Average Annual Precipitation for Iowa

The tables below give yearly averages for rainfall plus snowfall at cities, communities and other locations around Iowa.

Each place has a total for the amount of precipitation it usually receives in a year. There is also a count of the number of days with wet weather, when precipitation amounts to 0.01 inches (0.25 millimetres) or more.

The annual precipitation totals are averages based on weather data collected from 1991 to 2020 for the US National Centers for Environmental Information.

You can jump to a separate table for each region of the state: Eastern, Central and Western Iowa.

Eastern Iowa

Average yearly precipitation
Days Place Inches Milli­metres
114 Burlington 41.0 1042
118 Cedar Rapids 38.8 984
118 Clinton 36.5 926
115 Cresco 38.0 965
124 Davenport 36.2 919
114 Decorah 37.6 955
116 Dubuque 38.8 986
109 Iowa City 38.5 977
107 Keokuk 39.8 1010
114 Waterloo 36.3 922

Central Iowa

Annual averages for rainfall plus snowfall
Days Place Inches Milli­metres
103 Ames 35.9 912
113 Des Moines 36.6 928
101 Fort Dodge 35.1 891
105 Marshalltown 37.9 962
116 Mason City 36.3 921
109 Ottumwa 37.0 939

Western Iowa

Average amount of rain and snow a year
Days Place Inches Milli­metres
106 Carroll 33.7 856
92 Lake Park 31.4 798
88 Milford 29.5 749
75 Onawa 29.9 758
94 Shenandoah 36.4 924
102 Sioux City 29.3 743
79 Spirit Lake 29.1 738
Reference

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI). Climate Normals.

Iowa Precipitation
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