Surface evaporation in arid regions determines the fraction of rainfall that remains to support vegetation and recharge. The surface evaporation capacitor approach was used to estimate rainfall partitioning to surface evaporation and leakage into deeper layers. The surface evaporation capacitor estimates a soil‐specific surface evaporation depth and critical storage capacitance that defines rainfall events that exceed local capacitance and result in leakage into deeper layers protected from surface evaporation. A decade‐long record of hydrologic observations in deep and barren lysimeters near Las Vegas revealed the dominance of a few large rainfall events in generating leakage and increasing interannual soil water storage. The surface evaporation capacitor was used to estimate mean annual surface evaporation and leakage protected from surface evaporation in all arid regions globally. About 13% of arid region rainfall contributes to soil water storage (in the absence of vegetation), similar to 11% found in the lysimeter study. Key Points The surface capacitor model was applied for global arid regions and estimated that 13% of rainfall amount is protected from soil evaporation A soil‐dependent characteristic depth and critical water content determine the rainfall amounts required for redistribution to deeper layers Only three rainfall events during one decade contributed to water storage beneath surface of a desert soil lysimeter in Nevada