Canada Climate Patterns

Canada's climate varies enormously by region and by season. Coastal British Columbia has a mild, wet, maritime climate closer to parts of Western Europe than the rest of Canada -- rarely extreme in either direction, with rain concentrated in winter rather than summer.

Most of the rest of the country has a continental climate: genuinely cold, snowy winters and warm, sometimes humid summers -- Toronto and Montreal regularly see summer highs near 30°C (86°F) and winter lows well below freezing in the same year.

The north is colder again, and for longer -- much of the Arctic sees only a brief summer thaw, with permafrost underlying the ground year-round and winter temperatures that can fall below -40°C for extended stretches.