Photo: Municipal Affairs and Housing · CC BY 2.0Summers, winters, rain and snow in Kitchener all run close to those of most Canadian towns
January nights average −10.3°C, July afternoons 26.6°C, and a year brings 851 mm of rain and melted snow. By July afternoons alone, it runs hotter than 70% of Canadian towns. Some 37°C separates winter nights from summer afternoons. Ice scrapers and block heaters earn their keep on roughly 156 days a year at 0°C or below.
Read at Kitchener/Waterloo, 8.9 km east: ECCC’s normals for 1991–2020.
A year in Kitchener at a glance
Each month’s typical high and low, in °C.
What stands out about Kitchener’s climate
Compared with Canadian towns, with its place among towns of 2,500+ in Ontario beside it.
What a year in Kitchener feels like
Each season’s and each month’s usual high and low, 1991–2020.
About 156 frosts and 122 warm days a year
Frost comes from October to May; in January almost every night freezes. Some 7 nights a year drop under −20°C.
Frost days by month
Average days at 0°C or below
Days above 20°C by month
Average days
851 mm of precipitation in a typical 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
115 cm of snow in a typical 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), 74 km away.
Heating a home in Kitchener
91% 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. By this count, homes here need less heating than 69% of Canadian towns.
Living with Kitchener’s climate
What the normals mean for a garden, a day outside and the depth of winter.
Plant out after about 8 May; the first frost of autumn usually arrives near 5 October, leaving roughly 149 days without frost.
Plan time outside for Jun, Jul, Aug and Sep: highs of 17–27°C and nights no colder than 8°C.
Parks & trails →A typical year is calm by definition; Kitchener’s hazards page covers the exceptions.
Flood & hazards →ECCC’s normals location: Kitchener/Waterloo
Kitchener/Waterloo is a composite: ECCC joins 3 stations’ readings to make its 1991–2020 normals.
| Distance from the town | 8.9 km east |
| Station altitude | 322 m |
| Completeness | meets the WMO “3 and 5” rule |
| WMO standard normals | No |
| Snowfall from | Toronto Pearson (Airport), 74 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, 25 km |
How Kitchener compares
Against the 2,611 Canadian towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500 or more, each read from its own normals location; the dots are the other locations those towns use in Ontario.
Nearby towns’ climate
Nearby places read from a different ECCC location (places on Kitchener’s own would show the same figures). The nearest place to Kitchener with figures is 13 km away.
| Town | July high | January low | Rain & snow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kitchener Kitchener/Waterloo | 26.6°C | −10.3°C | 851 mm |
| Elmira 13 km · Elora | 25.4°C 1.2°C cooler | −10.7°C about the same | 851 mm |
Kitchener 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 | −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 |
A February here can run warm or cold, its average moving by about 3.1°C; the steadiest month is June
Bars run from each month’s record low to its record high since 1991. March spans the most, from −29.4°C (2003) to 26.5°C (2012).
Where Kitchener’s numbers come from
Averages over 30 years, not a forecast.
- Normals: 1991–2020 normals for Kitchener/Waterloo from ECCC’s climate data site, the nearest location with every month of temperature.
- 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: Canada’s towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500+ (no city totals, no reserves), each through its own nearest location.
- Not on this page: sunshine, absent from every 1991–2020 location, and an altitude correction, for want of the town’s own elevation.
Canadian Climate Normals 1991–2020 · ECCC Data Services End-use Licence. Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada
Questions about Kitchener’s climate
How warm does Kitchener get in summer?
Highs reach 26.6°C on an average July day; no month is warmer.
How cold does Kitchener get in winter?
Of all twelve months, January has the coldest nights, about −10.3°C.
How much rain and snow does Kitchener get?
Some 851 mm falls in a year. Most of it comes in July (96 mm), the least in February (46 mm).
Are these figures for Kitchener itself?
Almost: ECCC’s Kitchener/Waterloo location, which gives these figures, lies a short way outside Kitchener.
Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada · ECCC Data Services End-use Licence Today’s forecast for Kitchener →
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).