Bowness is drier than 82% of Canadian towns: 445 mm of rain and snow a year
Midwinter brings lows of about −13.5°C. June is the wettest month, January the driest. Its July afternoons stay fresher than in 80% of Canadian towns. Frost comes on about 193 days a year, so leave time to clear the car.
Figures: ECCC’s 1991–2020 normals for Calgary (Airport) (13 km east).
A year in Bowness at a glance
Each month’s typical high and low, in °C.
What stands out about Bowness’s climate
Compared with Canadian towns, with its place among towns of 2,500+ in Alberta beside it.
What a year in Bowness feels like
Typical highs and lows by season and by month, from ECCC’s 1991–2020 normals.
193 frost days and 87 days above 20°C a year
The frost season runs September to May, and December freezes nearly every night. Deep cold, under −20°C, comes on about 22 nights a year.
Frost days by month
Average days at 0°C or below
Days above 20°C by month
Average days
Rain and melted snow: about 445 mm a year
Some 72 days a year see 1 mm of rain or snow or more.
Rain and snow by month
Millimetres
Rain alone by month
Millimetres
Snowfall: about 139 cm in a normal year
From September to May snow is likely; March is the peak, at about 24 cm.
Snowfall by month
Centimetres
Snow on the ground by month
Centimetres at month’s end
Heating a home in Bowness
85% of a year’s heating need falls between October and April. Months averaging under 10°C: October to May.
Behind the figure: the degrees each day’s mean falls under 18°C, summed for the year. That means homes here need more heating than 68% of Canadian towns.
Living with Bowness’s climate
What the normals mean for a garden, a day outside and the depth of winter.
Wait until about 21 May to plant out; frost tends to come back around 18 September, about 119 days later.
Warm afternoons without cold nights, 17–27°C and 8°C or more, mark Jul and Aug.
Parks & trails →Count on some 42 days a year when the wind makes it feel below −20.
About 9 days a year feel above 30 on the humidex.
Ice storms, floods and heat waves are risks, not averages: they are on Bowness’s hazards page.
Flood & hazards →ECCC’s normals location: Calgary (Airport)
ECCC builds the Calgary (Airport) normals from 2 stations’ records over 1991–2020, joined where one replaced another.
| Distance from the town | 13 km east |
| Station altitude | 1,099 m |
| Completeness | at least 20 years |
| WMO standard normals | No |
| Coldest reading, 1991–2020 | −39.7°C |
| Hottest reading, 1991–2020 | 36.5°C |
| Average wind | 13.8 km/h on average, most often from the south |
| Next-nearest location | Sundre, 84 km |
How Bowness compares
Against the 2,611 Canadian towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500 or more, each read from its own normals location; the dots are the other locations those towns use in Alberta.
Nearby towns’ climate
Places around Bowness whose figures come from another normals location. Bowness has few close neighbours with figures, so the list reaches 47–68 km out.
| Town | July high | January low | Rain & snow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bowness Calgary (Airport) | 23.5°C | −13.5°C | 445 mm |
| Stoney 142, 143, 144 47 km · Banff | 22.5°C 1.0°C cooler | −13.5°C about the same | 454 mm |
| Carstairs 52 km · Sundre | 22.8°C 0.7°C cooler | −18.0°C 4.5°C colder | 496 mm |
| Wheatland County 68 km · Queenstown | 25.0°C 1.5°C warmer | −13.7°C about the same | 412 mm |
Bowness weather by month
Month by month, 1991–2020: the usual high, low and mean, the rain and snow, and the snowfall.
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Rain & snow | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | −1.5°C | −13.5°C | −7.6°C | 10 mm | 17 cm |
| February | 0.1°C | −11.8°C | −5.9°C | 12 mm | 17 cm |
| March | 3.8°C | −8.1°C | −2.2°C | 18 mm | 24 cm |
| April | 10.8°C | −1.9°C | 4.5°C | 30 mm | 23 cm |
| May | 16.4°C | 3.4°C | 9.9°C | 61 mm | 10 cm |
| June | 19.7°C | 7.7°C | 13.7°C | 113 mm | under 1 cm |
| July | 23.5°C | 10.2°C | 16.9°C | 66 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 23.1°C | 9.2°C | 16.2°C | 54 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 18.3°C | 4.7°C | 11.5°C | 37 mm | 2 cm |
| October | 11.1°C | −1.3°C | 4.9°C | 17 mm | 12 cm |
| November | 4.1°C | −7.5°C | −1.7°C | 16 mm | 19 cm |
| December | −0.4°C | −12.1°C | −6.3°C | 13 mm | 16 cm |
| Year | 10.8°C | −1.8°C | 4.5°C | 445 mm | 139 cm |
From −38.2°C to 19.5°C: December’s coldest and warmest days since 1991
The month to count on least is February: one year in three its average strays more than 4.1°C from −5.9°C. June moves least, typically by 1.1°C.
Where Bowness’s numbers come from
Averages over 30 years, not a forecast.
- Normals: Environment and Climate Change Canada’s 1991–2020 normals, Calgary (Airport): the nearest of its locations with every month’s temperatures.
- Comparisons: every place of 2,500+ in Canada but the city hubs and the reserves, each on its nearest ECCC location.
- Not on this page: hours of sunshine, missing from the 1991–2020 normals, and a height correction: the town has no elevation on file.
Canadian Climate Normals 1991–2020 · ECCC Data Services End-use Licence. Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada
Questions about Bowness’s climate
How warm does Bowness get in summer?
Afternoons average 23.5°C in July, the warmest time of year.
How cold does Bowness get in winter?
Winter bottoms out in January, with lows near −13.5°C.
How much rain and snow does Bowness get?
Some 445 mm falls in a year. Most of it comes in June (113 mm), the least in January (10 mm).
How long does snow stay on the ground?
On about 93 days a year the ground keeps at least 1 cm of snow.
Are these figures for Bowness itself?
Nearly: Calgary (Airport), the location behind them, sits just beyond Bowness’s boundary.
Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada · ECCC Data Services End-use Licence Today’s forecast for Bowness →
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).