looking farm)!

When Does It Rain in Stardew Valley? Randomly!

There is only a single day in every Stardew Valley game where rain is guaranteed, and that is on the 3rd of Month 1, Year 1. This helps introduce the mechanic of raining to the player and gives them time to practice fishing with their brand new fishing rod, explore the map, gather wood, or otherwise engage in non-farming activities.

After the first four days rain is randomly generated. I’ve seen this personally after over 1,000 hours of play. My worst file had 3 rainy days the entire year outside of the mandatory rainy 3rd on year one. My best year one files tend to rain around once a week or even more. 4 vs 14 results in some radically different starts.

So here are the base chances for rain in a non-modded Stardew game (I’m including stormy days because although there’s lightning and a chance for damage – it gives all the same benefits as a normal rainy day).

  • 18.3% chance of randomly generating a rainy day in Spring (storms come into the mix year 2 and on for Spring)
  • 12.6% the beginning of Summer, increasing daily to a 20.1% of rainy or stormy weather daily by the end of the season except for the 13th and the 26th which are ALWAYS stormy, thus bringing rain with them
  • 18.3% chance of rainy or stormy weather in Fall
  • 0% chance of rain in winter (only snows 60% of the time – but this does NOT water winter forage seeds you’ve planted)

The plus side is that there are some late game crafting tools that can help you tilt the odds in your favor so you can get more and more rainy days until your mining and quality sprinkler crafting can catch up to the massive fields of crops you’re growing.

If you want even more detail on how the percentages work, and want separate stats on stormy days vs rainy days then check out this page on the Stardew Wiki.

Only 4 Days of Scripted Weather

There are only six days of weather set in stone for all of Stardew Valley. Days 1, 2, and 4 of Year One will ALWAYS be sunny. Day 3 of Year One will ALWAYS be rain.

This never changes, but every other day from Day 5 of year one is randomized with two exceptions. Summer 13 and Summer 26 are always going to be stormy every single year.

That means you’ll get rain both of those days. Also means the year I only had 3 rainy days was especially bad since that meant when it was up to random chance (78 days) I only got 1 to rain.

The Rain Totem

Ah, look at that dark foreboding face with the menacing eyes gazing out from the darkness. We call that the great equalizer in Stardew: the precious Rain Totem!

This is a late game crafting recipe because it requires a lot of advanced tools and skills to make it. It is very, very much a late game crafting item and most players who aren’t min-maxing will be hard pressed to get to the point they can use it in year one.

To make a rain totem you need:

  • To be Level 9 Foraging
  • 1 Hardwood
  • 1 Truffle Oil (made from a Truffle Oil machine, made from truffles, found by mature pigs which requires a Deluxe Barn)
  • 5 Pine Tar

That’s a lot of ingredients, late game buildings, late game farms, and high levels needed just to craft these, but if you took the time to have a section of pine trees tapped for precious pine tar, multiple pigs finding truffles, you’ll reap the rewards.

In Stardew Valley using a rain totem guarantees that it will rain the following day.

That allows you to stack up rainy day after rainy day to go fishing, not worry about watering crops, or create rainy weather for whatever reason you may have for wanting to make the skies open up.

Creatively, having a few of these can help guarantee all those crops reaching the end of the month get watered while you take your watering can in to get upgraded at the end of the month at Clint’s.

Stardew Valley Rain FAQ

What days are guaranteed rain in Stardew Valley?

For pure rain only Spring 3 of Year One is guaranteed as a rainy day, otherwise weather is randomly generated. The only exception is Summer 13 and Summer 26 of every year which are guaranteed to by stormy weather, which includes the benefit of rain in Stardew Valley but also can cause damage because of lightning.

Why won’t it rain in Stardew Valley?

You may just be playing an unlucky game. The rain even differs on the same seed since the weather for the next day is randomly generated when you wake up that morning. A 1 in 5 chance isn’t much, especially since the odds reset every game. You might just be on a very unlucky streak.

Can you make it rain in Stardew Valley?

Yes, if you are level 9 foraging and have the ingredients to make a rain totem you can force it to rain the next day by using a rain totem. Keep in mind, this can also bring in thunderstorms so make sure to have plenty of lightning rods setup around your farm to mitigate the damage – and turn it into profitable batteries!

Do thunderstorms count as rain in Stardew Valley?

They are technically considered different whether, but for all intents and purposes they are basically a rainy day that can cause damage or provide battery materials with lightning.

Does snowing count as rain in Stardew Valley?

Nope. Snow has no serious effect on the crops and is a winter-only weather that takes the place of rain but has no impact on the mechanics in-game.

Raining In Stardew Valley: The Conclusion

There’s no arguing with the power of rain. There are two common things that happen with every monster run I tend to have with my monster Stardew Valley year one runs.

  1. I get a weapon from fishing in the first 5 days to make flying through mining levels much faster/easier
  2. I have a lot of rainy days

Those two random factors go hand in hand with being able to absolutely crush it in year one, and now you know what days you can plan for storms/rain, that most of it is random, and why racing for those quality sprinklers and iridium sprinklers for better Stardew watering makes so much sense.

Getting a good stack of rain totems for the late game is also huge…and an absolute life-saver if you are trying to create massive fields in the Stardew Valley Beach Farm!

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