Historical weather data, all-time temperature records, and monthly climate averages for Des Moines, WA. Explore typical weather conditions by week for trip planning, and see how today compares to the historical record.
April 5th in Des Moines lands right in the middle of that classic Pacific Northwest gray zone — expect a high around 56° with a coin-flip chance of rain. The date's swung hard in both directions over 78 years of records, from a balmy 73° back in 1966 to a bitter 29° low in 1975.
Des Moines has seen it all in its 78 years of record-keeping — from a scorching 108° during the infamous June 2021 heat dome to an absolute zero on January 31, 1950. That same brutal January also dropped 20 inches of snow in a single day, and October 2003 brought a drenching 5.02 inches of rain in 24 hours.
Summer is the clear sweet spot here, with highs hovering around 76–77° from mid-July through August and very little rain to interrupt it. If you're cold-averse, avoid early January when average highs barely crack 44°. November is when the rain really settles in — the third week alone averages over 1.6 inches of precipitation.