April Weather in Minneapolis Minnesota, United States

Daily high temperatures increase by 14°F, from 50°F to 64°F, rarely falling below 36°F or exceeding 79°F.

Daily low temperatures increase by 12°F, from 32°F to 44°F, rarely falling below 20°F or exceeding 55°F.

For reference, on July 18, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in Minneapolis typically range from 65°F to 83°F, while on January 22, the coldest day of the year, they range from 9°F to 24°F.

The figure below shows you a compact characterization of the hourly average temperatures for the quarter of the year centered on April. The horizontal axis is the day, the vertical axis is the hour of the day, and the color is the average temperature for that hour and day.

Volgograd, Russia (5,485 miles away) and Benxi, China (6,058 miles) are the far-away foreign places with temperatures most similar to Minneapolis (view comparison).

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The month of April in Minneapolis experiences essentially constant cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy remaining about 53% throughout the month.

The clearest day of the month is April 30, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 49% of the time.

For reference, on February 5, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 60%, while on July 28, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 71%.

A wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. In Minneapolis, the chance of a wet day over the course of April is very rapidly increasing, starting the month at 21% and ending it at 32%.

For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 41% on June 20, and its lowest chance is 8% on February 3.

Over the course of April in Minneapolis, the chance of a day with only rain increases from 17% to 31%, the chance of a day with mixed snow and rain remains an essentially constant 2% throughout, and the chance of a day with only snow remains an essentially constant 1% throughout.

Rainfall

To show variation within the month and not just the monthly total, we show the rainfall accumulated over a sliding 31-day period centered around each day.

The average sliding 31-day rainfall during April in Minneapolis is rapidly increasing, starting the month at 1.7 inches, when it rarely exceeds 3.1 inches or falls below 0.4 inches, and ending the month at 3.0 inches, when it rarely exceeds 5.3 inches or falls below 1.2 inches.

Snowfall

As with rainfall, we consider the snowfall accumulated over a sliding 31-day period centered around each day.

The average sliding 31-day snowfall during April in Minneapolis is decreasing, starting the month at 2.0 inches, when it rarely exceeds 5.8 inches, and ending the month at 0.4 inches, when it rarely exceeds 1.8 inches.

Over the course of April in Minneapolis, the length of the day is rapidly increasing. From the start to the end of the month, the length of the day increases by 1 hour, 26 minutes, implying an average daily increase of 2 minutes, 59 seconds, and weekly increase of 20 minutes, 52 seconds.

The shortest day of the month is April 1, with 12 hours, 47 minutes of daylight and the longest day is April 30, with 14 hours, 13 minutes of daylight.

The latest sunrise of the month in Minneapolis is 6:54 AM on April 1 and the earliest sunrise is 50 minutes earlier at 6:04 AM on April 30.

The earliest sunset is 7:40 PM on April 1 and the latest sunset is 37 minutes later at 8:17 PM on April 30.

Daylight saving time is observed in Minneapolis during 2023, but it neither starts nor ends during April, so the entire month is in daylight saving time.

For reference, on June 21, the longest day of the year, the Sun rises at 5:26 AM and sets 15 hours, 37 minutes later, at 9:03 PM, while on December 22, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 7:48 AM and sets 8 hours, 46 minutes later, at 4:34 PM.

The figure below presents a compact representation of the sun's elevation (the angle of the sun above the horizon) and azimuth (its compass bearing) for every hour of every day in the reporting period. The horizontal axis is the day of the year and the vertical axis is the hour of the day. For a given day and hour of that day, the background color indicates the azimuth of the sun at that moment. The black isolines are contours of constant solar elevation.

The figure below presents a compact representation of key lunar data for April 2023. The horizontal axis is the day, the vertical axis is the hour of the day, and the colored areas indicate when the moon is above the horizon. The vertical gray bars (new Moons) and blue bars (full Moons) indicate key Moon phases. The label associated with each bar indicates the date and time that the phase is obtained, and the companion time labels indicate the rise and set times of the Moon for the nearest time interval in which the moon is above the horizon.

We base the humidity comfort level on the dew point, as it determines whether perspiration will evaporate from the skin, thereby cooling the body. Lower dew points feel drier and higher dew points feel more humid. Unlike temperature, which typically varies significantly between night and day, dew point tends to change more slowly, so while the temperature may drop at night, a muggy day is typically followed by a muggy night.

The chance that a given day will be muggy in Minneapolis is essentially constant during April, remaining around 0% throughout.

For reference, on July 21, the muggiest day of the year, there are muggy conditions 31% of the time, while on January 1, the least muggy day of the year, there are muggy conditions 0% of the time.

This section discusses the wide-area hourly average wind vector (speed and direction) at 10 meters above the ground. The wind experienced at any given location is highly dependent on local topography and other factors, and instantaneous wind speed and direction vary more widely than hourly averages.

The average hourly wind speed in Minneapolis is gradually decreasing during April, decreasing from 11.2 miles per hour to 10.6 miles per hour over the course of the month.

For reference, on March 23, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 11.2 miles per hour, while on August 2, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 7.3 miles per hour.

The hourly average wind direction in Minneapolis throughout April is predominantly from the north, with a peak proportion of 34% on April 2.

Definitions of the growing season vary throughout the world, but for the purposes of this report, we define it as the longest continuous period of non-freezing temperatures (≥ 32°F) in the year (the calendar year in the Northern Hemisphere, or from July 1 until June 30 in the Southern Hemisphere).

The growing season in Minneapolis typically lasts for 5.6 months (170 days), from around April 23 to around October 10, rarely starting before April 6 or after May 10, and rarely ending before September 21 or after October 30.

During April in Minneapolis, the chance that a given day is within the growing season is very rapidly increasing rising from 5% to 68% over the course of the month.

Growing degree days are a measure of yearly heat accumulation used to predict plant and animal development, and defined as the integral of warmth above a base temperature, discarding any excess above a maximum temperature. In this report, we use a base of 50°F and a cap of 86°F.

The average accumulated growing degree days in Minneapolis are gradually increasing during April, increasing by 113°F, from 24°F to 137°F, over the course of the month.

This section discusses the total daily incident shortwave solar energy reaching the surface of the ground over a wide area, taking full account of seasonal variations in the length of the day, the elevation of the Sun above the horizon, and absorption by clouds and other atmospheric constituents. Shortwave radiation includes visible light and ultraviolet radiation.

The average daily incident shortwave solar energy in Minneapolis is increasing during April, rising by 1.1 kWh, from 4.5 kWh to 5.7 kWh, over the course of the month.

For the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Minneapolis are 44.980 deg latitude, -93.264 deg longitude, and 833 ft elevation.

The topography within 2 miles of Minneapolis contains only modest variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 200 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 833 feet. Within 10 miles also contains only modest variations in elevation (407 feet). Within 50 miles contains only modest variations in elevation (709 feet).

The area within 2 miles of Minneapolis is covered by artificial surfaces (88%), within 10 miles by artificial surfaces (85%), and within 50 miles by cropland (65%) and trees (18%).