Electoral Area B, Cariboo is drier than 75% of Canadian towns: 510 mm of rain and snow a year
On a normal January night the air cools to about −10.8°C. A year here swings 35°C from midwinter lows to midsummer highs. Summers stay cool: July afternoons here are cooler than in 67% of Canadian towns. Wet days, with 1 mm of rain or snow or more, come about 103 times a year.
ECCC publishes no normals for Electoral Area B, Cariboo itself; the figures are those of Quesnel, 6.3 km south-east.
A year in Electoral Area B, Cariboo at a glance
Each month’s typical high and low, in °C.
What stands out about Electoral Area B, Cariboo’s climate
Compared with Canadian towns, with its place among towns of 2,500+ in British Columbia beside it.
What a year in Electoral Area B, Cariboo feels like
Seasons and months as ECCC’s 1991–2020 normals give them: a typical day’s high and low.
About 177 frosts and 96 warm days a year
From September to May frost is routine, and in December it comes on almost every night. Deep cold, under −20°C, comes on about 13 nights a year.
Frost days by month
Average days at 0°C or below
Days above 20°C by month
Average days
About 510 mm of rain and snow a year
July brings the most rain and snow; February, the least.
Rain and snow by month
Millimetres
About 204 cm of snow a year
The snow season runs October to May; January brings the most, about 53 cm.
Snowfall by month
Centimetres
Snow on the ground by month
Centimetres at month’s end
Snowfall: Prince George, 92 km away (Quesnel records no complete year of it).
Heating a home in Electoral Area B, Cariboo
86% of a year’s heating need falls between October and April. Months averaging under 10°C: October to April.
Each day the mean sits under 18°C adds its shortfall; a year’s total is its heating degree days.
Living with Electoral Area B, Cariboo’s climate
What the normals mean for a garden, a day outside and the depth of winter.
From about 22 May to 19 September the garden is usually clear of frost, some 119 days.
Afternoons of 17–27°C and nights of at least 8°C arrive in Jul and Aug.
Parks & trails →Roughly 17 days a year feel colder than −20 in the wind.
Roughly 12 days a year feel hotter than 30 once humidity is counted.
For the weather that does damage, from ice storms to floods, see Electoral Area B, Cariboo’s hazards page.
Flood & hazards →ECCC’s normals location: Quesnel
ECCC builds the Quesnel normals from 4 stations’ records over 1991–2020, joined where one replaced another.
| Distance from the town | 6.3 km south-east |
| Station altitude | 545 m |
| Completeness | meets the WMO “3 and 5” rule |
| WMO standard normals | No |
| Snowfall from | Prince George, 92 km |
| Coldest reading, 1991–2020 | −41.9°C |
| Hottest reading, 1991–2020 | 36.5°C |
| Average wind | 5.9 km/h on average, most often from the south-east |
| Next-nearest location | Prince George, 92 km |
How Electoral Area B, Cariboo 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 British Columbia.
Nearby towns’ climate
Nearby places read from a different ECCC location (places on Electoral Area B, Cariboo’s own would show the same figures). Electoral Area B, Cariboo has few close neighbours with figures, so the list reaches 85–102 km out.
| Town | July high | January low | Rain & snow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Electoral Area B, Cariboo Quesnel | 24.5°C | −10.8°C | 510 mm |
| Electoral Area C, Fraser-Fort George 85 km · Prince George | 22.6°C 1.9°C cooler | −11.7°C 0.9°C colder | 590 mm |
| Electoral Area D, Cariboo 101 km · Williams Lake | 22.7°C 1.8°C cooler | −10.9°C about the same | 463 mm |
Electoral Area B, Cariboo weather by month
Average daily high and low, mean temperature, rain and snow (as water) and snowfall by month, 1991–2020.
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Rain & snow | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | −2.7°C | −10.8°C | −6.8°C | 42 mm | 53 cm |
| February | 0.9°C | −9.0°C | −4.1°C | 22 mm | 26 cm |
| March | 6.9°C | −5.2°C | 0.8°C | 27 mm | 24 cm |
| April | 13.2°C | −1.0°C | 6.1°C | 26 mm | 8 cm |
| May | 19.0°C | 3.6°C | 11.3°C | 37 mm | 2 cm |
| June | 21.8°C | 7.5°C | 14.7°C | 63 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 24.5°C | 9.5°C | 17.0°C | 68 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 24.2°C | 8.5°C | 16.4°C | 39 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 18.6°C | 4.8°C | 11.7°C | 46 mm | 1 cm |
| October | 10.8°C | 0.2°C | 5.5°C | 51 mm | 10 cm |
| November | 2.8°C | −4.5°C | −0.8°C | 45 mm | 35 cm |
| December | −2.1°C | −9.6°C | −5.8°C | 43 mm | 47 cm |
| Year | 11.5°C | −0.5°C | 5.5°C | 510 mm | 204 cm |
In January, anything from −41.9°C to 11.8°C
Two years in three, February’s average falls within 4.1°C of its normal of −4.1°C; July keeps to within 1.0°C.
Where Electoral Area B, Cariboo’s numbers come from
Averages over 30 years, not a forecast.
- Normals: ECCC’s normals for Quesnel, 1991–2020, chosen as the nearest location with a full temperature record.
- 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: the 2,500-plus towns and neighbourhoods of Canada, each read from its closest normals location; whole cities and reserves aren’t counted.
- Not on this page: hours of sunshine, missing from the 1991–2020 normals, and a height correction: the town has no elevation on file.
Canadian Climate Normals 1991–2020 · ECCC Data Services End-use Licence. Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada
Questions about Electoral Area B, Cariboo’s climate
How warm does Electoral Area B, Cariboo get in summer?
Afternoons average 24.5°C in July, the warmest time of year.
How cold does Electoral Area B, Cariboo get in winter?
In January, the coldest month, the typical low is −10.8°C.
How much rain and snow does Electoral Area B, Cariboo get?
Precipitation totals 510 mm a year, with July the wettest month (68 mm) and February the driest (22 mm).
Are these figures for Electoral Area B, Cariboo itself?
They are borrowed from Quesnel, the nearest place to Electoral Area B, Cariboo where ECCC publishes 1991–2020 normals.
Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada · ECCC Data Services End-use Licence Today’s forecast for Electoral Area B, Cariboo →
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).