Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0St. John's has some of the coolest summers among Canadian towns
In January the night’s low is typically −7.2°C. Temperatures cover 29°C across the year, low to high. Counting rain and snow together, it is wetter than 94% of Canadian towns. For walks and days out, the stretch from July to September brings highs of 17–21°C.
Figures: ECCC’s 1991–2020 normals for St. John's (West) (4.9 km south-west).
A year in St. John's at a glance
Each month’s typical high and low, in °C.
What stands out about St. John's’s climate
Compared with Canadian towns, with its place among towns of 2,500+ in Newfoundland and Labrador beside it.
What a year in St. John's feels like
Typical highs and lows by season and by month, from ECCC’s 1991–2020 normals.
154 frost days and 58 days above 20°C a year
From October to June frost is routine, and in January it comes on almost every night.
Frost days by month
Average days at 0°C or below
Days above 20°C by month
Average days
Rain and melted snow: about 1,381 mm a year
December brings the most rain and snow; June, the least. Some 155 days a year see 1 mm of rain or snow or more.
Rain and snow by month
Millimetres
About 363 cm of snow a year
From October to May snow is likely; January is the peak, at about 95 cm.
Snowfall by month
Centimetres
Snowfall: St. John's (Airport), 7.3 km away (St. John's (West) records no complete year of it).
Heating a home in St. John's
82% of a year’s heating need falls between October and April. Months averaging under 10°C: October to May.
Behind the figure: the degrees each day’s mean falls under 18°C, summed for the year.
Living with St. John's’s climate
The averages read for the garden, the outdoors and the coldest and hottest days.
Highs of 17–27°C with nights of 8°C or more come in Jul, Aug and Sep.
Parks & trails →The wind chill passes −20 on about 9 days in a normal year.
Humid heat, a humidex over 30, comes on about 18 days a year.
Ice storms, floods and heat waves are risks, not averages: they are on St. John's’s hazards page.
Flood & hazards →ECCC’s normals location: St. John's (West)
St. John's (West) is a composite: ECCC joins 3 stations’ readings to make its 1991–2020 normals.
| Distance from the town | 4.9 km south-west |
| Station altitude | 114 m |
| Completeness | at least 20 years |
| WMO standard normals | No |
| Snowfall from | St. John's (Airport), 7.3 km |
| Coldest reading, 1991–2020 | −26.0°C |
| Hottest reading, 1991–2020 | 31.8°C |
| Average wind | 15.3 km/h on average, most often from the west |
| Next-nearest location | St. John's (Airport), 7.3 km |
How St. John's 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 Newfoundland and Labrador.
Nearby towns’ climate
Places around St. John's whose figures come from another normals location.
| Town | July high | January low | Rain & snow |
|---|---|---|---|
| St. John's St. John's (West) | 21.3°C | −7.2°C | 1,381 mm |
| Mount Pearl 6.6 km · St. John's (West) | 21.3°C about the same | −7.2°C about the same | 1,381 mm |
| Portugal Cove-St. Philip's 9.7 km · St. John's (Airport) | 20.9°C about the same | −7.8°C 0.6°C colder | 1,539 mm |
St. John's 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 | 0.1°C | −7.2°C | −3.6°C | 140 mm | 95 cm |
| February | −0.3°C | −7.7°C | −4.0°C | 131 mm | 77 cm |
| March | 1.8°C | −5.2°C | −1.8°C | 129 mm | 62 cm |
| April | 6.3°C | −1.4°C | 2.5°C | 105 mm | 30 cm |
| May | 11.5°C | 2.3°C | 6.9°C | 83 mm | 5 cm |
| June | 16.4°C | 6.8°C | 11.6°C | 73 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 21.3°C | 11.7°C | 16.5°C | 86 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 21.3°C | 12.6°C | 17.0°C | 89 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 17.4°C | 9.1°C | 13.3°C | 117 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 11.8°C | 4.7°C | 8.2°C | 130 mm | 2 cm |
| November | 7.0°C | 0.5°C | 3.8°C | 138 mm | 22 cm |
| December | 2.6°C | −3.5°C | −0.4°C | 161 mm | 70 cm |
| Year | 9.8°C | 1.9°C | 5.8°C | 1,381 mm | 363 cm |
The month with the widest range: February, −26.0°C to 15.3°C
July is the least predictable month: about two years in three its average lands within 2.2°C of the normal, 16.5°C. September is the steadiest, within 1.3°C.
Where St. John's’s numbers come from
Averages over 30 years, not a forecast.
- Normals: the 1991–2020 Canadian Climate Normals at St. John's (West), the closest ECCC location with twelve months of temperature normals.
- Other locations: precipitation and snowfall come from the nearest location that publishes all twelve months of them, as named above.
- 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: 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 St. John's’s climate
How warm does St. John's get in summer?
A normal July afternoon tops out at about 21.3°C, the year’s high point.
How cold does St. John's get in winter?
At its coldest, in February, the normal low is −7.7°C.
How much rain and snow does St. John's get?
A normal year brings 1,381 mm, snow included as water: December is wettest at 161 mm, June driest at 73 mm.
Are these figures for St. John's itself?
Close to it: they are ECCC’s 1991–2020 normals for St. John's (West), just outside St. John's’s boundary.
Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada · ECCC Data Services End-use Licence Today’s forecast for St. John's →
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).