Today’s field call
Concrete weather in Des Moines today
Concrete is all about the pour and the cure — rain during placement, plastic-shrinkage cracking in hot dry wind, and a freeze before it sets are the three ways weather ruins a slab.
Limited
Use caution for concrete across Des Moines today — rain during cure (largely set). Worth a real check.
Des Moines metro-wide · your exact area can run different
Cure-window call: it can be clear on the ground right now and still be a no-go — the work needs dry, settled weather through the cure window, so rain moving in later today or tonight rules it out.
Hour-by-hour, work hours. • = workable, precaution applies.
Forecast refreshed each morning.
All 6 spots we forecast in Des Moines
| Location | Today | Why & rain odds |
|---|---|---|
| Central metro | ||
| Downtown Des Moines | Limited | rain during cure (largely set) |
| West Des Moines | Limited | rain during cure (largely set) |
| Altoona / Pleasant Hill | Limited | rain during the critical cure window |
| North metro | ||
| Ankeny | Limited | rain during the critical cure window |
| Johnston / Urbandale | Limited | rain during cure (largely set) |
| South metro | ||
| Indianola | Limited | rain during cure (largely set) |
Chance = odds, over work hours, of rain heavy enough to disrupt a concrete day. Not recommended is our call, not a rule — the risk to the work is real, so we'd wait; limited means it's workable with care. Either way it's your crew, so check the sky and radar before you commit.
This is today's snapshot. The next 7 days for your area — the closest point we forecast to your ZIP, with the reasons behind every caution and stop, refreshed each morning — are what the free Sunday brief delivers.
What's driving the today call
What's limiting work
- rain during cure (largely set)
- rain during the critical cure window
Precautions & technique
- evaporation at the action line — plan fog spray, esp. blended cements
Forecast-derived estimate, not a live sensor reading.
What the temperature means for concrete today
Today's 87° high is about normal for July (a 85° typical). See the breakdown above for what's driving the call today.
Source≈10-yr ERA5 reanalysis (Open-Meteo), 2015–2024
Get the full 7-day concrete plan for your ZIP
Your area's likely workdays, caution windows, and weather stops — with the reasons — before you schedule the crew.
Next 7 days, Des Moines-wide
This is the metro-wide shape. The free Sunday brief pins each day to the area we forecast nearest your ZIP — with the reasons behind every caution and stop — for every trade you run.
What controls a concrete day in Des Moines
Around Des Moines, the concrete calendar tracks the weather more than the date — Des Moines sees cold freeze-thaw winters and warm, humid summers. Hot, dry, windy stretches are when to watch plastic-shrinkage cracking, and if it turns cold, cold-weather protection comes in.
Most of these thresholds trace to the manufacturer specs and industry standards cited above; where no published number exists, we use a clearly-labeled conservative cutoff. Either way the physics is the same anywhere. What's specific to Des Moines is when they line up, which is exactly what the live area-by-area call at the top of this page tracks each day.
When concrete gets tricky in Des Moines
The wettest stretch here is typically May — the hardest time to line up a dry concrete cure window. And from Dec–Feb, average highs sit near or below 40°F — cold-weather protection (blankets, heat) becomes the norm, and an early freeze can undo a fresh pour. Source ≈10-yr ERA5 reanalysis (Open-Meteo), 2015–2024
Common questions
How cold is too cold to pour concrete in Des Moines?
Below about 40°F, ACI 306R cold-weather protection applies (blankets, heated enclosures) and cure slows sharply — that's a protect-the-pour trigger, not an automatic stop. The real danger is a freeze within roughly 48 hours, before the concrete reaches about 500 psi. Our call flags both the cold and an early freeze in the cure window.
Can you pour concrete before rain in Des Moines?
Rain during placement or before the surface has set marks and weakens it (ACI 301). Plan a dry window through placement and initial set — our daily call flags rain across the pour and the cure horizon.
What is the evaporation-rate warning for concrete?
Hot, dry, windy conditions pull water out of fresh concrete and cause plastic-shrinkage cracking. We compute the ACI 305R evaporation rate: around 0.1 lb/ft²/hr we flag fogging and wind-break precautions, and at 0.2 we'd wait.