Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0Athens gets fewer frosts than 72% of Canadian towns
High summer brings afternoon highs near 26.1°C. From frozen January to warm July, readings climb 37°C. It is a wet place: more rain and snow fall here than on 69% of Canadian towns. From May to September, highs of 19–26°C make it easy to spend the day outdoors.
No ECCC station in Athens has 1991–2020 normals; the page reads Brockville, 16 km east, instead.
A year in Athens at a glance
Each month’s typical high and low, in °C.
What stands out about Athens’s climate
Compared with Canadian towns, with its place among towns of 2,500+ in Ontario beside it.
What a year in Athens feels like
Each season’s and each month’s usual high and low, 1991–2020.
Frost on 140 days, 20°C on 118
Frost comes from October to April; in January almost every night freezes. On about 8 nights a year the air falls below −20°C.
Frost days by month
Average days at 0°C or below
Days above 20°C by month
Average days
About 1,017 mm of rain and snow a year
July brings the most rain and snow; February, the least. On about 129 days a year, 1 mm or more falls.
Rain and snow by month
Millimetres
Rain alone by month
Millimetres
Snowfall: about 180 cm in a normal year
From October to April snow is likely; January is the peak, at about 50 cm.
Snowfall by month
Centimetres
Snow on the ground by month
Centimetres at month’s end
Heating a home in Athens
93% of a year’s heating need falls between October and April. Months averaging under 10°C: October to April.
Degree days add up how far each day’s mean temperature falls below 18°C over a year. In heating terms, homes need less heating than 70% of Canadian towns.
Living with Athens’s climate
The averages read for the garden, the outdoors and the coldest and hottest days.
The growing season between frosts lasts about 169 days, roughly 27 April to 14 October.
Plan time outside for May, Jun, Jul, Aug and Sep: highs of 17–27°C and nights no colder than 8°C.
Parks & trails →Thirty years of averages say little about one bad storm; Athens’s hazards page does.
Flood & hazards →ECCC’s normals location: Brockville
ECCC builds the Brockville normals from 2 stations’ records over 1991–2020, joined where one replaced another.
| Distance from the town | 16 km east |
| Station altitude | 120 m |
| Completeness | meets the WMO “3 and 5” rule |
| WMO standard normals | Yes |
| Coldest reading, 1991–2020 | −31.5°C |
| Hottest reading, 1991–2020 | 35.0°C |
| Next-nearest location | Kemptville, 49 km |
How Athens 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 Ontario.
Nearby towns’ climate
Places around Athens whose figures come from another normals location. Distances here run 28–39 km: that is how far the nearest places with figures are from Athens.
| Town | July high | January low | Rain & snow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Athens Brockville | 26.1°C | −11.3°C | 1,017 mm |
| Merrickville 28 km · Kemptville | 26.8°C 0.7°C warmer | −14.0°C 2.7°C colder | 925 mm |
| Smiths Falls 31 km · Drummond Centre | 27.1°C 1.0°C warmer | −14.2°C 2.9°C colder | 939 mm |
| Gananoque 37 km · Kingston | 25.4°C 0.7°C cooler | −11.5°C about the same | 1,017 mm |
Athens 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 | −3.1°C | −11.3°C | −7.2°C | 84 mm | 50 cm |
| February | −1.7°C | −10.3°C | −6.0°C | 64 mm | 41 cm |
| March | 3.7°C | −5.0°C | −0.7°C | 68 mm | 29 cm |
| April | 11.3°C | 1.8°C | 6.6°C | 89 mm | 8 cm |
| May | 18.8°C | 8.3°C | 13.5°C | 80 mm | under 1 cm |
| June | 23.4°C | 13.5°C | 18.5°C | 96 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 26.1°C | 16.5°C | 21.3°C | 99 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 25.4°C | 15.7°C | 20.6°C | 82 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 21.2°C | 11.7°C | 16.5°C | 96 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 13.8°C | 5.8°C | 9.7°C | 94 mm | 1 cm |
| November | 7.0°C | −0.2°C | 3.5°C | 81 mm | 11 cm |
| December | 0.4°C | −6.5°C | −3.0°C | 85 mm | 41 cm |
| Year | 12.2°C | 3.3°C | 7.8°C | 1,017 mm | 180 cm |
January varies most from one year to the next (3.1°C), June least
Bars run from each month’s record low to its record high since 1991. March spans the most, from −26.0°C (2003) to 26.0°C (1998).
Where Athens’s numbers come from
Averages over 30 years, not a forecast.
- Normals: 1991–2020 normals for Brockville from ECCC’s climate data site, the nearest location with every month of temperature.
- 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: 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 Athens’s climate
How warm does Athens get in summer?
Peak warmth comes in July, at about 26.1°C by mid-afternoon.
How cold does Athens get in winter?
Overnight lows average −11.3°C in January, the coldest month.
How much rain and snow does Athens get?
Around 1,017 mm a year in all, from 99 mm in July down to 64 mm in February.
Are these figures for Athens itself?
They describe Brockville, the nearest normals location, rather than Athens itself.
Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada · ECCC Data Services End-use Licence Today’s forecast for Athens →
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).