Citadel is drier than 82% of Canadian towns: 445 mm of rain and snow a year
The depth of winter brings overnight lows near −13.5°C. Rain or snow is most frequent in June and least in January. By July afternoons alone, it runs cooler than 80% of Canadian towns. Expect about 193 frosty starts a year, days when the air falls to freezing.
Figures: ECCC’s 1991–2020 normals for Calgary (Airport) (12 km east).
A year in Citadel at a glance
Each month’s typical high and low, in °C.
What stands out about Citadel’s climate
Compared with Canadian towns, with its place among towns of 2,500+ in Alberta beside it.
What a year in Citadel feels like
Each season’s and each month’s usual high and low, 1991–2020.
About 193 frosts and 87 warm days 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
About 72 days a year bring 1 mm or more.
Rain and snow by month
Millimetres
Rain alone by month
Millimetres
139 cm of snow in a typical 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 Citadel
85% of a year’s heating need falls between October and April. Months averaging under 10°C: October to May.
The total grows by a degree for every degree a day’s mean sits under 18°C. Over a year, a home here needs more heating than 68% of Canadian towns.
Living with Citadel’s climate
The averages read for the garden, the outdoors and the coldest and hottest days.
On average the last spring frost comes around 21 May and the first autumn frost around 18 September: about 119 frost-free days between.
Warm afternoons without cold nights, 17–27°C and 8°C or more, mark Jul and Aug.
Parks & trails →On some 42 days a year the wind chill drops past −20; mitts and a scarf earn their place.
About 9 days a year turn sultry, with the humidex past 30.
Averages smooth over blizzards, ice storms, floods and heat waves; Citadel’s hazards page covers the risks.
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 | 12 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, 79 km |
How Citadel 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
The nearest places on a normals location of their own: those that share Citadel’s would only repeat its figures. Distances here run 46–68 km: that is how far the nearest places with figures are from Citadel.
| Town | July high | January low | Rain & snow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Citadel Calgary (Airport) | 23.5°C | −13.5°C | 445 mm |
| Carstairs 46 km · Sundre | 22.8°C 0.7°C cooler | −18.0°C 4.5°C colder | 496 mm |
| Stoney 142, 143, 144 47 km · Banff | 22.5°C 1.0°C cooler | −13.5°C about the same | 454 mm |
| Wheatland County 68 km · Queenstown | 25.0°C 1.5°C warmer | −13.7°C about the same | 412 mm |
Citadel weather by month
Each month’s normals, 1991–2020: high, low, mean, precipitation and 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 |
February strays furthest from its normal year to year, by 4.1°C; June the least
Each bar spans a month’s coldest and warmest readings over thirty years; December’s run from −38.2°C in 1996 to 19.5°C in 1999.
Where Citadel’s numbers come from
Averages over 30 years, not a forecast.
- Normals: the closest ECCC location with twelve months of temperature normals, Calgary (Airport), 1991–2020.
- Comparisons: the towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500+ across Canada, each on its nearest normals location, without the city totals or the reserves.
- 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 Citadel’s climate
How warm does Citadel get in summer?
Summer peaks in July: a typical afternoon reaches 23.5°C.
How cold does Citadel get in winter?
Overnight lows average −13.5°C in January, the coldest month.
How much rain and snow does Citadel get?
Measured as water, a year brings 445 mm: 113 mm in June, the wettest month, and 10 mm in January, the driest.
How long does snow stay on the ground?
About 93 days a year have 1 cm of snow or more on the ground.
Are these figures for Citadel itself?
Close to it: they are ECCC’s 1991–2020 normals for Calgary (Airport), just outside Citadel’s boundary.
Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada · ECCC Data Services End-use Licence Today’s forecast for Citadel →
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).