Buchanan gets less snow than 81% of Canadian towns: about 115 cm a year
January nights here settle around −9.1°C. Only about 139 nights a year bring a frost, fewer than in 73% of Canadian towns. The wettest month is July; the driest is February. Windshields need scraping on about 139 mornings a year, the days the air reaches 0°C or below.
Figures: ECCC’s 1991–2020 normals for Hamilton (8.0 km south-west).
A year in Buchanan at a glance
Each month’s typical high and low, in °C.
What stands out about Buchanan’s climate
Compared with Canadian towns, with its place among towns of 2,500+ in Ontario beside it.
What a year in Buchanan feels like
Seasons and months as ECCC’s 1991–2020 normals give them: a typical day’s high and low.
Frost on 139 days, 20°C on 123
Frost comes from October to May; in January almost every night freezes. Heat of 30°C or more comes on about 13 days a year.
Frost days by month
Average days at 0°C or below
Days above 20°C by month
Average days
Rain and melted snow: about 902 mm a year
On about 114 days a year, 1 mm or more falls.
Rain and snow by month
Millimetres
Rain alone by month
Millimetres
115 cm of snow in a typical year
The snow season runs November to April; January brings the most, about 32 cm.
Snowfall by month
Centimetres
Snow on the ground by month
Centimetres at month’s end
Snowfall: Toronto Pearson (Airport), 54 km away (Hamilton records no complete year of it).
Heating a home in Buchanan
92% of a year’s heating need falls between October and April. Months averaging under 10°C: October to April.
Heating degree days total each day’s gap between its mean temperature and 18°C. Over a year, a home here needs less heating than 77% of Canadian towns.
Living with Buchanan’s climate
Gardening, time outside, winter cold and summer heat, from the 1991–2020 normals.
Gardens get from about 1 May to 12 October without frost, around 164 days in all.
Warm afternoons without cold nights, 17–27°C and 8°C or more, mark Jun, Jul, Aug and Sep.
Parks & trails →Winter brings about 20 days with a wind chill below −20.
Plan shade and water for about 59 days a year above 30 on the humidex.
Thirty years of averages say little about one bad storm; Buchanan’s hazards page does.
Flood & hazards →ECCC’s normals location: Hamilton
Behind the 1991–2020 normals for Hamilton are 2 stations, which ECCC combines into one record.
| Distance from the town | 8.0 km south-west |
| Station altitude | 238 m |
| Completeness | at least 20 years |
| WMO standard normals | No |
| Snowfall from | Toronto Pearson (Airport), 54 km |
| Coldest reading, 1991–2020 | −30.0°C |
| Hottest reading, 1991–2020 | 36.4°C |
| Average wind | 16.0 km/h on average, most often from the south-west |
| Next-nearest location | Burlington Piers, 11 km |
How Buchanan 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 Buchanan’s own would show the same figures). The nearest places to Buchanan with figures are 3–29 km away.
Buchanan 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 | −1.4°C | −9.1°C | −5.3°C | 73 mm | 32 cm |
| February | −0.9°C | −9.2°C | −5.0°C | 53 mm | 28 cm |
| March | 4.7°C | −4.4°C | 0.2°C | 69 mm | 17 cm |
| April | 11.8°C | 1.3°C | 6.5°C | 81 mm | 5 cm |
| May | 18.9°C | 7.3°C | 13.1°C | 81 mm | under 1 cm |
| June | 24.2°C | 12.8°C | 18.5°C | 78 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 26.6°C | 15.2°C | 20.9°C | 98 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 25.6°C | 14.5°C | 20.1°C | 67 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 21.7°C | 10.5°C | 16.1°C | 74 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 14.5°C | 4.8°C | 9.7°C | 84 mm | under 1 cm |
| November | 7.7°C | −0.2°C | 3.8°C | 78 mm | 9 cm |
| December | 1.5°C | −5.4°C | −1.9°C | 67 mm | 24 cm |
| Year | 12.9°C | 3.2°C | 8.1°C | 902 mm | 115 cm |
From −24.6°C to 26.8°C: March’s coldest and warmest days since 1991
The month to count on least is January: one year in three its average strays more than 3.0°C from −5.3°C. June moves least, typically by 1.1°C.
Where Buchanan’s numbers come from
Averages over 30 years, not a forecast.
- Normals: ECCC’s 1991–2020 Canadian Climate Normals for Hamilton, the nearest location with a full year of temperatures.
- Other locations: where a location publishes no full year of precipitation or snowfall, the nearest one that does supplies it, named beside those figures.
- 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: hours of sunshine, missing from the 1991–2020 normals, and a height correction: the town has no elevation on file.
Canadian Climate Normals 1991–2020 · ECCC Data Services End-use Licence. Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada
Questions about Buchanan’s climate
How warm does Buchanan get in summer?
Expect highs near 26.6°C in July, the hottest month on average.
How cold does Buchanan get in winter?
On a normal February night the air drops to −9.2°C, the coldest of the year.
How much rain and snow does Buchanan get?
Measured as water, a year brings 902 mm: 98 mm in July, the wettest month, and 53 mm in February, the driest.
How long does snow stay on the ground?
Roughly 82 days a year start with snow cover of 1 cm or more.
Are these figures for Buchanan itself?
They are the normals for Hamilton, measured just outside Buchanan itself.
Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada · ECCC Data Services End-use Licence Today’s forecast for Buchanan →
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).