Weather in Des Moines in April

A good month. April is a solid month to be in Des Moines. Highs average 17.1 °C, lows 4.1 °C, and rain falls on 10 days — nothing in the month is working against you.

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

Rain on 10 days, 3 of them heavy. Enough to need a plan B, not enough to need a plan around it. Pack for 17.1 °C days and 4.1 °C nights; the spread matters more here than any single number.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: 7 nights fall below freezing. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest April day reached 31.1 °C and the coldest night fell to -8.3 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 61 mm — roughly 67% of the month's rain in one day.

April is statistically steady but not small: the year-to-year variation is modest in relative terms, yet the wettest April on record still delivered 146 mm against 24 mm in the driest. In a month this wet, even a tame spread is a lot of rain in absolute terms — the 91 mm average is a reasonable planning figure, not a promise.

Wind is light at 14 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity is unremarkable at 72%.

How April sits in the year

The month is on the way up: 7.4 °C warmer than March, and May adds another 5.3 °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

13.3 hours of daylight, gaining 1.3 hours across the month. That is between Des Moines's extremes of 15.2 and 9.2 hours, so days are long enough not to constrain the plan.

An inland climate

Des Moines has no sea to moderate it, and it shows: 40.3 °C separates the hottest afternoon of the year from the coldest night. That is a genuinely continental range, and it means summer and winter here are barely the same place.

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 Des Moines versus nearby

If Des Moines is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Omaha is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 1 day less rain. Kansas City is close enough to be a coin toss — 2 °C warmer, 1 day more rain.

So: April works, with September the better month by 9 points if the dates can move. If they cannot, nothing here should stop you booking.

Every month in Des Moines

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