Precipitation in Lake Echo tops that of 95% of Canadian towns: 1,414 mm a year
Peak summer warmth arrives in July, with afternoons near 22.7°C. Its July afternoons stay fresher than in 94% of Canadian towns. December is the wettest month, August the driest. Wet days, with 1 mm of rain or snow or more, come about 124 times a year.
Borrowed figures: Lake Echo has no normals station, so these come from Shearwater, 16 km south-west.
A year in Lake Echo at a glance
Each month’s typical high and low, in °C.
What stands out about Lake Echo’s climate
Compared with Canadian towns, with its place among towns of 2,500+ in Nova Scotia beside it.
What a year in Lake Echo feels like
Seasons and months as ECCC’s 1991–2020 normals give them: a typical day’s high and low.
Frost on 133 days, 20°C on 82
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
1,414 mm of precipitation in a typical year
Rain and snow by month
Millimetres
Snowfall: about 215 cm in a normal year
Snow falls from November to May, most of all in January (about 54 cm).
Snowfall by month
Centimetres
Snow on the ground by month
Centimetres at month’s end
Snowfall: Halifax Stanfield (Airport), 18 km away (Shearwater records no complete year of it).
Heating a home in Lake Echo
88% of a year’s heating need falls between October and April. Months averaging under 10°C: November to May.
Every day colder than 18°C on average adds its gap in degrees to the year’s heating total. By this count, homes here need less heating than 71% of Canadian towns.
Living with Lake Echo’s climate
Gardening, time outside, winter cold and summer heat, from the 1991–2020 normals.
A normal year gives the garden about 181 frost-free days, roughly 30 April to 29 October.
The comfortable months for a day outside, highs of 17–27°C and nights of 8°C or more: Jun, Jul, Aug and Sep.
Parks & trails →Winter brings about 15 days with a wind chill below −20.
The humidex tops 30 on about 19 days a year: muggy days to plan around.
Thirty years of averages say little about one bad storm; Lake Echo’s hazards page does.
Flood & hazards →ECCC’s normals location: Shearwater
ECCC builds the Shearwater normals from 3 stations’ records over 1991–2020, joined where one replaced another.
| Distance from the town | 16 km south-west |
| Station altitude | 44 m |
| Completeness | meets the WMO “3 and 5” rule |
| WMO standard normals | No |
| Snowfall from | Halifax Stanfield (Airport), 18 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), 18 km |
How Lake Echo 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 Nova Scotia.
Nearby towns’ climate
Places around Lake Echo whose figures come from another normals location. Distances here run 36–43 km: that is how far the nearest places with figures are from Lake Echo.
Lake Echo 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 | 0.2°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 |
The most changeable month: January, give or take 2.0°C; the steadiest, August
Each bar spans a month’s coldest and warmest readings over thirty years; March’s run from −19.1°C in 1992 to 28.3°C in 2012.
Where Lake Echo’s numbers come from
Averages over 30 years, not a forecast.
- Normals: ECCC’s normals for Shearwater, 1991–2020, chosen as the nearest location with a full temperature record.
- Other locations: where a location publishes no full year of precipitation or snowfall, the nearest one that does supplies it, named beside those figures.
- Comparisons: a pool of Canadian towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500 or more, read alike; whole cities and reserves stay out of it.
- Not on this page: sunshine, not in ECCC’s 1991–2020 normals, and the effect of the town’s height, for which there is no figure.
Canadian Climate Normals 1991–2020 · ECCC Data Services End-use Licence. Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada
Questions about Lake Echo’s climate
How warm does Lake Echo get in summer?
Expect highs near 23.3°C in August, the hottest month on average.
How cold does Lake Echo get in winter?
Overnight lows average −8.3°C in January, the coldest month.
How much rain and snow does Lake Echo get?
1,414 mm a year counting snow as water. The wettest month is December (156 mm); the driest, August (94 mm).
Are these figures for Lake Echo itself?
They describe Shearwater, the nearest normals location, rather than Lake Echo itself.
Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada · ECCC Data Services End-use Licence Today’s forecast for Lake Echo →
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).