United States · 1991–2020

Best time to visit
Des Moines.

September leads for comfortable weather in Des Moines: typically 25°C by day, 13.2°C at night, with 81 mm of rain. Based on measured 1991–2020 NOAA station history.

Best comfortSeptember

Typical high25°C

Typical low13.2°C

Rain in September81 mm

Comfort

September

September · May · June

84climate match

Beach

July

July · August · June

77climate match

Outdoors

October

October · September · May

76climate match

The weakest month is January, scoring 5 against September’s 84 — days reach only -0.6°C, 25° below the 24°C the score treats as ideal.

Month by month

The whole year,
without the guesswork.

The bars show the comfort score. Day and night temperatures come from daily observed highs and lows; rain is the historical monthly estimate.

Jan

5-0.6° / -9.8°

Feb

52.2° / -7.5°

Mar

179.7° / -1.1°

Apr

4316.8° / 5°

May

6822.5° / 11.4°

Jun

6427.8° / 17.1°

Jul

6029.9° / 19.4°

Aug

6428.8° / 18.2°

Sep

8425° / 13.2°

Oct

5517.5° / 6.3°

Nov

189.2° / -0.8°

Dec

52.2° / -6.7°

Monthly climate evidence for Des Moines — daylight is calculated from latitude, everything else is measured
Month	Day	Night	Rain	Wet days	Daylight	Comfort	Coverage
January	-0.6°C	-9.8°C	27 mm	5.5	9 h 28	5	Strong coverage
February	2.2°C	-7.5°C	34 mm	6	10 h 32	5	Strong coverage
March	9.7°C	-1.1°C	55 mm	6.9	11 h 48	17	Strong coverage
April	16.8°C	5°C	102 mm	9.2	13 h 16	43	Strong coverage
May	22.5°C	11.4°C	133 mm	10.5	14 h 30	68	Strong coverage
June	27.8°C	17.1°C	134 mm	9.7	15 h 10	64	Strong coverage
July	29.9°C	19.4°C	97 mm	7.7	14 h 54	60	Strong coverage
August	28.8°C	18.2°C	106 mm	7.8	13 h 51	64	Strong coverage
September	25°C	13.2°C	81 mm	6.3	12 h 25	84	Strong coverage
October	17.5°C	6.3°C	71 mm	6.5	11 h 01	55	Strong coverage
November	9.2°C	-0.8°C	49 mm	5.7	9 h 47	18	Strong coverage
December	2.2°C	-6.7°C	40 mm	5.9	9 h 10	5	Strong coverage

What has changed

Des Moines runs +1.4°C
on the 1961–1990 baseline.

Each bar compares the 2011–2025 daytime average for that month against the same month in 1961–1990, measured at the same station. Months where the older record is too thin to compare are left blank.

Jan

+2.2

Feb

+1.3

Mar

+2.8

Apr

+0.7

May

+0.6

Jun

+1.3

Jul

+0.3

Aug

+0.5

Sep

+2.3

Oct

+0.6

Nov

+1.5

Dec

+3.3

September daytime highs, 2011–2025. Last recorded: 27.0°C.

