Coldest Canadian Cities in Winter
Winnipeg, Manitoba has the coldest winter weather of any major Canadian city. It ranks first for the lowest average temperatures. Winnipeg also is Canada's city that most often drops to -30 degrees Celsius (-22 degrees Fahrenheit) or below and it is least likely to have a day above freezing during winter.
Other Prairie cities along with several in Ontario and Quebec round out the lists of Canada's coldest in winter.
The tables below list the major Canadian cities that rank for the lowest maximum and minimum temperature averages, the fewest freezing days and the most days of really cold weather.
The cities included in these rankings are Canada's largest metropolitan areas. These are the 33 urban regions that had over 100,000 people according to the 2011 census by Statistics Canada. The temperature data are averages of weather measurements made from 1981 to 2010.
Coldest Winter Climates
Daytime highs at Canada's coldest cities average less than -4 degrees Celsius (25 degrees Fahrenheit) during winter.
|City||High °F||High °C|
|Thunder Bay, Ontario||21||-6.2|
|Québec City, Quebec||21||-5.9|
At ten Canadian cities the nighttime lows average less than -13 °C (8.4 °F) throughout winter.
|City||Low °F||Low °C|
|Thunder Bay, Ontario||-1||-18.1|
|Québec City, Quebec||4||-15.4|
Eleven of Canada's cities can expect at least one night of -30 °C weather each winter.
|Thunder Bay, Ontario||7|
|Québec City, Quebec||1|
Fewest Winter Thaws
These Canadian cities have fewer than 30 days a winter when the temperature gets warm enough to melt ice and snow.
|Québec City, Quebec||21|
|Thunder Bay, Ontario||22|
Environment Canada. Meteorological Service of Canada. Canadian Climate Normals. 1981-2010 Climate Normals & Averages.