York is drier than 90% of Canadian towns: 423 mm of rain and snow a year
On a normal January night the air cools to about −14.7°C. By July afternoons alone, it runs cooler than 80% of Canadian towns. Precipitation peaks in July and eases off in February. Have the furnace checked before October to April, the months that average under 10°C.
Read at Edmonton (City), 6.8 km south-west: ECCC’s normals for 1991–2020.
A year in York at a glance
Each month’s typical high and low, in °C.
What stands out about York’s climate
Compared with Canadian towns, with its place among towns of 2,500+ in Alberta beside it.
What a year in York feels like
Each season’s and each month’s usual high and low, 1991–2020.
Frost on 179 days, 20°C on 90
From September to May frost is routine, and in January it comes on almost every night. Deep cold, under −20°C, comes on about 24 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 423 mm a year
About 72 days a year bring 1 mm or more.
Rain and snow by month
Millimetres
Rain alone by month
Millimetres
124 cm of snow in a typical year
Snow falls from October to May, most of all in January (about 26 cm).
Snowfall by month
Centimetres
Snow on the ground by month
Centimetres at month’s end
Heating a home in York
89% of a year’s heating need falls between October and April. Months averaging under 10°C: October to April.
Think of it as a year’s worth of daily shortfalls below 18°C, added up. In heating terms, homes need more heating than 76% of Canadian towns.
Living with York’s climate
The averages read for the garden, the outdoors and the coldest and hottest days.
On average the last spring frost comes around 7 May and the first autumn frost around 25 September: about 141 frost-free days between.
The comfortable months for a day outside, highs of 17–27°C and nights of 8°C or more: Jun, Jul and Aug.
Parks & trails →The wind chill passes −20 on about 50 days in a normal year.
Expect around 11 sticky days a year with the humidex above 30.
Ice storms, floods and heat waves are risks, not averages: they are on York’s hazards page.
Flood & hazards →ECCC’s normals location: Edmonton (City)
ECCC builds the Edmonton (City) normals from 3 stations’ records over 1991–2020, joined where one replaced another.
| Distance from the town | 6.8 km south-west |
| Station altitude | 671 m |
| Completeness | meets the WMO “3 and 5” rule |
| WMO standard normals | No |
| Coldest reading, 1991–2020 | −37.8°C |
| Hottest reading, 1991–2020 | 34.9°C |
| Average wind | 12.2 km/h on average, most often from the west |
| Next-nearest location | Fort Saskatchewan, 21 km |
How York 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
Nearby places read from a different ECCC location (places on York’s own would show the same figures). Distances here run 16–28 km: that is how far the nearest places with figures are from York.
| Town | July high | January low | Rain & snow |
|---|---|---|---|
| York Edmonton (City) | 23.5°C | −14.7°C | 423 mm |
| Fort Saskatchewan 16 km · Fort Saskatchewan | 23.6°C about the same | −17.8°C 3.1°C colder | 473 mm |
| Beaumont 28 km · Edmonton (Airport) | 23.0°C 0.5°C cooler | −18.1°C 3.4°C colder | 434 mm |
York weather by month
Each month’s normals, 1991–2020: high, low, mean, precipitation and snowfall.
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Rain & snow | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | −5.8°C | −14.7°C | −10.3°C | 20 mm | 26 cm |
| February | −3.0°C | −12.7°C | −7.9°C | 12 mm | 13 cm |
| March | 1.7°C | −7.8°C | −3.1°C | 17 mm | 19 cm |
| April | 10.4°C | −0.7°C | 4.9°C | 29 mm | 15 cm |
| May | 17.5°C | 5.6°C | 11.6°C | 44 mm | 5 cm |
| June | 21.0°C | 10.2°C | 15.6°C | 70 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 23.5°C | 12.6°C | 18.1°C | 83 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 22.6°C | 11.3°C | 17.0°C | 61 mm | under 1 cm |
| September | 17.6°C | 6.2°C | 11.9°C | 39 mm | 1 cm |
| October | 10.0°C | −0.1°C | 5.0°C | 21 mm | 11 cm |
| November | 0.6°C | −7.5°C | −3.5°C | 18 mm | 20 cm |
| December | −4.7°C | −13.2°C | −9.0°C | 12 mm | 15 cm |
| Year | 9.3°C | −0.9°C | 4.2°C | 423 mm | 124 cm |
March has run from −34.0°C to 23.9°C in thirty years
From one year to the next, February’s average typically shifts by 4.2°C around its normal of −7.9°C, the widest of any month, while June’s shifts by 1.0°C.
Where York’s numbers come from
Averages over 30 years, not a forecast.
- Normals: the 1991–2020 Canadian Climate Normals at Edmonton (City), the closest ECCC location with twelve months of temperature normals.
- Comparisons: all Canadian places of 2,500 or more except city totals and reserves, each read the same way.
- Not on this page: sunshine, absent from every 1991–2020 location, and an altitude correction, for want of the town’s own elevation.
Canadian Climate Normals 1991–2020 · ECCC Data Services End-use Licence. Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada
Questions about York’s climate
How warm does York get in summer?
On a normal day in July the thermometer climbs to 23.5°C, the warmest of the year.
How cold does York get in winter?
Deep winter means January, when nights average −14.7°C.
How much rain and snow does York get?
The yearly total is about 423 mm. July gets 83 mm, the most of any month; February gets 12 mm, the least.
Are these figures for York itself?
They are the normals for Edmonton (City), measured just outside York itself.
Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada · ECCC Data Services End-use Licence Today’s forecast for York →
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).