Photo: Ryan Hodnett · CC BY-SA 4.0Weather without surprises: Guelph keeps close to the norm for Canadian towns
July afternoons reach 26.6°C on a typical day and January nights drop to −10.3°C; 851 mm of rain and melted snow falls in a year. Summer afternoons here are warmer than in 70% of Canadian towns. Temperatures cover 37°C across the year, low to high. Picnics, hikes and garden evenings come into their own from June to September, with highs of 22–27°C.
These are not Guelph’s own readings: ECCC keeps no normals there, so the page uses Kitchener/Waterloo, 14 km south-west.
A year in Guelph at a glance
Each month’s typical high and low, in °C.
What stands out about Guelph’s climate
Compared with Canadian towns, with its place among towns of 2,500+ in Ontario beside it.
What a year in Guelph feels like
Each season’s and each month’s usual high and low, 1991–2020.
156 frost days and 122 days above 20°C a year
The frost season runs October to May, and January freezes nearly every night. On about 7 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 851 mm a year
The most falls in July, the least in February. Some 115 days a year see 1 mm of rain or snow or more.
Rain and snow by month
Millimetres
Snowfall: about 115 cm in a normal year
From November to April snow is likely; January is the peak, at about 32 cm.
Snowfall by month
Centimetres
ECCC’s Kitchener/Waterloo normals leave snowfall out; the figures here come from Toronto Pearson (Airport), 52 km away.
Heating a home in Guelph
91% of a year’s heating need falls between October and April. Months averaging under 10°C: October to April.
Measured against 18°C: each day’s shortfall in mean temperature, added over twelve months. That means homes here need less heating than 69% of Canadian towns.
Living with Guelph’s climate
What the normals mean for a garden, a day outside and the depth of winter.
Between the last frost, near 8 May, and the first, near 5 October, lie about 149 frost-free 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 normals describe a typical year, not its worst days; the hazards page covers Guelph’s.
Flood & hazards →ECCC’s normals location: Kitchener/Waterloo
Behind the 1991–2020 normals for Kitchener/Waterloo are 3 stations, which ECCC combines into one record.
| Distance from the town | 14 km south-west |
| Station altitude | 322 m |
| Completeness | meets the WMO “3 and 5” rule |
| WMO standard normals | No |
| Snowfall from | Toronto Pearson (Airport), 52 km |
| Coldest reading, 1991–2020 | −34.1°C |
| Hottest reading, 1991–2020 | 36.5°C |
| Average wind | 13.8 km/h on average, most often from the west |
| Next-nearest location | Elora, 19 km |
How Guelph 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
The nearest places on a normals location of their own: those that share Guelph’s would only repeat its figures. The nearest places to Guelph with figures are 5–28 km away.
| Town | July high | January low | Rain & snow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guelph Kitchener/Waterloo | 26.6°C | −10.3°C | 851 mm |
| Rockwood 5.3 km · Elora | 25.4°C 1.2°C cooler | −10.7°C about the same | 851 mm |
| Georgetown 27 km · Toronto Pearson (Airport) | 27.4°C 0.8°C warmer | −8.9°C 1.4°C milder | 807 mm |
Guelph weather by month
Each month’s normals, 1991–2020: high, low, mean, precipitation and snowfall.
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Rain & snow | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | −2.3°C | −10.3°C | −6.3°C | 66 mm | 32 cm |
| February | −1.4°C | −10.3°C | −5.9°C | 46 mm | 28 cm |
| March | 4.1°C | −5.6°C | −0.8°C | 57 mm | 17 cm |
| April | 11.6°C | 0.1°C | 5.9°C | 81 mm | 5 cm |
| May | 19.0°C | 6.2°C | 12.6°C | 80 mm | under 1 cm |
| June | 24.1°C | 11.5°C | 17.8°C | 81 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 26.6°C | 13.7°C | 20.2°C | 96 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 25.5°C | 12.7°C | 19.1°C | 67 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 21.6°C | 8.7°C | 15.2°C | 75 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 14.1°C | 3.4°C | 8.8°C | 71 mm | under 1 cm |
| November | 6.8°C | −1.6°C | 2.6°C | 75 mm | 9 cm |
| December | 0.7°C | −6.3°C | −2.8°C | 55 mm | 24 cm |
| Year | 12.5°C | 1.9°C | 7.2°C | 851 mm | 115 cm |
From −29.4°C to 26.5°C: March’s coldest and warmest days since 1991
From one year to the next, February’s average typically shifts by 3.1°C around its normal of −5.9°C, the widest of any month, while June’s shifts by 1.1°C.
Where Guelph’s numbers come from
Averages over 30 years, not a forecast.
- Normals: the Canadian Climate Normals, 1991–2020, at Kitchener/Waterloo (the closest location with all twelve months of temperatures).
- Other locations: ECCC blanks a month that fails its completeness rule, so the precipitation or snowfall here comes from the next location with all twelve months.
- 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: sunshine, which none of ECCC’s 450 locations publishes for 1991–2020, and the town’s own height above sea level, so no figure is adjusted for altitude.
Canadian Climate Normals 1991–2020 · ECCC Data Services End-use Licence. Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada
Questions about Guelph’s climate
How warm does Guelph get in summer?
Summer peaks in July: a typical afternoon reaches 26.6°C.
How cold does Guelph get in winter?
A typical January night falls to −10.3°C, the year’s low point.
How much rain and snow does Guelph get?
July is the wettest month at 96 mm and February the driest at 46 mm, for 851 mm over the year.
Are these figures for Guelph itself?
They describe Kitchener/Waterloo, the nearest normals location, rather than Guelph itself.
Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada · ECCC Data Services End-use Licence Today’s forecast for Guelph →
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).