Photo: Masterhatch · CC BY-SA 4.0Few Canadian towns get more frosts than Rocky Mountain House
High summer brings afternoon highs near 22.8°C. Summers stay cool: July afternoons here are cooler than in 93% of Canadian towns. Of all months, June brings the most precipitation and January the least. The heating season runs September to May: each of those months averages under 10°C.
Far-off figures: ECCC’s closest normals for Rocky Mountain House come from Sundre, 69 km south, so take them as the area’s climate.
A year in Rocky Mountain House at a glance
Each month’s typical high and low, in °C.
What stands out about Rocky Mountain House’s climate
Compared with Canadian towns, with its place among towns of 2,500+ in Alberta beside it.
What a year in Rocky Mountain House feels like
Each season’s and each month’s usual high and low, 1991–2020.
About 233 frosts and 79 warm days a year
From September to June frost is routine, and in December it comes on almost every night. On about 42 nights a year the air falls below −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 496 mm a year
On about 81 days a year, 1 mm or more falls.
Rain and snow by month
Millimetres
138 cm of snow in a typical year
The snow season runs September to May; March brings the most, about 23 cm.
Snowfall by month
Centimetres
ECCC’s Sundre normals leave snowfall out; the figures here come from Red Deer, 74 km away.
Heating a home in Rocky Mountain House
83% of a year’s heating need falls between October and April. Months averaging under 10°C: September to May.
Heating degree days total each day’s gap between its mean temperature and 18°C. A house here needs more heating than 92% of Canadian towns.
Living with Rocky Mountain House’s climate
What the normals mean for a garden, a day outside and the depth of winter.
Gardens get from about 13 June to 25 August without frost, around 72 days in all.
Even midsummer nights fall below 8°C on average, so no month meets the mild-day rule of 17–27°C by day.
Parks & trails →About 57 days a year bring a wind chill under −20, when bare skin chills fast.
Count on some 6 humid days a year with the humidex past 30.
Thirty-year normals hide the storms and the extremes: the hazards page has Rocky Mountain House’s risks.
Flood & hazards →ECCC’s normals location: Sundre
The page’s figures are ECCC’s 1991–2020 normals for Sundre, one of its 450 normals locations.
| Distance from the town | 69 km south |
| Station altitude | 1,114 m |
| Completeness | at least 20 years |
| WMO standard normals | No |
| Snowfall from | Red Deer, 74 km |
| Coldest reading, 1991–2020 | −47.7°C |
| Hottest reading, 1991–2020 | 35.6°C |
| Average wind | 7.2 km/h on average, most often from the west |
| Next-nearest location | Red Deer, 74 km |
How Rocky Mountain House 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
Places around Rocky Mountain House whose figures come from another normals location. No closer place has figures: this one lies 38 km from Rocky Mountain House.
| Town | July high | January low | Rain & snow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rocky Mountain House Sundre | 22.8°C | −18.0°C | 496 mm |
| Eckville 38 km · Red Deer | 22.9°C about the same | −17.6°C about the same | 483 mm |
Rocky Mountain House 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 | −18.0°C | −9.8°C | 13 mm | 20 cm |
| February | 0.5°C | −17.1°C | −8.3°C | 13 mm | 15 cm |
| March | 3.5°C | −11.7°C | −4.1°C | 21 mm | 23 cm |
| April | 9.7°C | −4.7°C | 2.5°C | 30 mm | 18 cm |
| May | 15.6°C | 0.3°C | 8.0°C | 63 mm | 10 cm |
| June | 19.3°C | 4.9°C | 12.1°C | 104 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 22.8°C | 7.7°C | 15.3°C | 85 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 22.0°C | 6.2°C | 14.1°C | 71 mm | under 1 cm |
| September | 17.4°C | 1.4°C | 9.4°C | 47 mm | 2 cm |
| October | 10.9°C | −4.5°C | 3.2°C | 20 mm | 10 cm |
| November | 3.4°C | −11.5°C | −4.1°C | 16 mm | 20 cm |
| December | −1.4°C | −17.2°C | −9.3°C | 16 mm | 19 cm |
| Year | 10.2°C | −5.4°C | 2.4°C | 496 mm | 138 cm |
December has run from −45.9°C to 18.6°C in thirty years
The month to count on least is February: one year in three its average strays more than 4.2°C from −8.3°C. June moves least, typically by 0.9°C.
Where Rocky Mountain House’s numbers come from
Averages over 30 years, not a forecast.
- Normals: the 1991–2020 normals from ECCC for Sundre, its nearest location with complete temperatures.
- Other locations: a location missing months of precipitation or snow is filled from the nearest that has them all, never mixed month by month.
- 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, 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 Rocky Mountain House’s climate
How warm does Rocky Mountain House get in summer?
A normal July afternoon tops out at about 22.8°C, the year’s high point.
How cold does Rocky Mountain House get in winter?
At its coldest, in January, the normal low is −18.0°C.
How much rain and snow does Rocky Mountain House get?
Some 496 mm falls in a year. Most of it comes in June (104 mm), the least in January (13 mm).
Are these figures for Rocky Mountain House itself?
They are the figures for Sundre, which read better as the region’s climate than Rocky Mountain House’s own.
Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada · ECCC Data Services End-use Licence Today’s forecast for Rocky Mountain House →
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).