No thunderstorms on radar within 19 miles of the parks.
The last two hours of NEXRAD radar with every park pinned. Tap a park for its rain timing.
National Weather Service forecast for the park’s own forecast grid.
Parks where most lightning-sensitive rides are down at once.
No parks are in a weather hold right now.
| Park | Rides down in storms | In dry hours |
|---|---|---|
| SeaWorld Orlando 42 storm hours |
||
| Epic Universe 44 storm hours |
||
| Islands of Adventure 44 storm hours |
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| Volcano Bay 29 storm hours |
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| Magic Kingdom 50 storm hours |
Measured from every ride status we have recorded since Sep 2, during park hours. Not enough thunderstorm hours yet for Aquatica Orlando, Universal Studios Florida, Animal Kingdom, Blizzard Beach, EPCOT, Hollywood Studios, Typhoon Lagoon.
Hourly readings from the park’s nearest airport station.
Patterns worth planning around. These are tendencies, not guarantees — a genuinely wet day behaves differently from a passing shower.
Outdoor coasters and water rides empty out fast — posted waits can halve within twenty minutes of a downpour. Everything indoors absorbs that crowd at once, so dark rides, theatres and shops spike. The trade is usually worth it: a poncho and an outdoor headliner beats an hour indoors.
Central Florida averages more thunderstorm days than anywhere else in the country. Outdoor attractions go on hold during lightning within a few miles, and the queue keeps standing there. When the hold lifts, those waits are longer than before the storm.
Once the heat index passes about 95°F, water rides and air-conditioned attractions take the load and the afternoon lull gets deeper — a real share of guests leave for a hotel pool and come back after dinner. Outdoor headliners are often at their softest between 2pm and 4pm on the hottest days.
Mild, dry weather keeps everyone in the park all day, so queues stay flat instead of emptying in the afternoon. The pleasant days are frequently the ones with the highest Wait Scores — a cloudy 82°F is often a better park day than a sunny 78°F.
Rain on its own closes very little. Outdoor rides such as coasters, water rides and open-air attractions pause when lightning is detected nearby, and reopen once the storm has moved on. Indoor rides, shows and dark rides keep running, so they absorb the crowd while the outdoor rides are paused.
From roughly June through September, storms most often build in the afternoon and early evening, and many pass within an hour or so. Summer mornings are usually the driest part of the day, which is one more reason an early start pays off.
Every five minutes we take the latest NEXRAD radar images, measure which way the rain is moving and how fast, and project that forward to each park. It only sees rain that is already on radar, so a storm that forms directly over a park will not show up until it appears. Treat it as a heads-up, not a guarantee.
Current conditions are official observations from the Kissimmee Gateway (KISM) and Orlando International (KMCO) airport weather stations. Forecasts and alerts come from the National Weather Service, radar from NOAA's NEXRAD network via the Iowa Environmental Mesonet, and the UV index from Open-Meteo.
Often, yes. Waits for outdoor headliners tend to fall during and right after a downpour while indoor rides get busier, and many guests leave for the day. A poncho and a flexible plan usually beat heading back to the hotel.
Observations from the NWS/FAA ASOS stations at Kissimmee Gateway (KISM) and Orlando International (KMCO); forecasts and alerts from the National Weather Service in Melbourne; radar from NOAA NEXRAD via the Iowa Environmental Mesonet; UV index from Open-Meteo; basemap from OpenFreeMap, © OpenMapTiles, data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Rain timing is a radar extrapolation, not an official forecast.