Photo: Gogerr · CC BY-SA 4.0Summer afternoons in St. Catharines are warmer than in 88% of Canadian towns
January nights here settle around −6.8°C. Precipitation peaks in April and eases off in February. By frosts alone, it ranks gentler than 86% of Canadian towns. An umbrella or a shovel earns its place on about 112 days a year with 1 mm or more.
The nearest ECCC normals location to St. Catharines is Vineland, 15 km west, and every figure on this page is its.
A year in St. Catharines at a glance
Each month’s typical high and low, in °C.
What stands out about St. Catharines’s climate
Compared with Canadian towns, with its place among towns of 2,500+ in Ontario beside it.
What a year in St. Catharines feels like
Each season’s and each month’s usual high and low, 1991–2020.
About 117 frosts and 124 warm days a year
Frost comes from October to April, most of all in January (about 27 nights). About 18 days a year top 30°C.
Frost days by month
Average days at 0°C or below
Days above 20°C by month
Average days
838 mm of precipitation in a typical year
Rain and snow by month
Millimetres
About 141 cm of snow a year
The snow season runs November to April; January brings the most, about 44 cm.
Snowfall by month
Centimetres
Snowfall: Welland-Pelham, 20 km away (Vineland records no complete year of it).
Heating a home in St. Catharines
93% of a year’s heating need falls between October and April. Months averaging under 10°C: November to April.
Every day colder than 18°C on average adds its gap in degrees to the year’s heating total. By this count, homes here need less heating than 88% of Canadian towns.
Living with St. Catharines’s climate
The averages read for the garden, the outdoors and the coldest and hottest days.
The comfortable months for a day outside, highs of 17–27°C and nights of 8°C or more: May, Jun, Aug and Sep.
Parks & trails →Bitter wind chill, under −20, comes on about 11 days a year.
Expect around 61 sticky days a year with the humidex above 30.
The normals describe a typical year, not its worst days; the hazards page covers St. Catharines’s.
Flood & hazards →ECCC’s normals location: Vineland
Vineland is a composite: ECCC joins 2 stations’ readings to make its 1991–2020 normals.
| Distance from the town | 15 km west |
| Station altitude | 95 m |
| Completeness | meets the WMO “3 and 5” rule |
| WMO standard normals | No |
| Snowfall from | Welland-Pelham, 20 km |
| Coldest reading, 1991–2020 | −24.5°C |
| Hottest reading, 1991–2020 | 37.4°C |
| Average wind | 12.9 km/h on average, most often from the south-west |
| Next-nearest location | Welland-Pelham, 20 km |
How St. Catharines compares
Placed among 2,611 Canadian towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500+, each on its nearest normals location; each dot is another location used in Ontario.
Nearby towns’ climate
Places around St. Catharines whose figures come from another normals location.
| Town | July high | January low | Rain & snow |
|---|---|---|---|
| St. Catharines Vineland | 27.1°C | −6.8°C | 838 mm |
| Thorold 7.3 km · Welland-Pelham | 26.8°C about the same | −8.0°C 1.2°C colder | 967 mm |
| Niagara-on-the-Lake 11 km · Vineland | 27.1°C about the same | −6.8°C about the same | 838 mm |
St. Catharines 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 | 0.2°C | −6.8°C | −3.3°C | 71 mm | 44 cm |
| February | 0.8°C | −6.4°C | −2.9°C | 52 mm | 24 cm |
| March | 5.3°C | −2.6°C | 1.4°C | 62 mm | 28 cm |
| April | 11.6°C | 2.4°C | 7.0°C | 83 mm | 5 cm |
| May | 18.6°C | 8.0°C | 13.3°C | 70 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 24.1°C | 14.0°C | 19.1°C | 78 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 27.1°C | 17.2°C | 22.2°C | 74 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 26.1°C | 16.6°C | 21.4°C | 69 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 22.3°C | 12.9°C | 17.6°C | 69 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 15.5°C | 7.1°C | 11.3°C | 77 mm | under 1 cm |
| November | 8.9°C | 1.5°C | 5.2°C | 72 mm | 9 cm |
| December | 3.2°C | −3.0°C | 0.1°C | 62 mm | 32 cm |
| Year | 13.6°C | 5.1°C | 9.4°C | 838 mm | 141 cm |
March: −19.2°C at its coldest, 27.0°C at its warmest
The month to count on least is February: one year in three its average strays more than 2.8°C from −2.9°C. August moves least, typically by 1.2°C.
Where St. Catharines’s numbers come from
Averages over 30 years, not a forecast.
- Normals: Environment and Climate Change Canada’s 1991–2020 normals, Vineland: the nearest of its locations with every month’s 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: all Canadian places of 2,500 or more except city totals and reserves, each read the same way.
- 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 St. Catharines’s climate
How warm does St. Catharines get in summer?
Midsummer means July, with afternoons near 27.1°C on a typical day.
How cold does St. Catharines get in winter?
Lows sink to −6.8°C on an average January night.
How much rain and snow does St. Catharines get?
April is the wettest month at 83 mm and February the driest at 52 mm, for 838 mm over the year.
Are these figures for St. Catharines itself?
They are the closest available: the normals for Vineland, since St. Catharines has none.
Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada · ECCC Data Services End-use Licence Today’s forecast for St. Catharines →
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).