Photo: William Booth · Public domainShelburne has some of the coolest summers among Canadian towns
Nights in January average −7.2°C. It is a wet place: more rain and snow fall here than on 93% of Canadian towns. Rain or snow is most frequent in November and least in July. Windshields need scraping on about 127 mornings a year, the days the air reaches 0°C or below.
Far-off figures: ECCC’s closest normals for Shelburne come from Western Head, 58 km north-east, so take them as the area’s climate.
A year in Shelburne at a glance
Each month’s typical high and low, in °C.
What stands out about Shelburne’s climate
Compared with Canadian towns, with its place among towns of 2,500+ in Nova Scotia beside it.
What a year in Shelburne feels like
Seasons and months as ECCC’s 1991–2020 normals give them: a typical day’s high and low.
127 frost days and 52 days above 20°C a year
The frost season runs October to April, and January freezes nearly 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 1,290 mm a year
On about 125 days a year, 1 mm or more falls.
Rain and snow by month
Millimetres
Rain alone by month
Millimetres
Western Head publishes no full year of precipitation or snowfall, so these figures, and the snow below, come from Yarmouth, 62 km away.
205 cm of snow in a typical year
From November to April snow is likely; January is the peak, at about 64 cm.
Snowfall by month
Centimetres
Heating a home in Shelburne
83% of a year’s heating need falls between October and April. Months averaging under 10°C: November to May.
One degree below 18°C for one day makes one heating degree day; the year’s days are added together. A house here needs less heating than 71% of Canadian towns.
Living with Shelburne’s climate
What the normals mean for a garden, a day outside and the depth of winter.
Plan time outside for Jun, Jul, Aug and Sep: highs of 17–27°C and nights no colder than 8°C.
Parks & trails →The wind chill passes −20 on about 11 days in a normal year.
Count on some 8 humid days a year with the humidex past 30.
A typical year is calm by definition; Shelburne’s hazards page covers the exceptions.
Flood & hazards →ECCC’s normals location: Western Head
Western Head is one of the 450 places where ECCC publishes 1991–2020 normals.
| Distance from the town | 58 km north-east |
| Station altitude | 10 m |
| Completeness | at least 20 years |
| WMO standard normals | No |
| Precipitation from | Yarmouth, 62 km |
| Coldest reading, 1991–2020 | −25.3°C |
| Hottest reading, 1991–2020 | 35.7°C |
| Average wind | 15.3 km/h on average, most often from the south-west |
| Next-nearest location | Yarmouth, 62 km |
How Shelburne compares
Against the 2,611 Canadian towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500 or more, each read from its own normals location; the dots are the other locations those towns use in Nova Scotia.
Nearby towns’ climate
Nearby places read from a different ECCC location (places on Shelburne’s own would show the same figures). The one place listed is 39 km from Shelburne, the nearest with figures.
| Town | July high | January low | Rain & snow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shelburne Western Head | 19.9°C | −7.2°C | 1,290 mm |
| Barrington 39 km · Yarmouth | 21.4°C 1.5°C warmer | −6.4°C 0.8°C milder | 1,290 mm |
Shelburne 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 | 1.4°C | −7.2°C | −3.0°C | 124 mm | 64 cm |
| February | 1.6°C | −6.7°C | −2.6°C | 103 mm | 47 cm |
| March | 4.4°C | −3.8°C | 0.3°C | 111 mm | 31 cm |
| April | 8.7°C | 0.6°C | 4.7°C | 101 mm | 10 cm |
| May | 12.8°C | 4.7°C | 8.8°C | 99 mm | under 1 cm |
| June | 17.2°C | 8.8°C | 13.1°C | 89 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 19.9°C | 11.6°C | 15.8°C | 78 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 20.9°C | 12.4°C | 16.6°C | 88 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 19.3°C | 10.4°C | 14.9°C | 96 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 14.8°C | 5.8°C | 10.3°C | 119 mm | under 1 cm |
| November | 9.3°C | 1.4°C | 5.4°C | 143 mm | 10 cm |
| December | 4.6°C | −3.5°C | 0.5°C | 139 mm | 44 cm |
| Year | 11.2°C | 2.9°C | 7.1°C | 1,290 mm | 205 cm |
From −18.0°C to 29.2°C: March’s coldest and warmest days since 1991
The month to count on least is January: one year in three its average strays more than 1.9°C from −3.0°C. April moves least, typically by 0.9°C.
Where Shelburne’s numbers come from
Averages over 30 years, not a forecast.
- Normals: 1991–2020 normals for Western Head from ECCC’s climate data site, the nearest location with every month of temperature.
- 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: 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 Shelburne’s climate
How warm does Shelburne get in summer?
A normal August afternoon tops out at about 20.9°C, the year’s high point.
How cold does Shelburne get in winter?
In January, the coldest month, the typical low is −7.2°C.
How much rain and snow does Shelburne get?
The year adds up to 1,290 mm. November is the peak month (143 mm) and July the low one (78 mm).
Are these figures for Shelburne itself?
No: they come from Western Head, the nearest ECCC normals location, and far enough away to describe the wider area more than Shelburne.
Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada · ECCC Data Services End-use Licence Today’s forecast for Shelburne →
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).