Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Pessamit sits near the bottom of Canadian towns for July heat
January nights here settle around −18.8°C. By frosts alone, it ranks colder than 88% of Canadian towns. The seasons are far apart: from a winter night to a summer afternoon the average spans 40°C. The outdoor season, with highs of 21°C, runs through July and August.
These are not Pessamit’s own readings: ECCC keeps no normals there, so the page uses Baie-Comeau, 39 km north-east.
A year in Pessamit at a glance
Each month’s typical high and low, in °C.
What stands out about Pessamit’s climate
Compared with Canadian towns, with its place among towns of 2,500+ in Quebec beside it.
What a year in Pessamit feels like
Typical highs and lows by season and by month, from ECCC’s 1991–2020 normals.
194 frost days and 53 days above 20°C a year
From September to May frost is routine, and in January it comes on almost every night. On about 38 nights a year the air falls below −20°C.
Frost days by month
Average days at 0°C or below
Days above 20°C by month
Average days
966 mm of precipitation in a typical year
The most falls in July, the least in February. On about 124 days a year, 1 mm or more falls.
Rain and snow by month
Millimetres
323 cm of snow in a typical year
Snow falls from October to May, most of all in January (about 72 cm).
Snowfall by month
Centimetres
ECCC’s Baie-Comeau normals leave snowfall out; the figures here come from Mont-Joli, 50 km away.
Heating a home in Pessamit
85% of a year’s heating need falls between October and April. Months averaging under 10°C: October to May.
Measured against 18°C: each day’s shortfall in mean temperature, added over twelve months. Homes here need more heating than 96% of Canadian towns.
Living with Pessamit’s climate
What the normals mean for a garden, a day outside and the depth of winter.
The growing season between frosts lasts about 114 days, roughly 29 May to 21 September.
For long days outdoors, Jul and Aug bring highs of 17–27°C and lows of 8°C or more.
Parks & trails →Bitter wind chill, under −20, comes on about 69 days a year.
A humidex above 30 marks about 4 days in a normal year.
Thirty years of averages say little about one bad storm; Pessamit’s hazards page does.
Flood & hazards →ECCC’s normals location: Baie-Comeau
Behind the 1991–2020 normals for Baie-Comeau are 2 stations, which ECCC combines into one record.
| Distance from the town | 39 km north-east |
| Station altitude | 22 m |
| Completeness | meets the WMO “3 and 5” rule |
| WMO standard normals | No |
| Snowfall from | Mont-Joli, 50 km |
| Coldest reading, 1991–2020 | −40.1°C |
| Hottest reading, 1991–2020 | 32.0°C |
| Average wind | 14.7 km/h on average, most often from the west |
| Next-nearest location | Mont-Joli, 50 km |
How Pessamit 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
The nearest places on a normals location of their own: those that share Pessamit’s would only repeat its figures. Pessamit has few close neighbours with figures, so the list reaches 39–57 km out.
| Town | July high | January low | Rain & snow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pessamit Baie-Comeau | 21.3°C | −18.8°C | 966 mm |
| Forestville 39 km · Rimouski | 23.5°C 2.2°C warmer | −14.6°C 4.2°C milder | 965 mm |
| Sainte-Luce 50 km · Mont-Joli | 22.9°C 1.6°C warmer | −15.4°C 3.4°C milder | 932 mm |
Pessamit 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 | −8.0°C | −18.8°C | −13.4°C | 65 mm | 72 cm |
| February | −6.7°C | −18.1°C | −12.4°C | 61 mm | 66 cm |
| March | −1.6°C | −11.7°C | −6.7°C | 64 mm | 60 cm |
| April | 4.6°C | −3.4°C | 0.6°C | 72 mm | 22 cm |
| May | 12.3°C | 2.0°C | 7.2°C | 76 mm | 2 cm |
| June | 18.3°C | 7.3°C | 12.8°C | 83 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 21.3°C | 10.7°C | 16.0°C | 111 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 20.7°C | 9.9°C | 15.3°C | 82 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 15.8°C | 5.4°C | 10.6°C | 93 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 9.0°C | 0.6°C | 4.8°C | 96 mm | 4 cm |
| November | 2.5°C | −4.9°C | −1.2°C | 87 mm | 31 cm |
| December | −4.0°C | −13.0°C | −8.6°C | 78 mm | 67 cm |
| Year | 7.0°C | −2.8°C | 2.1°C | 966 mm | 323 cm |
January has run from −40.1°C to 11.4°C in thirty years
From one year to the next, February’s average typically shifts by 2.9°C around its normal of −12.4°C, the widest of any month, while July’s shifts by 0.9°C.
Where Pessamit’s numbers come from
Averages over 30 years, not a forecast.
- Normals: the Canadian Climate Normals, 1991–2020, at Baie-Comeau (the closest location with all twelve months of temperatures).
- Other locations: ECCC blanks a month that fails its completeness rule, so the precipitation or snowfall here comes from the next location with all twelve months.
- 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, 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 Pessamit’s climate
How warm does Pessamit get in summer?
Peak warmth comes in July, at about 21.3°C by mid-afternoon.
How cold does Pessamit get in winter?
The coldest nights come in January, averaging −18.8°C.
How much rain and snow does Pessamit get?
Measured as water, a year brings 966 mm: 111 mm in July, the wettest month, and 61 mm in February, the driest.
Are these figures for Pessamit itself?
They are borrowed from Baie-Comeau, the nearest place to Pessamit where ECCC publishes 1991–2020 normals.
Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada · ECCC Data Services End-use Licence Today’s forecast for Pessamit →
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).