Photo: WabbitWanderer from London, Canada · CC BY-SA 2.0For weather, Sault Ste. Marie is about as ordinary as Canadian towns get
A typical year brings 915 mm of rain and melted snow, with July afternoons around 24.2°C and January nights around −14.5°C. In July, afternoons here are cooler than in 69% of Canadian towns. Temperatures cover 39°C across the year, low to high. Expect about 175 frosty starts a year, days when the air falls to freezing.
Environment and Climate Change Canada’s 1991–2020 normals, measured at Sault Ste Marie, 15 km west.
A year in Sault Ste. Marie at a glance
Each month’s typical high and low, in °C.
What stands out about Sault Ste. Marie’s climate
Compared with Canadian towns, with its place among towns of 2,500+ in Ontario beside it.
What a year in Sault Ste. Marie feels like
Seasons and months as ECCC’s 1991–2020 normals give them: a typical day’s high and low.
Frost on 175 days, 20°C on 96
The frost season runs September to May, and January freezes nearly every night. Deep cold, under −20°C, comes on about 21 nights a year.
Frost days by month
Average days at 0°C or below
Days above 20°C by month
Average days
915 mm of precipitation in a typical year
The most falls in October, the least in February. Some 131 days a year see 1 mm of rain or snow or more.
Rain and snow by month
Millimetres
Rain alone by month
Millimetres
325 cm of snow in a typical year
Snow falls from October to April, most of all in January (about 84 cm).
Snowfall by month
Centimetres
Snow on the ground by month
Centimetres at month’s end
Heating a home in Sault Ste. Marie
88% of a year’s heating need falls between October and April. Months averaging under 10°C: October to May.
The count adds up, day by day, how far the mean temperature falls short of 18°C. Over a year, a home here needs more heating than 61% of Canadian towns.
Living with Sault Ste. Marie’s climate
What the normals mean for a garden, a day outside and the depth of winter.
From about 28 May to 29 September the garden is usually clear of frost, some 123 days.
Warm afternoons without cold nights, 17–27°C and 8°C or more, mark Jun, Jul, Aug and Sep.
Parks & trails →A wind chill below −20 is part of about 39 days a year here.
Humid heat, a humidex over 30, comes on about 31 days a year.
A normal year has no blizzard, flood or heat wave in it; Sault Ste. Marie’s hazards page looks at those.
Flood & hazards →ECCC’s normals location: Sault Ste Marie
ECCC builds the Sault Ste Marie normals from 2 stations’ records over 1991–2020, joined where one replaced another.
| Distance from the town | 15 km west |
| Station altitude | 192 m |
| Completeness | at least 20 years |
| WMO standard normals | No |
| Coldest reading, 1991–2020 | −37.3°C |
| Hottest reading, 1991–2020 | 34.3°C |
| Average wind | 12.2 km/h on average, most often from the east |
| Next-nearest location | Gore Bay, 153 km |
How Sault Ste. Marie 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
Places around Sault Ste. Marie whose figures come from another normals location. Sault Ste. Marie has no close neighbour with figures; the nearest is 80 km away.
| Town | July high | January low | Rain & snow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sault Ste. Marie | 24.2°C | −14.5°C | 915 mm |
| Huron Shores 80 km · Gore Bay | 24.4°C about the same | −13.6°C 0.9°C milder | 915 mm |
Sault Ste. Marie 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 | −5.0°C | −14.5°C | −9.8°C | 65 mm | 84 cm |
| February | −4.0°C | −14.7°C | −9.4°C | 46 mm | 59 cm |
| March | 1.4°C | −9.6°C | −4.1°C | 52 mm | 39 cm |
| April | 8.7°C | −2.0°C | 3.4°C | 71 mm | 17 cm |
| May | 16.2°C | 3.5°C | 9.9°C | 69 mm | 1 cm |
| June | 21.8°C | 8.5°C | 15.2°C | 79 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 24.2°C | 11.6°C | 17.9°C | 77 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 23.7°C | 11.5°C | 17.7°C | 78 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 19.4°C | 8.0°C | 13.7°C | 109 mm | under 1 cm |
| October | 11.7°C | 2.7°C | 7.2°C | 111 mm | 5 cm |
| November | 4.8°C | −2.5°C | 1.2°C | 89 mm | 44 cm |
| December | −1.0°C | −8.6°C | −4.8°C | 70 mm | 77 cm |
| Year | 10.2°C | −0.5°C | 4.8°C | 915 mm | 325 cm |
February strays furthest from its normal year to year, by 3.7°C; August the least
The thirty-year records stretch furthest in March: a low of −34.4°C in 2003 and a high of 26.7°C in 2012.
Where Sault Ste. Marie’s numbers come from
Averages over 30 years, not a forecast.
- Normals: the 1991–2020 Canadian Climate Normals at Sault Ste Marie, the closest ECCC location with twelve months of temperature normals.
- Comparisons: a pool of Canadian towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500 or more, read alike; whole cities and reserves stay out of it.
- 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 Sault Ste. Marie’s climate
How warm does Sault Ste. Marie get in summer?
Midsummer means July, with afternoons near 24.2°C on a typical day.
How cold does Sault Ste. Marie get in winter?
Lows sink to −14.7°C on an average February night.
How much rain and snow does Sault Ste. Marie get?
A normal year brings 915 mm, snow included as water: October is wettest at 111 mm, February driest at 46 mm.
How long does snow stay on the ground?
Snow cover of 1 cm or more lasts about 129 days in a typical year.
Are these figures for Sault Ste. Marie itself?
They are: the normals station that gives them stands in Sault Ste. Marie.
Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada · ECCC Data Services End-use Licence Today’s forecast for Sault Ste. Marie →
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).