Des Moines, IA Snowfall B+

First snow Nov 11 · Last snow Apr 6 · 36.4 in/yr · Station: DES MOINES INTL AP

Avg First Snow

Nov 11

Median over 30 seasons 3d early

Avg Last Snow

Apr 6

Median over 30 seasons

Snow Season

147 days

SepJun

Avg Annual Snowfall

36.4 in

Rank #106 of 217 tracked

Latest season (2025–26): first measurable snowfall arrived 3 days earlier than the 30-year normal.

Average Monthly Snowfall (inches)

Sep

0.4

Oct

2.6

Nov

8.0

Dec

9.4

Jan

10.2

Feb

4.4

Mar

1.2

Apr

0.2

May

Jun

How Des Moines Compares

Des Moines snowfall vs Iowa and U.S. medians
Measure	Des Moines	Iowa median	U.S. median
Avg annual snowfall	36.4 in	36.4 in	39.1 in
Avg first snowfall	Nov 11	Nov 12	Nov 16
Avg last snowfall	Apr 6	Apr 6	Apr 3
Snow season length	147 days	147 days	139 days

Medians are taken across tracked cities with regular snowfall (5 in Iowa, 201 nationally).

Nearby Tracked Cities

Ski Resorts in Iowa

No tracked resorts — browse all→

Data source: NOAA GHCN-Daily records for DES MOINES INTL AP (USW00014933), 7 km from the city center, accessed via the ACIS web service. Normals window: 1990–91 through 2019–20 snow seasons. Measurable snow = ≥ 0.1 in.