Weather in Seattle in April

A hard month. April asks something of you. Go in knowing what. You should expect rain on 17 days of the month, which is more days wet than dry.

April ranks 7 of 12 in Seattle: past the worst of the year but short of July, which is the month to book if the dates are open.

Rain on 17 days, 3 of them heavy. Enough to need a plan B, not enough to need a plan around it. Layers, and a genuinely waterproof outer — at 13.8 °C the difference between a good day and a miserable one is entirely down to what you are wearing.

What the averages hide

The averages here are honest — no hidden extremes worth planning around. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest April day reached 30.8 °C and the coldest night fell to -1.5 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 25 mm — roughly 26% 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 169 mm against 30 mm in the driest. In a month this wet, even a tame spread is a lot of rain in absolute terms — the 95 mm average is a reasonable planning figure, not a promise.

Wind is light at 2.7 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity runs at 82%, which at 13.8 °C means damp rather than muggy — the kind of cold that gets into a coat and stays there.

How April sits in the year

The month is on the way up: 2.8 °C warmer than March, and May adds another 4 °C. Late in the month feels noticeably different from the start of it, which is worth knowing if the trip is short. Rain is the thing that moves: May brings 5 days less of it, so pushing the dates later buys drier weather.

Daylight in April

13.6 hours of daylight, gaining 1.6 hours across the month. That is between Seattle's extremes of 16 and 8.5 hours, so days are long enough not to constrain the plan.

An inland climate

Despite being inland, the year stays fairly even: 21.9 °C between the year's warmest afternoons and coldest nights.

How busy it gets

Quiet. Few other visitors, cheaper rooms, and a real chance some seasonal operators are shut.

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

April in Seattle versus nearby

If Seattle is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Maple Ridge is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 1 day more rain. Vancouver is the weaker option in April — 2.7 °C cooler, 1 day more rain.

So: April is a compromise. July is 45 points better and is what Seattle is actually like at its best — worth moving the trip for if that is possible, and worth adjusting expectations for if it is not.

Every month in Seattle

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