Hardly any Canadian towns see fresher July days than Sanikiluaq
On a normal January night the air cools to about −25.3°C. The seasons are far apart: from a winter night to a summer afternoon the average spans 44°C. By January nights alone, it runs colder than almost every Canadian town. Ice scrapers and block heaters earn their keep on roughly 224 days a year at 0°C or below.
Every figure here comes from Kuujjuarapik, 168 km south-east; ECCC has no normals closer to Sanikiluaq, so they describe the wider area.
A year in Sanikiluaq at a glance
Each month’s typical high and low, in °C.
What stands out about Sanikiluaq’s climate
Compared with Canadian towns, with its place among towns of 2,500+ in Nunavut beside it.
What a year in Sanikiluaq feels like
Seasons and months as ECCC’s 1991–2020 normals give them: a typical day’s high and low.
Frost on 224 days, 20°C on 29
Frost comes from September to June; in January almost every night freezes. Some 81 nights a year drop under −20°C.
Frost days by month
Average days at 0°C or below
Days above 20°C by month
Average days
About 664 mm of rain and snow a year
The most falls in September, the least in February. The wettest of 4 towns of 2,500+ in Nunavut. On about 127 days a year, 1 mm or more falls.
Rain and snow by month
Millimetres
Rain alone by month
Millimetres
Heating a home in Sanikiluaq
81% of a year’s heating need falls between October and April. Months averaging under 10°C: September to June.
ECCC sums, over the year, how many degrees each day’s average falls short of 18°C. Over a year, a home here needs more heating than almost every Canadian town.
Living with Sanikiluaq’s climate
The averages read for the garden, the outdoors and the coldest and hottest days.
Tender plants are usually safe from around 18 June until frost returns near 30 September: about 103 days.
Even midsummer nights fall below 8°C on average, so no month meets the mild-day rule of 17–27°C by day.
Parks & trails →Roughly 119 days a year feel colder than −20 in the wind.
On some 3 days a year the humidex climbs past 30.
Thirty-year normals hide the storms and the extremes: the hazards page has Sanikiluaq’s risks.
Flood & hazards →ECCC’s normals location: Kuujjuarapik
ECCC builds the Kuujjuarapik normals from 3 stations’ records over 1991–2020, joined where one replaced another.
| Distance from the town | 168 km south-east |
| Station altitude | 12 m |
| Completeness | meets the WMO “3 and 5” rule |
| WMO standard normals | No |
| Snowfall from | No location within 100 km |
| Coldest reading, 1991–2020 | −46.0°C |
| Hottest reading, 1991–2020 | 37.0°C |
| Average wind | 17.2 km/h on average, most often from the west |
| Next-nearest location | Inukjuak, 226 km |
How Sanikiluaq compares
Compared with 2,611 towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500 or more across Canada; the dots mark the other normals locations in Nunavut.
Sanikiluaq weather by month
Each month’s normals, 1991–2020: high, low, mean and precipitation.
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Rain & snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | −17.2°C | −25.3°C | −21.3°C | 29 mm |
| February | −17.2°C | −27.3°C | −22.3°C | 19 mm |
| March | −10.5°C | −21.5°C | −16.0°C | 24 mm |
| April | −2.5°C | −12.2°C | −7.3°C | 20 mm |
| May | 6.2°C | −2.7°C | 1.8°C | 40 mm |
| June | 12.6°C | 2.5°C | 7.6°C | 57 mm |
| July | 16.6°C | 7.2°C | 11.9°C | 82 mm |
| August | 16.2°C | 8.6°C | 12.4°C | 85 mm |
| September | 11.8°C | 5.1°C | 8.5°C | 108 mm |
| October | 5.8°C | 0.5°C | 3.2°C | 84 mm |
| November | −1.1°C | −6.2°C | −3.7°C | 65 mm |
| December | −9.8°C | −16.5°C | −13.2°C | 52 mm |
| Year | 0.9°C | −7.3°C | −3.2°C | 664 mm |
A December here can run warm or cold, its average moving by about 3.7°C; the steadiest month is September
Records from 1991 to 2020: no month spans more than March, between −42.8°C (1992) and 12.1°C (2010).
Where Sanikiluaq’s numbers come from
Averages over 30 years, not a forecast.
- Normals: the Canadian Climate Normals, 1991–2020, at Kuujjuarapik (the closest location with all twelve months of temperatures).
- Comparisons: every place of 2,500+ in Canada but the city hubs and the reserves, each on its nearest ECCC location.
- Not on this page: snow, with no complete snowfall normals within 100 km, sunshine, which ECCC published for no location, and any height adjustment.
Canadian Climate Normals 1991–2020 · ECCC Data Services End-use Licence. Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada
Questions about Sanikiluaq’s climate
How warm does Sanikiluaq get in summer?
The year’s warmest days come in July, with highs averaging 16.6°C.
How cold does Sanikiluaq get in winter?
February nights average −27.3°C, the coldest of the year.
How much rain and snow does Sanikiluaq get?
Over twelve months, rain and melted snow come to 664 mm; the range runs from 19 mm in February to 108 mm in September.
Are these figures for Sanikiluaq itself?
No: they come from Kuujjuarapik, the nearest ECCC normals location, and far enough away to describe the wider area more than Sanikiluaq.
Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada · ECCC Data Services End-use Licence Today’s forecast for Sanikiluaq →
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).