East Preston is wetter than 95% of Canadian towns: 1,414 mm of rain and snow a year
January nights here settle around −8.3°C. Precipitation peaks in December and eases off in August. Summers stay cool: July afternoons here are cooler than in 94% of Canadian towns. Frost comes on about 133 days a year, so leave time to clear the car.
Borrowed figures: East Preston has no normals station, so these come from Shearwater, 11 km south-west.
A year in East Preston at a glance
Each month’s typical high and low, in °C.
What stands out about East Preston’s climate
Compared with Canadian towns, with its place among towns of 2,500+ in Nova Scotia beside it.
What a year in East Preston feels like
Seasons and months as ECCC’s 1991–2020 normals give them: a typical day’s high and low.
133 frost days and 82 days above 20°C a year
From October to April 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 1,414 mm a year
On about 124 days a year, 1 mm or more falls.
Rain and snow by month
Millimetres
215 cm of snow in a typical year
The snow season runs November to May; January brings the most, about 54 cm.
Snowfall by month
Centimetres
Snow on the ground by month
Centimetres at month’s end
Shearwater publishes no full year of snowfall, so these figures come from Halifax Stanfield (Airport), 19 km away.
Heating a home in East Preston
88% of a year’s heating need falls between October and April. Months averaging under 10°C: November to May.
A day averaging 10 degrees under 18°C adds 10 to the total; warm days add nothing. That means homes here need less heating than 71% of Canadian towns.
Living with East Preston’s climate
What the normals mean for a garden, a day outside and the depth of winter.
A normal year gives the garden about 181 frost-free days, roughly 30 April to 29 October.
The outdoor season by the averages is Jun, Jul, Aug and Sep, with highs of 17–27°C and lows of 8°C or more.
Parks & trails →The wind chill passes −20 on about 15 days in a normal year.
On some 19 days a year the humidex climbs past 30.
What averages leave out, the floods and ice storms, is on East Preston’s hazards page.
Flood & hazards →ECCC’s normals location: Shearwater
Behind the 1991–2020 normals for Shearwater are 3 stations, which ECCC combines into one record.
| Distance from the town | 11 km south-west |
| Station altitude | 44 m |
| Completeness | meets the WMO “3 and 5” rule |
| WMO standard normals | No |
| Snowfall from | Halifax Stanfield (Airport), 19 km |
| Coldest reading, 1991–2020 | −26.5°C |
| Hottest reading, 1991–2020 | 34.3°C |
| Average wind | 14.3 km/h on average, most often from the north-west |
| Next-nearest location | Halifax Stanfield (Airport), 19 km |
How East Preston compares
Compared with 2,611 towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500 or more across Canada; the dots mark the other normals locations in Nova Scotia.
Nearby towns’ climate
The nearest places on a normals location of their own: those that share East Preston’s would only repeat its figures. Distances here run 37–47 km: that is how far the nearest places with figures are from East Preston.
East Preston weather by month
Each month’s normals, 1991–2020: high, low, mean, precipitation and snowfall.
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Rain & snow | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 0.2°C | −8.3°C | −4.1°C | 124 mm | 54 cm |
| February | 0.6°C | −7.9°C | −3.7°C | 114 mm | 44 cm |
| March | 3.7°C | −4.3°C | −0.3°C | 120 mm | 34 cm |
| April | 8.6°C | 0.4°C | 4.5°C | 108 mm | 17 cm |
| May | 14.0°C | 5.0°C | 9.5°C | 115 mm | 2 cm |
| June | 18.9°C | 9.9°C | 14.4°C | 107 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 22.7°C | 14.3°C | 18.5°C | 95 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 23.3°C | 14.7°C | 19.1°C | 94 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 20.1°C | 11.3°C | 15.8°C | 107 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 14.2°C | 6.2°C | 10.2°C | 141 mm | 1 cm |
| November | 8.6°C | 1.3°C | 5.0°C | 135 mm | 19 cm |
| December | 3.6°C | −3.9°C | −0.2°C | 156 mm | 44 cm |
| Year | 11.6°C | 3.2°C | 7.4°C | 1,414 mm | 215 cm |
January strays furthest from its normal year to year, by 2.0°C; August the least
March has the widest record range, −19.1°C in 1992 to 28.3°C in 2012; the tick on each bar is the month’s normal.
Where East Preston’s numbers come from
Averages over 30 years, not a forecast.
- Normals: the 1991–2020 Canadian Climate Normals at Shearwater, the closest ECCC location with twelve months of temperature normals.
- 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 East Preston’s climate
How warm does East Preston get in summer?
Of all twelve months, August has the warmest afternoons, about 23.3°C.
How cold does East Preston get in winter?
January nights average −8.3°C, the coldest of the year.
How much rain and snow does East Preston get?
Over twelve months, rain and melted snow come to 1,414 mm; the range runs from 94 mm in August to 156 mm in December.
Are these figures for East Preston itself?
No, the station behind them is Shearwater, beyond East Preston’s boundary.
Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada · ECCC Data Services End-use Licence Today’s forecast for East Preston →
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).