Hurricanes, tropical storms, and the re-engineered weather system driving Leonida — every confirmed detail and what Rockstar has not yet explained.
GTA VI's weather system is a rebuild rather than an iteration, evolved from the technology behind Red Dead Redemption 2. Rockstar has described the goal as making weather much more localized and persistent, so that the world feels dynamically solid at a scale the studio has not achieved before. In practice that means rain belongs to places rather than to the whole map, and its effects outlast the storm itself.
Weather is no longer applied to the whole map at once. Rain falls on specific areas, so players can stand in sunshine and watch a storm batter a neighbouring district. This is the single biggest departure from how weather worked in GTA V.
Standing water and wet surfaces remain after a storm passes, meaning players arriving later can still read where rain recently fell. Rockstar has framed persistence as a core design goal for the system.
Full hurricanes are in the game, matching Leonida’s Florida setting. Rockstar has confirmed they exist and involve heavy cloud cover and extreme winds, but has not detailed how often they occur.
A tier below hurricanes, bringing heavy rain and strong winds across affected regions. Expected to be considerably more common than full hurricanes.
An entirely new wind simulation covering offshore breezes, convectional updrafts, and wind occlusion from buildings — meaning tall structures physically break up airflow around them.
Cloud formations move across Leonida independently of the player, driving changing light conditions throughout the day rather than cycling through fixed weather presets.
Rainbows form when lighting and moisture conditions align after rainfall — a direct consequence of the localized, persistent model rather than a scripted effect.
The wind simulation is not cosmetic. Rockstar has confirmed it drives physical reactions across several systems at once:
Rockstar confirmed hurricanes exist but stopped short of explaining their impact. These questions remain open until launch:
Weather details confirmed by Rockstar Games in the Game Informer issue 382 cover story, published September 29, 2026. See also Animals & Wildlife and Locations.