April Weather in Anchorage Alaska, United States

Daily high temperatures increase by 12°F, from 41°F to 53°F, rarely falling below 32°F or exceeding 59°F.

Daily low temperatures increase by 11°F, from 26°F to 37°F, rarely falling below 15°F or exceeding 42°F.

For reference, on July 19, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in Anchorage typically range from 55°F to 68°F, while on January 17, the coldest day of the year, they range from 13°F to 23°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.

Lena, Norway (3,957 miles away) and Petrozavodsk, Russia (3,939 miles) are the far-away foreign places with temperatures most similar to Anchorage (view comparison).

© OpenStreetMap contributors

Compare Anchorage to another city:

CompareMap

The month of April in Anchorage experiences gradually increasing cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy increasing from 54% to 59%. The highest chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 60% on April 29.

The clearest day of the month is April 1, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 46% of the time.

For reference, on December 17, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 63%, while on March 15, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 48%.

A wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. In Anchorage, the chance of a wet day over the course of April is essentially constant, remaining around 13% throughout.

For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 39% on September 26, and its lowest chance is 13% on March 27.

Over the course of April in Anchorage, the chance of a day with only rain increases from 8% to 13%, the chance of a day with mixed snow and rain remains an essentially constant 1% throughout, and the chance of a day with only snow decreases from 3% to 0%.

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 Anchorage is gradually increasing, starting the month at 0.4 inches, when it rarely exceeds 0.9 inches, and ending the month at 0.7 inches, when it rarely exceeds 1.3 inches or falls below 0.2 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 Anchorage is decreasing, starting the month at 1.9 inches, when it rarely exceeds 4.8 inches, and ending the month at 0.3 inches, when it rarely exceeds 1.2 inches or falls below -0.0 inches.

Over the course of April in Anchorage, the length of the day is very rapidly increasing. From the start to the end of the month, the length of the day increases by 2 hours, 45 minutes, implying an average daily increase of 5 minutes, 42 seconds, and weekly increase of 39 minutes, 54 seconds.

The shortest day of the month is April 1, with 13 hours, 27 minutes of daylight and the longest day is April 30, with 16 hours, 13 minutes of daylight.

The latest sunrise of the month in Anchorage is 7:20 AM on April 1 and the earliest sunrise is 1 hour, 29 minutes earlier at 5:51 AM on April 30.

The earliest sunset is 8:47 PM on April 1 and the latest sunset is 1 hour, 16 minutes later at 10:03 PM on April 30.

Daylight saving time is observed in Anchorage during 2024, but it neither starts nor ends during April, so the entire month is in standard time.

For reference, on June 20, the longest day of the year, the Sun rises at 4:20 AM and sets 19 hours, 23 minutes later, at 11:42 PM, while on December 21, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 10:14 AM and sets 5 hours, 27 minutes later, at 3:41 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 2024. 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 Anchorage is essentially constant during April, remaining around 0% throughout.

For reference, on June 18, the muggiest day of the year, there are muggy conditions 0% 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 Anchorage is gradually decreasing during April, decreasing from 5.6 miles per hour to 5.1 miles per hour over the course of the month.

For reference, on January 8, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 6.6 miles per hour, while on July 5, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 4.2 miles per hour.

The hourly average wind direction in Anchorage throughout April is predominantly from the east, with a peak proportion of 43% on April 14.

Anchorage is located near a large body of water (e.g., ocean, sea, or large lake). This section reports on the wide-area average surface temperature of that water.

The average surface water temperature in Anchorage is gradually increasing during April, rising by 2°F, from 32°F to 34°F, over the course of the month.

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 Anchorage typically lasts for 5.1 months (156 days), from around April 24 to around September 28, rarely starting before April 9 or after May 11, and rarely ending before September 10 or after October 14.

During April in Anchorage, the chance that a given day is within the growing season is very rapidly increasing rising from 2% to 66% 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 Anchorage are essentially constant during April, remaining within 4°F of 4°F throughout.

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 Anchorage is increasing during April, rising by 1.3 kWh, from 3.4 kWh to 4.7 kWh, over the course of the month.