Charlesbourg is wetter than 87% of Canadian towns: 1,173 mm of rain and snow a year
January nights here settle around −15.6°C. The gap between a January night and a July afternoon is 41°C. Winter nights are cold: in January they are colder than in 73% of Canadian towns. Plan for rain or snow on about 135 days a year, the days with 1 mm or more.
These are not Charlesbourg’s own readings: ECCC keeps no normals there, so the page uses Ste-Foy (U. Laval), 9.4 km south.
A year in Charlesbourg at a glance
Each month’s typical high and low, in °C.
What stands out about Charlesbourg’s climate
Compared with Canadian towns, with its place among towns of 2,500+ in Quebec beside it.
What a year in Charlesbourg feels like
Seasons and months as ECCC’s 1991–2020 normals give them: a typical day’s high and low.
About 162 frosts and 101 warm days a year
Frost comes from October to May; in January almost every night freezes. Some 21 nights a year drop under −20°C.
Frost days by month
Average days at 0°C or below
Days above 20°C by month
Average days
Rain and melted snow: about 1,173 mm a year
The most falls in July, the least in February.
Rain and snow by month
Millimetres
Ste-Foy (U. Laval) publishes no full year of precipitation, so these figures come from Québec Jean Lesage (Airport), 10 km away.
About 299 cm of snow a year
Expect snow from October to April, with about 77 cm in December, the snowiest month.
Snowfall by month
Centimetres
Snowfall: Lauzon, 14 km away (Ste-Foy (U. Laval) records no complete year of it).
Heating a home in Charlesbourg
92% 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.
Living with Charlesbourg’s climate
The averages read for the garden, the outdoors and the coldest and hottest days.
The outdoor season by the averages is Jun, Jul, Aug and Sep, with highs of 17–27°C and lows of 8°C or more.
Parks & trails →A wind chill below −20 is part of about 39 days a year here.
About 31 days a year turn sultry, with the humidex past 30.
Thirty years of averages say little about one bad storm; Charlesbourg’s hazards page does.
Flood & hazards →ECCC’s normals location: Ste-Foy (U. Laval)
ECCC builds the Ste-Foy (U. Laval) normals from 2 stations’ records over 1991–2020, joined where one replaced another.
| Distance from the town | 9.4 km south |
| Station altitude | 79 m |
| Completeness | meets the WMO “3 and 5” rule |
| WMO standard normals | No |
| Precipitation from | Québec Jean Lesage (Airport), 10 km |
| Snowfall from | Lauzon, 14 km |
| Coldest reading, 1991–2020 | −33.8°C |
| Hottest reading, 1991–2020 | 35.3°C |
| Average wind | 9.9 km/h on average, most often from the south-west |
| Next-nearest location | Québec Jean Lesage (Airport), 10 km |
How Charlesbourg 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 Charlesbourg’s would only repeat its figures. No closer places have figures: these lie 7–12 km from Charlesbourg.
| Town | July high | January low | Rain & snow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Charlesbourg Ste-Foy (U. Laval) | 25.1°C | −15.6°C | 1,173 mm |
| Wendake 6.6 km · Québec Jean Lesage (Airport) | 25.0°C about the same | −16.7°C 1.1°C colder | 1,173 mm |
| Boischatel 11 km · Lauzon | 24.9°C about the same | −16.6°C 1.0°C colder | 1,216 mm |
Charlesbourg weather by month
Each month’s normals, 1991–2020: high, low, mean, precipitation and snowfall.
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Rain & snow | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | −7.1°C | −15.6°C | −11.3°C | 87 mm | 62 cm |
| February | −4.8°C | −14.4°C | −9.6°C | 66 mm | 71 cm |
| March | 0.8°C | −8.4°C | −3.8°C | 78 mm | 51 cm |
| April | 8.4°C | −0.6°C | 4.0°C | 94 mm | 12 cm |
| May | 17.5°C | 6.5°C | 12.0°C | 92 mm | 0 cm |
| June | 22.5°C | 11.7°C | 17.1°C | 115 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 25.1°C | 14.8°C | 20.0°C | 119 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 24.2°C | 13.9°C | 19.1°C | 109 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 19.4°C | 9.2°C | 14.3°C | 111 mm | 0 cm |
| October | 11.1°C | 3.2°C | 7.2°C | 116 mm | 2 cm |
| November | 4.0°C | −2.7°C | 0.7°C | 91 mm | 24 cm |
| December | −3.2°C | −10.2°C | −6.7°C | 96 mm | 77 cm |
| Year | 9.8°C | 0.6°C | 5.2°C | 1,173 mm | 299 cm |
January varies most from one year to the next (2.8°C), August least
Each bar spans a month’s coldest and warmest readings over thirty years; March’s run from −27.7°C in 2003 to 20.4°C in 2012.
Where Charlesbourg’s numbers come from
Averages over 30 years, not a forecast.
- Normals: 1991–2020 normals for Ste-Foy (U. Laval) from ECCC’s climate data site, the nearest location with every month of temperature.
- Other locations: a location missing months of precipitation or snow is filled from the nearest that has them all, never mixed month by month.
- Comparisons: all Canadian places of 2,500 or more except city totals and reserves, each read the same way.
- 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 Charlesbourg’s climate
How warm does Charlesbourg get in summer?
At its warmest, in July, the normal high is 25.1°C.
How cold does Charlesbourg get in winter?
Midwinter means January, when a typical night reaches −15.6°C.
How much rain and snow does Charlesbourg get?
Around 1,173 mm a year in all, from 119 mm in July down to 66 mm in February.
Are these figures for Charlesbourg itself?
Only indirectly: the readings are made at Ste-Foy (U. Laval), outside Charlesbourg.
Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada · ECCC Data Services End-use Licence Today’s forecast for Charlesbourg →
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).