Photo: Balcer · CC BY 2.5Weather without surprises: Palmerston keeps close to the norm for Canadian towns
July afternoons reach 25.1°C on a typical day and January nights drop to −10.9°C; 1,035 mm of rain and melted snow falls in a year. Expect the most rain and snow in June and the least in March. Precipitation is plentiful here, more than falls on 70% of Canadian towns. Have the furnace checked before October to April, the months that average under 10°C.
These are not Palmerston’s own readings: ECCC keeps no normals there, so the page uses Mount Forest, 12 km north-east.
A year in Palmerston at a glance
Each month’s typical high and low, in °C.
What stands out about Palmerston’s climate
Compared with Canadian towns, with its place among towns of 2,500+ in Ontario beside it.
What a year in Palmerston feels like
Typical highs and lows by season and by month, from ECCC’s 1991–2020 normals.
About 158 frosts and 111 warm days a year
Frost comes from October to May; in January almost every night freezes. Deep cold, under −20°C, comes on about 8 nights a year.
Frost days by month
Average days at 0°C or below
Days above 20°C by month
Average days
1,035 mm of precipitation in a typical year
Some 140 days a year see 1 mm of rain or snow or more.
Rain and snow by month
Millimetres
About 174 cm of snow a year
Snow falls from October to April, most of all in December (about 42 cm).
Snowfall by month
Centimetres
ECCC’s Mount Forest normals leave snowfall out; the figures here come from Egbert, 94 km away.
Heating a home in Palmerston
90% of a year’s heating need falls between October and April. Months averaging under 10°C: October to April.
Degree days add up how far each day’s mean temperature falls below 18°C over a year.
Living with Palmerston’s climate
The averages read for the garden, the outdoors and the coldest and hottest days.
Afternoons of 17–27°C and nights of at least 8°C arrive in Jun, Jul, Aug and Sep.
Parks & trails →Expect around 25 days a year when the wind chill sinks below −20.
Count on some 36 humid days a year with the humidex past 30.
What averages leave out, the floods and ice storms, is on Palmerston’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 | 12 km north-east |
| Station altitude | 404 m |
| Completeness | meets the WMO “3 and 5” rule |
| WMO standard normals | No |
| Snowfall from | Egbert, 94 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 | Elora, 46 km |
How Palmerston 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
The nearest places on a normals location of their own: those that share Palmerston’s would only repeat its figures. The nearest places to Palmerston with figures are 24–44 km away.
| Town | July high | January low | Rain & snow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Palmerston Mount Forest | 25.1°C | −10.9°C | 1,035 mm |
| Drayton 24 km · Elora | 25.4°C about the same | −10.7°C about the same | 1,035 mm |
| Morris-Turnberry 32 km · Goderich | 24.4°C 0.7°C cooler | −7.8°C 3.1°C milder | 1,035 mm |
Palmerston weather by month
Average daily high and low, mean temperature, rain and snow (as water) and snowfall by month, 1991–2020.
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Rain & snow | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | −3.3°C | −10.9°C | −7.1°C | 92 mm | 40 cm |
| February | −2.6°C | −11.1°C | −6.9°C | 73 mm | 33 cm |
| March | 2.5°C | −6.5°C | −2.0°C | 68 mm | 26 cm |
| April | 10.2°C | −0.2°C | 5.0°C | 74 mm | 9 cm |
| May | 17.7°C | 6.4°C | 12.0°C | 98 mm | under 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 | 3 cm |
| November | 5.5°C | −1.5°C | 2.0°C | 92 mm | 22 cm |
| December | −0.5°C | −6.7°C | −3.6°C | 90 mm | 42 cm |
| Year | 11.2°C | 1.8°C | 6.5°C | 1,035 mm | 174 cm |
From −32.5°C to 25.7°C: March’s coldest and warmest days since 1991
Year to year, February varies most (a standard deviation of 3.1°C around −6.9°C) and June least (1.0°C).
Where Palmerston’s numbers come from
Averages over 30 years, not a forecast.
- Normals: the 1991–2020 normals from ECCC for Mount Forest, its nearest location with complete 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: sunshine, not in ECCC’s 1991–2020 normals, and the effect of the town’s height, for which there is no figure.
Canadian Climate Normals 1991–2020 · ECCC Data Services End-use Licence. Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada
Questions about Palmerston’s climate
How warm does Palmerston get in summer?
A normal July afternoon tops out at about 25.1°C, the year’s high point.
How cold does Palmerston get in winter?
Winter bottoms out in February, with lows near −11.1°C.
How much rain and snow does Palmerston get?
Rain and snow add up to about 1,035 mm of water a year; June brings the most (100 mm), March the least (68 mm).
Are these figures for Palmerston itself?
They are borrowed from Mount Forest, the nearest place to Palmerston where ECCC publishes 1991–2020 normals.
Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada · ECCC Data Services End-use Licence Today’s forecast for Palmerston →
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).