Neither notably warm, cold, wet nor dry, Vanier sits near the middle of Canadian towns
A typical January night drops to −10.3°C and a July afternoon reaches 26.6°C; 851 mm of rain and snow falls in a year. Precipitation peaks in July and eases off in February. Its July heat outdoes that of 70% of Canadian towns. About 115 days a year bring 1 mm of precipitation or more.
Read at Kitchener/Waterloo, 6.7 km north-east: ECCC’s normals for 1991–2020.
A year in Vanier at a glance
Each month’s typical high and low, in °C.
What stands out about Vanier’s climate
Compared with Canadian towns, with its place among towns of 2,500+ in Ontario beside it.
What a year in Vanier feels like
Typical highs and lows by season and by month, from ECCC’s 1991–2020 normals.
Frost on 156 days, 20°C on 122
From October to May frost is routine, and in January it comes on almost 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
About 851 mm of rain and snow a year
Rain and snow by month
Millimetres
Snowfall: about 115 cm in a normal year
Expect snow from November to April, with about 32 cm in January, the snowiest month.
Snowfall by month
Centimetres
Kitchener/Waterloo publishes no full year of snowfall, so these figures come from Toronto Pearson (Airport), 72 km away.
Heating a home in Vanier
91% of a year’s heating need falls between October and April. Months averaging under 10°C: October to April.
A day averaging 10 degrees under 18°C adds 10 to the total; warm days add nothing. That means homes here need less heating than 69% of Canadian towns.
Living with Vanier’s climate
Gardening, time outside, winter cold and summer heat, from the 1991–2020 normals.
A normal year gives the garden about 149 frost-free days, roughly 8 May to 5 October.
The comfortable months for a day outside, highs of 17–27°C and nights of 8°C or more: Jun, Jul, Aug and Sep.
Parks & trails →Thirty-year normals hide the storms and the extremes: the hazards page has Vanier’s risks.
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 | 6.7 km north-east |
| Station altitude | 322 m |
| Completeness | meets the WMO “3 and 5” rule |
| WMO standard normals | No |
| Snowfall from | Toronto Pearson (Airport), 72 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 Vanier 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 Vanier’s own would show the same figures). The nearest place to Vanier with figures is 14 km away.
| Town | July high | January low | Rain & snow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vanier Kitchener/Waterloo | 26.6°C | −10.3°C | 851 mm |
| Elmira 14 km · Elora | 25.4°C 1.2°C cooler | −10.7°C about the same | 851 mm |
Vanier 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 |
The most changeable month: February, give or take 3.1°C; the steadiest, 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 Vanier’s numbers come from
Averages over 30 years, not a forecast.
- Normals: the closest ECCC location with twelve months of temperature normals, Kitchener/Waterloo, 1991–2020.
- 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: all Canadian places of 2,500 or more except city totals and reserves, each read the same way.
- 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 Vanier’s climate
How warm does Vanier get in summer?
A normal July afternoon tops out at about 26.6°C, the year’s high point.
How cold does Vanier get in winter?
Of all twelve months, January has the coldest nights, about −10.3°C.
How much rain and snow does Vanier get?
A normal year brings 851 mm, snow included as water: July is wettest at 96 mm, February driest at 46 mm.
Are these figures for Vanier itself?
Almost: ECCC’s Kitchener/Waterloo location, which gives these figures, lies a short way outside Vanier.
Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada · ECCC Data Services End-use Licence Today’s forecast for Vanier →
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).