Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Oxford is wetter than 86% of Canadian towns: 1,161 mm of rain and snow a year
In July the day’s top temperature is typically 24.3°C. Rain or snow is most frequent in October and least in February. Summers stay cool: July afternoons here are cooler than in 68% of Canadian towns. Plan time outside from June to September, when highs sit at 20–24°C.
ECCC publishes no normals for Oxford itself; the figures are those of Nappan, 29 km west.
A year in Oxford at a glance
Each month’s typical high and low, in °C.
What stands out about Oxford’s climate
Compared with Canadian towns, with its place among towns of 2,500+ in Nova Scotia beside it.
What a year in Oxford feels like
Each season’s and each month’s usual high and low, 1991–2020.
Frost on 162 days, 20°C on 97
From October to May frost is routine, and in January it comes on almost every night. Deep cold, under −20°C, comes on about 9 nights a year.
Frost days by month
Average days at 0°C or below
Days above 20°C by month
Average days
About 1,161 mm of rain and snow a year
Some 132 days a year see 1 mm of rain or snow or more.
Rain and snow by month
Millimetres
187 cm of snow in a typical year
Snow falls from November to April, most of all in January (about 53 cm).
Snowfall by month
Centimetres
Snowfall: Tatamagouche, 50 km away (Nappan records no complete year of it).
Heating a home in Oxford
89% 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.
Living with Oxford’s climate
The averages read for the garden, the outdoors and the coldest and hottest days.
The growing season between frosts lasts about 128 days, roughly 27 May to 3 October.
Warm afternoons without cold nights, 17–27°C and 8°C or more, mark Jun, Jul, Aug and Sep.
Parks & trails →Expect around 30 days a year when the wind chill sinks below −20.
Muggy heat with a humidex over 30 arrives on about 32 days a year.
A typical year is calm by definition; Oxford’s hazards page covers the exceptions.
Flood & hazards →ECCC’s normals location: Nappan
Nappan is a composite: ECCC joins 2 stations’ readings to make its 1991–2020 normals.
| Distance from the town | 29 km west |
| Station altitude | 20 m |
| Completeness | meets the WMO “3 and 5” rule |
| WMO standard normals | No |
| Snowfall from | Tatamagouche, 50 km |
| Coldest reading, 1991–2020 | −36.0°C |
| Hottest reading, 1991–2020 | 32.7°C |
| Average wind | 15.1 km/h on average, most often from the south |
| Next-nearest location | Debert, 50 km |
How Oxford 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
Nearby places read from a different ECCC location (places on Oxford’s own would show the same figures). Oxford has few close neighbours with figures, so the list reaches 21–44 km out.
| Town | July high | January low | Rain & snow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oxford Nappan | 24.3°C | −11.7°C | 1,161 mm |
| Cumberland County, Subdivision D 21 km · Tatamagouche | 25.4°C 1.1°C warmer | −11.9°C about the same | 1,134 mm |
| Colchester County, Subdivision A 39 km · Debert | 25.0°C 0.7°C warmer | −12.0°C about the same | 1,179 mm |
| Botsford 44 km · Summerside | 24.1°C about the same | −11.3°C about the same | 1,161 mm |
Oxford weather by month
Each month’s normals, 1991–2020: high, low, mean, precipitation and snowfall.
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Rain & snow | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | −2.0°C | −11.7°C | −6.9°C | 102 mm | 53 cm |
| February | −1.4°C | −11.2°C | −6.3°C | 80 mm | 46 cm |
| March | 2.6°C | −6.7°C | −2.0°C | 91 mm | 35 cm |
| April | 9.1°C | −0.8°C | 4.1°C | 93 mm | 11 cm |
| May | 15.8°C | 4.4°C | 10.1°C | 84 mm | 1 cm |
| June | 20.7°C | 9.4°C | 15.1°C | 96 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 24.3°C | 13.3°C | 18.8°C | 81 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 24.1°C | 12.9°C | 18.5°C | 83 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 20.0°C | 9.1°C | 14.6°C | 109 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 13.7°C | 3.9°C | 8.9°C | 115 mm | under 1 cm |
| November | 7.4°C | −0.8°C | 3.3°C | 114 mm | 7 cm |
| December | 1.6°C | −6.6°C | −2.5°C | 114 mm | 34 cm |
| Year | 11.3°C | 1.3°C | 6.3°C | 1,161 mm | 187 cm |
A February here can run from −36.0°C to 16.2°C
Bars run from each month’s record low to its record high over 1991–2020; January is the month whose average wanders most from year to year (±2.3°C around −6.9°C), August the one that wanders least (±0.9°C).
Where Oxford’s numbers come from
Averages over 30 years, not a forecast.
- Normals: the 1991–2020 normals from ECCC for Nappan, its nearest location with complete temperatures.
- Other locations: ECCC blanks a month that fails its completeness rule, so the precipitation or snowfall here comes from the next location with all twelve months.
- Comparisons: all Canadian places of 2,500 or more except city totals and reserves, each read the same way.
- Not on this page: sunshine (no 1991–2020 normals exist for it) and any altitude adjustment, since there is no elevation for the town itself.
Canadian Climate Normals 1991–2020 · ECCC Data Services End-use Licence. Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada
Questions about Oxford’s climate
How warm does Oxford get in summer?
Of all twelve months, July has the warmest afternoons, about 24.3°C.
How cold does Oxford get in winter?
At its coldest, in January, the normal low is −11.7°C.
How much rain and snow does Oxford get?
A normal year brings 1,161 mm, snow included as water: October is wettest at 115 mm, February driest at 80 mm.
Are these figures for Oxford itself?
Not exactly. Oxford lacks a normals station, so Nappan supplies the figures.
Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada · ECCC Data Services End-use Licence Today’s forecast for Oxford →
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).