Dry weather: only 445 mm of rain and snow a year falls on Sunnyside, less than on 82% of Canadian towns
The warmest part of a July day comes in at 23.5°C on average. By July afternoons alone, it runs cooler than 80% of Canadian towns. Rain or snow is most frequent in June and least in January. Windshields need scraping on about 193 mornings a year, the days the air reaches 0°C or below.
Read at Calgary (Airport), 8.5 km north-east: ECCC’s normals for 1991–2020.
A year in Sunnyside at a glance
Each month’s typical high and low, in °C.
What stands out about Sunnyside’s climate
Compared with Canadian towns, with its place among towns of 2,500+ in Alberta beside it.
What a year in Sunnyside feels like
Seasons and months as ECCC’s 1991–2020 normals give them: a typical day’s high and low.
Frost on 193 days, 20°C on 87
The frost season runs September to May, and December freezes nearly every night. Some 22 nights a year drop under −20°C.
Frost days by month
Average days at 0°C or below
Days above 20°C by month
Average days
About 445 mm of rain and snow 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
The snow season runs September to May; March brings the most, about 24 cm.
Snowfall by month
Centimetres
Snow on the ground by month
Centimetres at month’s end
Heating a home in Sunnyside
85% of a year’s heating need falls between October and April. Months averaging under 10°C: October to May.
Warm days count for nothing; each colder day adds how far its mean sits below 18°C. Over a year, a home here needs more heating than 68% of Canadian towns.
Living with Sunnyside’s climate
The averages read for the garden, the outdoors and the coldest and hottest days.
The growing season between frosts lasts about 119 days, roughly 21 May to 18 September.
The comfortable months for a day outside, highs of 17–27°C and nights of 8°C or more: Jul and Aug.
Parks & trails →Wind chill falls below −20 on about 42 days a year: cover skin and dress in layers.
Humid heat, a humidex over 30, comes on about 9 days a year.
Averages smooth over blizzards, ice storms, floods and heat waves; Sunnyside’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 | 8.5 km north-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, 91 km |
How Sunnyside 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 Sunnyside’s would only repeat its figures. Sunnyside has few close neighbours with figures, so the list reaches 55–73 km out.
| Town | July high | January low | Rain & snow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sunnyside Calgary (Airport) | 23.5°C | −13.5°C | 445 mm |
| Carstairs 55 km · Sundre | 22.8°C 0.7°C cooler | −18.0°C 4.5°C colder | 496 mm |
| Stoney 142, 143, 144 56 km · Banff | 22.5°C 1.0°C cooler | −13.5°C about the same | 454 mm |
| Wheatland County 59 km · Queenstown | 25.0°C 1.5°C warmer | −13.7°C about the same | 412 mm |
Sunnyside 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 |
February varies most from one year to the next (4.1°C), June least
The thirty-year records stretch furthest in December: a low of −38.2°C in 1996 and a high of 19.5°C in 1999.
Where Sunnyside’s numbers come from
Averages over 30 years, not a forecast.
- Normals: the Canadian Climate Normals, 1991–2020, at Calgary (Airport) (the closest location with all twelve months of temperatures).
- Comparisons: every Canadian town and neighbourhood of 2,500 or more, each read from its own nearest location; city totals and reserves are left out.
- Not on this page: sunshine, not in ECCC’s 1991–2020 normals, and the effect of the town’s height, for which there is no figure.
Canadian Climate Normals 1991–2020 · ECCC Data Services End-use Licence. Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada
Questions about Sunnyside’s climate
How warm does Sunnyside get in summer?
At its warmest, in July, the normal high is 23.5°C.
How cold does Sunnyside get in winter?
Overnight lows average −13.5°C in January, the coldest month.
How much rain and snow does Sunnyside get?
A normal year brings 445 mm, snow included as water: June is wettest at 113 mm, January driest at 10 mm.
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 Sunnyside itself?
Almost: ECCC’s Calgary (Airport) location, which gives these figures, lies a short way outside Sunnyside.
Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada · ECCC Data Services End-use Licence Today’s forecast for Sunnyside →
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).