Records at DES MOINES INTL AP, 1945–2026
Month	Record high	Record low	Wettest day	Wettest / driest month	Years
January	19.4°C8 Jan 2003	-31.1°C21 Jan 1970	54 mm12 Jan 1960	111 mm1960 · driest 2 mm in 1954	81
February	25.6°C26 Feb 2024	-32.2°C3 Feb 1996	45 mm27 Feb 1948	76 mm1951 · driest 3 mm in 1968	81
March	32.8°C21 Mar 2026	-30.0°C1 Mar 1962	54 mm7 Mar 1990	148 mm1990 · driest 4 mm in 1994	81
April	33.9°C22 Apr 1980	-12.8°C3 Apr 1975	97 mm28 Apr 1974	197 mm1976 · driest 6 mm in 1985	81
May	37.2°C27 May 2018	-2.2°C6 May 1947	98 mm19 May 2025	308 mm1996 · driest 32 mm in 1949	81
June	39.4°C21 Jun 1988	5.0°C3 Jun 1998	115 mm9 Jun 2011	342 mm2008 · driest 26 mm in 1992	81
July	41.1°C25 Jul 2012	8.3°C30 Jul 1971	90 mm31 Jul 2024	270 mm2025 · driest 1 mm in 1975	82
August	42.2°C16 Aug 1983	4.4°C20 Aug 1950	157 mm27 Aug 1975	348 mm1977 · driest 6 mm in 1984	81
September	38.3°C9 Sep 2013	-2.2°C29 Sep 1984	112 mm12 Sep 1961	259 mm1961 · driest 10 mm in 1950	81
October	35.0°C5 Oct 1963	-10.0°C19 Oct 1972	91 mm1 Oct 2019	188 mm2019 · driest 1 mm in 1952	81
November	27.2°C13 Nov 1999	-20.0°C8 Nov 1991	81 mm3 Nov 2003	166 mm1983 · driest 1 mm in 1969	81
December	23.3°C15 Dec 2021	-30.0°C23 Dec 1989	46 mm13 Dec 2015	138 mm2015 · driest 0 mm in 2002	81

Typical days per month at DES MOINES INTL AP, 1991–2020
Month	Days 25°C+	Days 30°C+	Frost nights	Heavy rain (10 mm+)	Snow days
January	0	0	30	<1	7
February	0	0	25	<1	6
March	<1	0	19	2	3
April	3	<1	6	4	1
May	12	2	<1	5	<1
June	24	10	0	4	0
July	29	16	0	4	0
August	27	12	0	4	0
September	17	6	0	3	0
October	4	<1	4	2	<1
November	<1	0	17	2	2
December	0	0	27	1	6

How often, not how much — every day in DES MOINES INTL AP’s record sorted by what it was actually like, rather than averaged
Month	Warm & dry days	Wet days	Washouts	Week with 3+ wet days	Daytime mean has ranged
January	0%	16%	2%	11%	-5.4–2.4°C
February	<1%	18%	3%	16%	-3.0–6.8°C
March	8%	22%	6%	22%	4.2–12.8°C
April	27%	28%	10%	34%	13.5–19.2°C
May	51%	31%	12%	39%	20.0–24.9°C
June	69%	30%	13%	35%	25.8–30.2°C
July	76%	24%	11%	27%	27.9–32.4°C
August	75%	24%	10%	25%	27.3–30.9°C
September	67%	22%	9%	21%	22.5–27.3°C
October	35%	19%	7%	19%	15.3–21.2°C
November	6%	17%	5%	13%	5.2–12.2°C
December	<1%	17%	3%	14%	-1.8–5.1°C

A warm and dry day reaches 20°C with under 1 mm of rain; a wet day gets 1 mm or more; a washout gets 10 mm or more. The week column is the share of seven-day stretches in that month, across the station’s whole daily record, that contained three or more wet days — the odds a week-long trip is rained on repeatedly, counted rather than modelled. The last column is the 10th to 90th percentile of that month’s daytime average across individual years: a narrow band means the average is what you will get, a wide one means the average is a midpoint between years that felt quite different.

1946Each stripe is one year’s mean temperature against the 80-year average. Warmest: 2012. Coolest: 1951.2025

The evidence behind this page

Nearby, measured,
and named.

Place identity: GeoNames 4853828
NOAA station: USW00014933 · DES MOINES INTL AP
Station distance: 8.3 km from the place centre
Climate period: 1991–2020
Minimum month coverage: 30 usable years
Daylight: Calculated from latitude 41.60°, mid-month, sunrise to sunset including refraction. Not a station measurement.
Important limit: Historical climate is not a forecast. Nearby stations can miss mountains, coasts, and local microclimates.

These places read the same station, so their numbers are identical — distance from DES MOINES INTL AP is what differs

West Des Moines→Urbandale→Clive→Norwalk→Pleasant Hill→Windsor Heights→

Or put two places side by side: Des Moines vs West Des Moines

Best time to visitDes Moines.