Photo: chensiyuan · CC BY-SA 4.0Few Canadian towns get more frosts than Improvement District No. 9 Banff
In July the day’s top temperature is typically 22.5°C. A year here swings 36°C from midwinter lows to midsummer highs. Summers stay cool: July afternoons here are cooler than in 96% of Canadian towns. About 91 days a year bring 1 mm of precipitation or more.
Measured at Banff, 49 km south-east: ECCC’s normals for 1991–2020.
A year in Improvement District No. 9 Banff at a glance
Each month’s typical high and low, in °C.
What stands out about Improvement District No. 9 Banff’s climate
Compared with Canadian towns, with its place among towns of 2,500+ in Alberta beside it.
What a year in Improvement District No. 9 Banff feels like
Typical highs and lows by season and by month, from ECCC’s 1991–2020 normals.
About 220 frosts and 67 warm days a year
From August to June frost is routine, and in December it comes on almost every night. Some 23 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 454 mm a year
June is the wettest month and February the driest.
Rain and snow by month
Millimetres
Rain alone by month
Millimetres
184 cm of snow in a typical year
Snow falls from September to June, most of all in April (about 30 cm). 5th snowiest of 475 towns of 2,500+ in Alberta.
Snowfall by month
Centimetres
Heating a home in Improvement District No. 9 Banff
82% of a year’s heating need falls between October and April. Months averaging under 10°C: September to May.
Every day colder than 18°C on average adds its gap in degrees to the year’s heating total. In heating terms, homes need more heating than 83% of Canadian towns.
Living with Improvement District No. 9 Banff’s climate
What the normals mean for a garden, a day outside and the depth of winter.
Count on about 64 frost-free days: the last frost averages 19 June, the first 23 August.
No month here brings highs of 17–27°C together with nights of 8°C or more.
Parks & trails →The wind chill passes −20 on about 39 days in a normal year.
Count on some 3 humid days a year with the humidex past 30.
Storms, floods and heat waves sit outside these normals; Improvement District No. 9 Banff’s hazards page covers them.
Flood & hazards →ECCC’s normals location: Banff
Behind the 1991–2020 normals for Banff are 3 stations, which ECCC combines into one record.
| Distance from the town | 49 km south-east |
| Station altitude | 1,397 m |
| Completeness | meets the WMO “3 and 5” rule |
| WMO standard normals | No |
| Coldest reading, 1991–2020 | −44.2°C |
| Hottest reading, 1991–2020 | 34.2°C |
| Average wind | 8.2 km/h on average, most often from the south-west |
| Next-nearest location | Golden, 61 km |
How Improvement District No. 9 Banff compares
Placed among 2,611 Canadian towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500+, each on its nearest normals location; each dot is another location used in Alberta.
Nearby towns’ climate
Places around Improvement District No. 9 Banff whose figures come from another normals location. Distances here run 61–118 km: that is how far the nearest places with figures are from Improvement District No. 9 Banff.
| Town | July high | January low | Rain & snow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Improvement District No. 9 Banff Banff | 22.5°C | −13.5°C | 454 mm |
| Golden 61 km · Golden | 25.4°C 2.9°C warmer | −10.9°C 2.6°C milder | 457 mm |
| Sundre 110 km · Sundre | 22.8°C about the same | −18.0°C 4.5°C colder | 496 mm |
| Cochrane 118 km · Calgary (Airport) | 23.5°C 1.0°C warmer | −13.5°C about the same | 445 mm |
Improvement District No. 9 Banff 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 | −3.5°C | −13.5°C | −8.5°C | 19 mm | 21 cm |
| February | −0.5°C | −12.6°C | −6.6°C | 19 mm | 20 cm |
| March | 3.7°C | −8.2°C | −2.2°C | 29 mm | 25 cm |
| April | 9.0°C | −3.5°C | 2.8°C | 39 mm | 30 cm |
| May | 14.3°C | 0.5°C | 7.4°C | 50 mm | 12 cm |
| June | 17.9°C | 4.4°C | 11.2°C | 73 mm | 2 cm |
| July | 22.5°C | 6.8°C | 14.7°C | 47 mm | under 1 cm |
| August | 22.1°C | 5.8°C | 14.0°C | 47 mm | under 1 cm |
| September | 16.7°C | 2.2°C | 9.4°C | 45 mm | 8 cm |
| October | 9.1°C | −2.4°C | 3.4°C | 36 mm | 17 cm |
| November | 0.6°C | −8.2°C | −3.8°C | 28 mm | 25 cm |
| December | −4.6°C | −13.4°C | −9.0°C | 23 mm | 23 cm |
| Year | 8.9°C | −3.5°C | 2.7°C | 454 mm | 184 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; March’s run from −38.5°C in 2019 to 20.0°C in 2004.
Where Improvement District No. 9 Banff’s numbers come from
Averages over 30 years, not a forecast.
- Normals: the closest ECCC location with twelve months of temperature normals, Banff, 1991–2020.
- 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 Improvement District No. 9 Banff’s climate
How warm does Improvement District No. 9 Banff get in summer?
The warmest month is July, when afternoons average 22.5°C.
How cold does Improvement District No. 9 Banff get in winter?
In January, the coldest month, the typical low is −13.5°C.
How much rain and snow does Improvement District No. 9 Banff get?
The yearly total is about 454 mm. June gets 73 mm, the most of any month; February gets 19 mm, the least.
Are these figures for Improvement District No. 9 Banff itself?
Yes: they are ECCC’s 1991–2020 normals for Banff, a location inside Improvement District No. 9 Banff.
Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada · ECCC Data Services End-use Licence Today’s forecast for Improvement District No. 9 Banff →
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).