Photo: Vxceprex · CC BY-SA 3.0Hardly any Canadian towns see hotter July days than Grand Forks
Deep winter brings January lows near −4.0°C. Of all months, December brings the most precipitation and August the least. Winters are mild: January nights here are milder than in 93% of Canadian towns. For walks and days out, June and September bring highs of 23–24°C.
Every figure here comes from Warfield, 52 km east; ECCC has no normals closer to Grand Forks, so they describe the wider area.
A year in Grand Forks at a glance
Each month’s typical high and low, in °C.
What stands out about Grand Forks’s climate
Compared with Canadian towns, with its place among towns of 2,500+ in British Columbia beside it.
What a year in Grand Forks feels like
Typical highs and lows by season and by month, from ECCC’s 1991–2020 normals.
Frost on 120 days, 20°C on 125
Frost comes from October to April, most of all in December (about 27 nights). Heat of 30°C or more comes on about 38 days a year.
Frost days by month
Average days at 0°C or below
Days above 20°C by month
Average days
759 mm of precipitation in a typical year
About 122 days a year bring 1 mm or more.
Rain and snow by month
Millimetres
About 62 cm of snow a year
Snow falls from November to March, most of all in December (about 20 cm).
Snowfall by month
Centimetres
ECCC’s Warfield normals leave snowfall out; the figures here come from Penticton, 96 km away.
Heating a home in Grand Forks
91% of a year’s heating need falls between October and April. Months averaging under 10°C: October to April.
Measured against 18°C: each day’s shortfall in mean temperature, added over twelve months. Homes here need less heating than 88% of Canadian towns.
Living with Grand Forks’s climate
Gardening, time outside, winter cold and summer heat, from the 1991–2020 normals.
Frost usually lets go around 28 April and returns near 13 October, about 167 days apart.
The outdoor season by the averages is Jun and Sep, with highs of 17–27°C and lows of 8°C or more.
Parks & trails →The wind chill passes −20 on about 2 days in a normal year.
Roughly 44 days a year feel hotter than 30 once humidity is counted.
Thirty-year normals hide the storms and the extremes: the hazards page has Grand Forks’s risks.
Flood & hazards →ECCC’s normals location: Warfield
ECCC builds the Warfield normals from 2 stations’ records over 1991–2020, joined where one replaced another.
| Distance from the town | 52 km east |
| Station altitude | 606 m |
| Completeness | at least 20 years |
| WMO standard normals | No |
| Snowfall from | Penticton, 96 km |
| Coldest reading, 1991–2020 | −25.1°C |
| Hottest reading, 1991–2020 | 41.1°C |
| Average wind | 6.0 km/h on average, most often from the south |
| Next-nearest location | Osoyoos, 72 km |
How Grand Forks compares
Compared with 2,611 towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500 or more across Canada; the dots mark the other normals locations in British Columbia.
Nearby towns’ climate
Nearby places read from a different ECCC location (places on Grand Forks’s own would show the same figures). No closer places have figures: these lie 37–77 km from Grand Forks.
| Town | July high | January low | Rain & snow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Forks Warfield | 29.3°C | −4.0°C | 759 mm |
| Electoral Area E (West Boundary), Kootenay Boundary 37 km · Osoyoos | 31.6°C 2.3°C warmer | −3.8°C about the same | 344 mm |
| Electoral Area I, Central Kootenay 77 km · Nelson | 28.5°C 0.8°C cooler | −2.9°C 1.1°C milder | 759 mm |
Grand Forks 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 | 0.4°C | −4.0°C | −1.7°C | 93 mm | 19 cm |
| February | 3.3°C | −3.1°C | 0.2°C | 62 mm | 9 cm |
| March | 9.1°C | −0.4°C | 4.4°C | 61 mm | 5 cm |
| April | 15.1°C | 2.8°C | 9.1°C | 54 mm | 1 cm |
| May | 20.8°C | 7.2°C | 14.0°C | 72 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 23.9°C | 10.3°C | 17.1°C | 68 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 29.3°C | 13.0°C | 21.2°C | 47 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 29.5°C | 12.5°C | 21.1°C | 25 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 23.1°C | 8.7°C | 16.0°C | 32 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 13.0°C | 3.5°C | 8.2°C | 62 mm | under 1 cm |
| November | 4.6°C | −0.6°C | 2.0°C | 86 mm | 8 cm |
| December | 0.1°C | −3.9°C | −1.7°C | 98 mm | 20 cm |
| Year | 14.4°C | 3.8°C | 9.2°C | 759 mm | 62 cm |
A February here can run warm or cold, its average moving by about 2.3°C; the steadiest month is August
Records from 1991 to 2020: no month spans more than June, between 1.3°C (2012) and 41.1°C (2015).
Where Grand Forks’s numbers come from
Averages over 30 years, not a forecast.
- Normals: ECCC’s 1991–2020 Canadian Climate Normals for Warfield, the nearest location with a full year of 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: the towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500+ across Canada, each on its nearest normals location, without the city totals or the reserves.
- 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 Grand Forks’s climate
How warm does Grand Forks get in summer?
The year’s warmest days come in August, with highs averaging 29.5°C.
How cold does Grand Forks get in winter?
At its coldest, in January, the normal low is −4.0°C.
How much rain and snow does Grand Forks get?
Precipitation totals 759 mm a year, with December the wettest month (98 mm) and August the driest (25 mm).
Are these figures for Grand Forks itself?
No. The nearest normals are those of Warfield, a long way from Grand Forks.
Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada · ECCC Data Services End-use Licence Today’s forecast for Grand Forks →
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).