Photo: JustSomePics · CC BY-SA 3.0Chesley is among the snowiest of Canadian towns: about 385 cm a year
January nights here settle around −9.9°C. It is a wet place: more rain and snow fall here than on 80% of Canadian towns. The year swings widely: the coldest month’s nights and the warmest month’s afternoons are 35°C apart. From June to September, highs of 20–24°C make it easy to spend the day outdoors.
Borrowed figures: Chesley has no normals station, so these come from Wiarton, 41 km north.
A year in Chesley at a glance
Each month’s typical high and low, in °C.
What stands out about Chesley’s climate
Compared with Canadian towns, with its place among towns of 2,500+ in Ontario beside it.
What a year in Chesley feels like
Typical highs and lows by season and by month, from ECCC’s 1991–2020 normals.
About 148 frosts and 102 warm days a year
The frost season runs October to May, and January freezes nearly every night. On about 6 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
Rain and melted snow: about 1,074 mm a year
The most falls in January, the least in March. Some 147 days a year see 1 mm of rain or snow or more.
Rain and snow by month
Millimetres
Rain alone by month
Millimetres
Snowfall: about 385 cm in a normal year
The snow season runs October to April; January brings the most, about 111 cm. The snowiest of 854 towns of 2,500+ in Ontario.
Snowfall by month
Centimetres
Snow on the ground by month
Centimetres at month’s end
Heating a home in Chesley
89% of a year’s heating need falls between October and April. Months averaging under 10°C: October to April.
The total grows by a degree for every degree a day’s mean sits under 18°C. Over a year, a home here needs less heating than 66% of Canadian towns.
Living with Chesley’s climate
Gardening, time outside, winter cold and summer heat, from the 1991–2020 normals.
Wait until about 12 May to plant out; frost tends to come back around 10 October, about 151 days later.
Warm afternoons without cold nights, 17–27°C and 8°C or more, mark Jun, Jul, Aug and Sep.
Parks & trails →Roughly 24 days a year feel colder than −20 in the wind.
On some 36 days a year the humidex climbs past 30.
A typical year is calm by definition; Chesley’s hazards page covers the exceptions.
Flood & hazards →ECCC’s normals location: Wiarton
ECCC builds the Wiarton normals from 2 stations’ records over 1991–2020, joined where one replaced another.
| Distance from the town | 41 km north |
| Station altitude | 222 m |
| Completeness | at least 25 years |
| WMO standard normals | No |
| Coldest reading, 1991–2020 | −34.3°C |
| Hottest reading, 1991–2020 | 34.2°C |
| Average wind | 13.1 km/h on average, most often from the west |
| Next-nearest location | Mount Forest, 55 km |
How Chesley compares
Compared with 2,611 towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500 or more across Canada; the dots mark the other normals locations in Ontario.
Nearby towns’ climate
Nearby places read from a different ECCC location (places on Chesley’s own would show the same figures). Chesley has few close neighbours with figures, so the list reaches 26–40 km out.
| Town | July high | January low | Rain & snow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chesley Wiarton | 24.3°C | −9.9°C | 1,074 mm |
| Walkerton 26 km · Mount Forest | 25.1°C 0.8°C warmer | −10.9°C 1.0°C colder | 1,035 mm |
| Kincardine 40 km · Goderich | 24.4°C about the same | −7.8°C 2.1°C milder | 1,074 mm |
Chesley weather by month
Each month’s normals, 1991–2020: high, low, mean, precipitation and snowfall.
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Rain & snow | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | −2.2°C | −9.9°C | −6.1°C | 111 mm | 111 cm |
| February | −1.7°C | −10.2°C | −6.0°C | 77 mm | 74 cm |
| March | 2.7°C | −6.2°C | −1.8°C | 66 mm | 38 cm |
| April | 10.0°C | 0.1°C | 5.0°C | 84 mm | 18 cm |
| May | 16.9°C | 5.5°C | 11.2°C | 82 mm | 1 cm |
| June | 21.8°C | 10.5°C | 16.2°C | 79 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 24.3°C | 13.6°C | 18.9°C | 70 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 23.6°C | 13.1°C | 18.3°C | 83 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 20.1°C | 9.5°C | 14.8°C | 99 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 13.2°C | 4.6°C | 8.9°C | 110 mm | 5 cm |
| November | 6.5°C | −0.5°C | 3.0°C | 110 mm | 48 cm |
| December | 1.0°C | −5.3°C | −2.2°C | 104 mm | 92 cm |
| Year | 11.3°C | 2.1°C | 6.7°C | 1,074 mm | 385 cm |
The month with the widest range: March, −30.5°C to 27.2°C
Two years in three, January’s average falls within 3.0°C of its normal of −6.1°C; August keeps to within 1.1°C.
Where Chesley’s numbers come from
Averages over 30 years, not a forecast.
- Normals: the closest ECCC location with twelve months of temperature normals, Wiarton, 1991–2020.
- 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: a sunshine figure (ECCC published none for 1991–2020) and any lapse-rate correction for height, as the town has no elevation here.
Canadian Climate Normals 1991–2020 · ECCC Data Services End-use Licence. Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada
Questions about Chesley’s climate
How warm does Chesley get in summer?
The warmest month is July, when afternoons average 24.3°C.
How cold does Chesley get in winter?
Expect nights around −10.2°C in February; no month is colder.
How much rain and snow does Chesley get?
Precipitation totals 1,074 mm a year, with January the wettest month (111 mm) and March the driest (66 mm).
How long does snow stay on the ground?
Snow covers the ground, 1 cm or more, on about 112 days a year.
Are these figures for Chesley itself?
They are the closest available: the normals for Wiarton, since Chesley has none.
Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada · ECCC Data Services End-use Licence Today’s forecast for Chesley →
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).