Photo: Tabercil · CC BY 3.0For weather, Durham is about as ordinary as Canadian towns get
A typical year brings 1,035 mm of rain and melted snow, with July afternoons around 25.1°C and January nights around −10.9°C. From frozen January to warm July, readings climb 36°C. Counting rain and snow together, it is wetter than 70% of Canadian towns. Warm coats and heating bills mark the months from October to April, when means dip under 10°C.
Durham has no ECCC normals station of its own: every figure here comes from Mount Forest, 24 km south.
A year in Durham at a glance
Each month’s typical high and low, in °C.
What stands out about Durham’s climate
Compared with Canadian towns, with its place among towns of 2,500+ in Ontario beside it.
What a year in Durham feels like
Typical highs and lows by season and by month, from ECCC’s 1991–2020 normals.
158 frost days and 111 days above 20°C a year
From October to May frost is routine, and in January it comes on almost every night. 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
Rain and melted snow: about 1,035 mm a year
June brings the most rain and snow; March, the least. About 140 days a year bring 1 mm or more.
Rain and snow by month
Millimetres
385 cm of snow in a typical 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
Mount Forest publishes no full year of snowfall, so these figures come from Wiarton, 67 km away.
Heating a home in Durham
90% of a year’s heating need falls between October and April. Months averaging under 10°C: October to April.
ECCC sums, over the year, how many degrees each day’s average falls short of 18°C.
Living with Durham’s climate
The averages read for the garden, the outdoors and the coldest and hottest days.
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 25 days in a normal year.
Roughly 36 days a year feel hotter than 30 once humidity is counted.
What averages leave out, the floods and ice storms, is on Durham’s hazards page.
Flood & hazards →ECCC’s normals location: Mount Forest
Behind the 1991–2020 normals for Mount Forest are 2 stations, which ECCC combines into one record.
| Distance from the town | 24 km south |
| Station altitude | 404 m |
| Completeness | meets the WMO “3 and 5” rule |
| WMO standard normals | No |
| Snowfall from | Wiarton, 67 km |
| Coldest reading, 1991–2020 | −32.5°C |
| Hottest reading, 1991–2020 | 34.5°C |
| Average wind | 10.7 km/h on average, most often from the south |
| Next-nearest location | Collingwood, 61 km |
How Durham 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
Nearby places read from a different ECCC location (places on Durham’s own would show the same figures). No closer places have figures: these lie 24–45 km from Durham.
| Town | July high | January low | Rain & snow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Durham Mount Forest | 25.1°C | −10.9°C | 1,035 mm |
| Chatsworth 24 km · Wiarton | 24.3°C 0.8°C cooler | −9.9°C 1.0°C milder | 1,074 mm |
| Grey Highlands 31 km · Collingwood | 25.3°C about the same | −8.7°C 2.2°C milder | 1,035 mm |
Durham 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 | −3.3°C | −10.9°C | −7.1°C | 92 mm | 111 cm |
| February | −2.6°C | −11.1°C | −6.9°C | 73 mm | 74 cm |
| March | 2.5°C | −6.5°C | −2.0°C | 68 mm | 38 cm |
| April | 10.2°C | −0.2°C | 5.0°C | 74 mm | 18 cm |
| May | 17.7°C | 6.4°C | 12.0°C | 98 mm | 1 cm |
| June | 22.8°C | 11.7°C | 17.3°C | 100 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 25.1°C | 13.6°C | 19.4°C | 98 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 24.2°C | 13.1°C | 18.7°C | 84 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 20.5°C | 9.6°C | 15.1°C | 85 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 13.0°C | 4.1°C | 8.5°C | 81 mm | 5 cm |
| November | 5.5°C | −1.5°C | 2.0°C | 92 mm | 48 cm |
| December | −0.5°C | −6.7°C | −3.6°C | 90 mm | 92 cm |
| Year | 11.2°C | 1.8°C | 6.5°C | 1,035 mm | 385 cm |
A February here can run warm or cold, its average moving by about 3.1°C; the steadiest month is June
Over 1991–2020, March saw both −32.5°C (2003) and 25.7°C (2012), the widest span of any month.
Where Durham’s numbers come from
Averages over 30 years, not a forecast.
- Normals: 1991–2020 normals for Mount Forest 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: Canada’s towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500+ (no city totals, no reserves), each through its own nearest location.
- 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 Durham’s climate
How warm does Durham get in summer?
Highs reach 25.1°C on an average July day; no month is warmer.
How cold does Durham get in winter?
Deep winter means February, when nights average −11.1°C.
How much rain and snow does Durham get?
Over twelve months, rain and melted snow come to 1,035 mm; the range runs from 68 mm in March to 100 mm in June.
Are these figures for Durham itself?
No, the station behind them is Mount Forest, beyond Durham’s boundary.
Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada · ECCC Data Services End-use Licence Today’s forecast for Durham →
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).