Photo: Unknown author Unknown author · Public domainAmherst gets more frosts than 89% of Canadian towns
July afternoons average 25.3°C. Rain and snow together come to more here than on 88% of Canadian towns. The seasons are far apart: from a winter night to a summer afternoon the average spans 44°C. Plan for rain or snow on about 143 days a year, the days with 1 mm or more.
No ECCC station in Amherst has 1991–2020 normals; the page reads St-Jovite, 20 km east, instead.
A year in Amherst at a glance
Each month’s typical high and low, in °C.
What stands out about Amherst’s climate
Compared with Canadian towns, with its place among towns of 2,500+ in Quebec beside it.
What a year in Amherst feels like
Seasons and months as ECCC’s 1991–2020 normals give them: a typical day’s high and low.
Frost on 196 days, 20°C on 111
Frost comes from September to May; in January almost every night freezes. Deep cold, under −20°C, comes on about 41 nights a year.
Frost days by month
Average days at 0°C or below
Days above 20°C by month
Average days
1,178 mm of precipitation in a typical year
The most falls in October, the least in February.
Rain and snow by month
Millimetres
Rain alone by month
Millimetres
Precipitation and snowfall: Lachute, 60 km away (St-Jovite records no complete year of either).
Snowfall: about 218 cm in a normal year
The snow season runs October to April; January brings the most, about 56 cm.
Snowfall by month
Centimetres
Heating a home in Amherst
89% of a year’s heating need falls between October and April. Months averaging under 10°C: October to April.
Every day colder than 18°C on average adds its gap in degrees to the year’s heating total. Over a year, a home here needs more heating than 80% of Canadian towns.
Living with Amherst’s climate
What the normals mean for a garden, a day outside and the depth of winter.
From about 28 May to 15 September the garden is usually clear of frost, some 110 days.
Afternoons of 17–27°C and nights of at least 8°C arrive in Jun, Jul and Aug.
Parks & trails →Winter brings about 34 days with a wind chill below −20.
Count on some 35 humid days a year with the humidex past 30.
Severe weather is a separate story from the averages: see Amherst’s hazards page.
Flood & hazards →ECCC’s normals location: St-Jovite
The page’s figures are ECCC’s 1991–2020 normals for St-Jovite, one of its 450 normals locations.
| Distance from the town | 20 km east |
| Station altitude | 234 m |
| Completeness | at least 20 years |
| WMO standard normals | No |
| Precipitation from | Lachute, 60 km |
| Coldest reading, 1991–2020 | −41.4°C |
| Hottest reading, 1991–2020 | 35.7°C |
| Average wind | 4.1 km/h on average, most often from the west |
| Next-nearest location | Lachute, 60 km |
How Amherst 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 Quebec.
Nearby towns’ climate
The nearest places on a normals location of their own: those that share Amherst’s would only repeat its figures. Distances here run 36–48 km: that is how far the nearest places with figures are from Amherst.
| Town | July high | January low | Rain & snow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amherst St-Jovite | 25.3°C | −18.3°C | 1,178 mm |
| Montpellier 36 km · Angers | 26.2°C 0.9°C warmer | −16.5°C 1.8°C milder | 938 mm |
| Wentworth-Nord 39 km · Lachute | 26.5°C 1.2°C warmer | −14.7°C 3.6°C milder | 1,178 mm |
Amherst weather by month
Each month’s normals, 1991–2020: high, low, mean, precipitation and snowfall.
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Rain & snow | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | −5.5°C | −18.3°C | −11.9°C | 97 mm | 56 cm |
| February | −3.3°C | −17.9°C | −10.6°C | 72 mm | 47 cm |
| March | 2.6°C | −11.3°C | −4.4°C | 74 mm | 34 cm |
| April | 10.3°C | −3.2°C | 3.5°C | 100 mm | 8 cm |
| May | 18.5°C | 3.3°C | 11.0°C | 89 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 23.0°C | 8.5°C | 15.7°C | 111 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 25.3°C | 10.9°C | 18.2°C | 112 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 24.5°C | 9.8°C | 17.2°C | 104 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 20.1°C | 5.6°C | 12.9°C | 114 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 12.3°C | 0.5°C | 6.4°C | 120 mm | 2 cm |
| November | 4.6°C | −5.1°C | −0.2°C | 93 mm | 17 cm |
| December | −2.5°C | −12.9°C | −7.7°C | 94 mm | 53 cm |
| Year | 10.8°C | −2.5°C | 4.2°C | 1,178 mm | 218 cm |
The most changeable month: January, give or take 3.2°C; the steadiest, August
Records from 1991 to 2020: no month spans more than March, between −38.3°C (2007) and 27.1°C (2012).
Where Amherst’s numbers come from
Averages over 30 years, not a forecast.
- Normals: the closest ECCC location with twelve months of temperature normals, St-Jovite, 1991–2020.
- Other locations: precipitation and snowfall come from the nearest location that publishes all twelve months of them, as named above.
- Comparisons: Canadian towns and neighbourhoods of at least 2,500, each placed by its nearest location (city totals and reserves excluded).
- Not on this page: sunshine (no 1991–2020 normals exist for it) and any altitude adjustment, since there is no elevation for the town itself.
Canadian Climate Normals 1991–2020 · ECCC Data Services End-use Licence. Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada
Questions about Amherst’s climate
How warm does Amherst get in summer?
Summer peaks in July: a typical afternoon reaches 25.3°C.
How cold does Amherst get in winter?
On a normal January night the air drops to −18.3°C, the coldest of the year.
How much rain and snow does Amherst get?
Around 1,178 mm a year in all, from 120 mm in October down to 72 mm in February.
Are these figures for Amherst itself?
They are the closest available: the normals for St-Jovite, since Amherst has none.
Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada · ECCC Data Services End-use Licence Today’s forecast for Amherst →
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).