Photo: Wilson Hui from Calgary, Canada · CC BY 2.0Grimshaw is among the driest of Canadian towns: 384 mm of rain and snow a year
Midwinter brings lows of about −20.1°C. Frost is common: about 206 nights a year drop below freezing, more than in 96% of Canadian towns. A year here swings 43°C from midwinter lows to midsummer highs. The furnace earns its keep from September to April, the months that average under 10°C.
Grimshaw has no ECCC normals station of its own: every figure here comes from Peace River, 11 km north-east.
A year in Grimshaw at a glance
Each month’s typical high and low, in °C.
What stands out about Grimshaw’s climate
Compared with Canadian towns, with its place among towns of 2,500+ in Alberta beside it.
What a year in Grimshaw feels like
Each season’s and each month’s usual high and low, 1991–2020.
About 206 frosts and 79 warm days a year
From September to May frost is routine, and in January it comes on almost every night. Some 45 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
Rain and melted snow: about 384 mm a year
The most falls in June, the least in February. Some 76 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 128 cm in a normal year
Snow falls from September to May, most of all in January (about 25 cm).
Snowfall by month
Centimetres
Snow on the ground by month
Centimetres at month’s end
Heating a home in Grimshaw
87% of a year’s heating need falls between October and April. Months averaging under 10°C: September to April.
A heating degree day is one degree of shortfall below 18°C for one day, summed over the year. A house here needs more heating than 98% of Canadian towns.
Living with Grimshaw’s climate
What the normals mean for a garden, a day outside and the depth of winter.
Gardens get from about 21 May to 13 September without frost, around 114 days in all.
Afternoons of 17–27°C and nights of at least 8°C arrive in Jun, Jul and Aug.
Parks & trails →Roughly 78 days a year feel colder than −20 in the wind.
Muggy heat with a humidex over 30 arrives on about 6 days a year.
Storms, floods and heat waves sit outside these normals; Grimshaw’s hazards page covers them.
Flood & hazards →ECCC’s normals location: Peace River
ECCC builds the Peace River normals from 2 stations’ records over 1991–2020, joined where one replaced another.
| Distance from the town | 11 km north-east |
| Station altitude | 571 m |
| Completeness | at least 25 years |
| WMO standard normals | No |
| Coldest reading, 1991–2020 | −46.5°C |
| Hottest reading, 1991–2020 | 33.5°C |
| Average wind | 11.9 km/h on average, most often from the south-west |
| Next-nearest location | Grande Prairie, 138 km |
How Grimshaw compares
Compared with 2,611 towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500 or more across Canada; the dots mark the other normals locations in Alberta.
Nearby towns’ climate
Places around Grimshaw whose figures come from another normals location. Grimshaw has few close neighbours with figures, so the list reaches 115–127 km out.
| Town | July high | January low | Rain & snow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grimshaw Peace River | 22.7°C | −20.1°C | 384 mm |
| Big Lakes County 115 km · Slave Lake | 21.8°C 0.9°C cooler | −18.2°C 1.9°C milder | 422 mm |
| Sexsmith 118 km · Grande Prairie | 22.7°C about the same | −19.4°C 0.7°C milder | 435 mm |
| Saddle Hills County 120 km · Dawson Creek | 22.5°C about the same | −19.4°C 0.7°C milder | 421 mm |
Grimshaw 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 | −9.9°C | −20.1°C | −15.0°C | 23 mm | 25 cm |
| February | −6.2°C | −17.2°C | −11.7°C | 13 mm | 16 cm |
| March | −0.5°C | −11.9°C | −6.2°C | 15 mm | 18 cm |
| April | 9.4°C | −2.9°C | 3.3°C | 19 mm | 11 cm |
| May | 17.1°C | 3.3°C | 10.2°C | 40 mm | 2 cm |
| June | 20.7°C | 8.1°C | 14.5°C | 68 mm | under 1 cm |
| July | 22.7°C | 9.9°C | 16.3°C | 62 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 21.8°C | 8.2°C | 15.0°C | 43 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 16.3°C | 3.3°C | 9.8°C | 40 mm | 1 cm |
| October | 8.4°C | −2.7°C | 2.9°C | 21 mm | 9 cm |
| November | −2.5°C | −11.6°C | −7.1°C | 20 mm | 21 cm |
| December | −8.2°C | −18.1°C | −13.2°C | 20 mm | 24 cm |
| Year | 7.4°C | −4.3°C | 1.6°C | 384 mm | 128 cm |
A December here can run warm or cold, its average moving by about 4.9°C; the steadiest month is June
Bars run from each month’s record low to its record high since 1991. April spans the most, from −30.6°C (2020) to 28.4°C (2016).
Where Grimshaw’s numbers come from
Averages over 30 years, not a forecast.
- Normals: the Canadian Climate Normals, 1991–2020, at Peace River (the closest location with all twelve months of temperatures).
- Comparisons: a pool of Canadian towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500 or more, read alike; whole cities and reserves stay out of it.
- Not on this page: sunshine, which none of ECCC’s 450 locations publishes for 1991–2020, and the town’s own height above sea level, so no figure is adjusted for altitude.
Canadian Climate Normals 1991–2020 · ECCC Data Services End-use Licence. Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada
Questions about Grimshaw’s climate
How warm does Grimshaw get in summer?
The warmest month is July, when afternoons average 22.7°C.
How cold does Grimshaw get in winter?
Deep winter means January, when nights average −20.1°C.
How much rain and snow does Grimshaw get?
Rain and snow, with snow counted as water, total 384 mm a year; June leads with 68 mm and February trails with 13 mm.
How long does snow stay on the ground?
Expect snow on the ground, at least 1 cm, for about 141 days a year.
Are these figures for Grimshaw itself?
Not directly: Grimshaw has no ECCC normals of its own, and Peace River stands in for it.
Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada · ECCC Data Services End-use Licence Today’s forecast for Grimshaw →
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).