Weather in Denver in April

Prime time. If you get to pick your dates, April is the one. Highs average 18.3 °C, lows 2.6 °C, and rain falls on 9 days — nothing in the month is working against you.

April ranks 4 of 12 in Denver: past the worst of the year but short of October, which is the month to book if the dates are open.

Rain on 9 days, 1 of them heavy. Enough to need a plan B, not enough to need a plan around it. Nothing specialised needed — this is the month you pack for the trip rather than for the weather.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: it never really gets hot: not one day in an average April reaches 30 °C; 8 nights fall below freezing; the day swings 15.7 °C from low to high, which means one bag has to cover both. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest April day reached 31.2 °C and the coldest night fell to -9.9 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 38 mm — roughly 75% of the month's rain in one day.

April is moderately variable: 6 mm in the driest year against 94 mm in the wettest, around an average of 51 mm. Roughly two Aprils in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind is light at 10.7 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity is unremarkable at 50%.

How April sits in the year

The month is on the way up: 4.1 °C warmer than March, and May adds another 5.4 °C. Late in the month feels noticeably different from the start of it, which is worth knowing if the trip is short.

Daylight in April

13.2 hours of daylight, gaining 1.2 hours across the month. That is between Denver's extremes of 15 and 9.4 hours, so days are long enough not to constrain the plan.

An inland climate

With no coast nearby, the year swings a fair way — 37 °C between the warmest afternoons and the coldest nights, wider than any coastal city at this latitude would manage. At 1609 m, altitude is doing as much work here as latitude: thinner air means fierce sun by day and heat that leaves the moment it sets. Within April itself the daily swing is 15.7 °C, so mornings and afternoons need different clothes.

How busy it gets

Busy. Popular without being frantic; book the things you care about, improvise the rest.

Crowd levels are estimated from climate desirability and school-holiday calendars, not from visitor numbers.

April in Denver versus nearby

If Denver is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Aspen is the weaker option in April — 9.3 °C cooler, 3 days more rain. Moab is a better bet in April — 2.2 °C warmer, 4 days less rain.

So: April works, with October the better month by 10 points if the dates can move. If they cannot, nothing here should stop you booking.

Every month in Denver

See all twelve months in Denver, or where else to go in April.