Photo: Conrad Poirier · Public domainSummer afternoons in Kahnawake are warmer than in 78% of Canadian towns
Midwinter brings lows of about −13.5°C. The gap between a January night and a July afternoon is 40°C. Precipitation is plentiful here, more than falls on 74% of Canadian towns. Windshields need scraping on about 146 mornings a year, the days the air reaches 0°C or below.
No ECCC station in Kahnawake has 1991–2020 normals; the page reads Montréal Trudeau (Airport), 11 km north-west, instead.
A year in Kahnawake at a glance
Each month’s typical high and low, in °C.
What stands out about Kahnawake’s climate
Compared with Canadian towns, with its place among towns of 2,500+ in Quebec beside it.
What a year in Kahnawake feels like
Seasons and months as ECCC’s 1991–2020 normals give them: a typical day’s high and low.
Frost on 146 days, 20°C on 121
Frost comes from October to April; in January almost every night freezes. Deep cold, under −20°C, comes on about 12 nights a year.
Frost days by month
Average days at 0°C or below
Days above 20°C by month
Average days
1,041 mm of precipitation in a typical year
The most falls in October, the least in February. Some 122 days a year see 1 mm of rain or snow or more.
Rain and snow by month
Millimetres
Rain alone by month
Millimetres
Snowfall: about 217 cm in a normal year
From October to April snow is likely; January is the peak, at about 52 cm.
Snowfall by month
Centimetres
Snow on the ground by month
Centimetres at month’s end
Heating a home in Kahnawake
93% of a year’s heating need falls between October and April. Months averaging under 10°C: October to April.
Warm days count for nothing; each colder day adds how far its mean sits below 18°C. In heating terms, homes need less heating than 62% of Canadian towns.
Living with Kahnawake’s climate
What the normals mean for a garden, a day outside and the depth of winter.
Between the last frost, near 29 April, and the first, near 14 October, lie about 167 frost-free days.
The comfortable months for a day outside, highs of 17–27°C and nights of 8°C or more: May, Jun, Jul, Aug and Sep.
Parks & trails →Count on some 40 days a year when the wind makes it feel below −20.
About 50 days a year turn sultry, with the humidex past 30.
Storms, floods and heat waves sit outside these normals; Kahnawake’s hazards page covers them.
Flood & hazards →ECCC’s normals location: Montréal Trudeau (Airport)
Montréal Trudeau (Airport) is a composite: ECCC joins 3 stations’ readings to make its 1991–2020 normals.
| Distance from the town | 11 km north-west |
| Station altitude | 36 m |
| Completeness | meets the WMO “3 and 5” rule |
| WMO standard normals | No |
| Coldest reading, 1991–2020 | −31.8°C |
| Hottest reading, 1991–2020 | 36.6°C |
| Average wind | 15.4 km/h on average, most often from the west |
| Next-nearest location | L'Acadie, 28 km |
How Kahnawake 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 Quebec.
Nearby towns’ climate
Nearby places read from a different ECCC location (places on Kahnawake’s own would show the same figures). No closer place has figures: this one lies 14 km from Kahnawake.
| Town | July high | January low | Rain & snow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kahnawake Montréal Trudeau (Airport) | 26.7°C | −13.5°C | 1,041 mm |
| Candiac 14 km · L'Acadie | 26.6°C about the same | −13.6°C about the same | 1,041 mm |
Kahnawake weather by month
Month by month, 1991–2020: the usual high, low and mean, the rain and snow, and the snowfall.
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Rain & snow | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | −5.0°C | −13.5°C | −9.2°C | 86 mm | 52 cm |
| February | −3.4°C | −12.4°C | −8.0°C | 66 mm | 47 cm |
| March | 2.4°C | −6.5°C | −2.0°C | 77 mm | 37 cm |
| April | 11.3°C | 1.1°C | 6.2°C | 90 mm | 15 cm |
| May | 19.4°C | 8.3°C | 13.9°C | 86 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 24.2°C | 13.8°C | 19.0°C | 84 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 26.7°C | 16.7°C | 21.7°C | 91 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 25.7°C | 15.6°C | 20.6°C | 94 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 21.1°C | 10.9°C | 16.0°C | 89 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 13.2°C | 4.5°C | 8.9°C | 103 mm | 1 cm |
| November | 6.1°C | −1.7°C | 2.3°C | 84 mm | 16 cm |
| December | −1.2°C | −8.7°C | −5.0°C | 92 mm | 48 cm |
| Year | 11.7°C | 2.3°C | 7.0°C | 1,041 mm | 217 cm |
March: −26.9°C at its coldest, 25.8°C at its warmest
Year to year, January varies most (a standard deviation of 3.0°C around −9.2°C) and June least (1.1°C).
Where Kahnawake’s numbers come from
Averages over 30 years, not a forecast.
- Normals: the Canadian Climate Normals, 1991–2020, at Montréal Trudeau (Airport) (the closest location with all twelve months of temperatures).
- Comparisons: every place of 2,500+ in Canada but the city hubs and the reserves, each on its nearest ECCC location.
- 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 Kahnawake’s climate
How warm does Kahnawake get in summer?
On a normal day in July the thermometer climbs to 26.7°C, the warmest of the year.
How cold does Kahnawake get in winter?
Winter bottoms out in January, with lows near −13.5°C.
How much rain and snow does Kahnawake get?
Some 1,041 mm falls in a year. Most of it comes in October (103 mm), the least in February (66 mm).
How long does snow stay on the ground?
There is 1 cm of snow or more on the ground on roughly 101 days a year.
Are these figures for Kahnawake itself?
They come from Montréal Trudeau (Airport), which ECCC uses as the nearest normals location for Kahnawake.
Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada · ECCC Data Services End-use Licence Today’s forecast for Kahnawake →
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).