The Climate and Weather of Calgary, Alberta

Average Daily Maximum Temperature – Minimum – Sunshine – Raindays – Snowdays – Snowdepth – Windspeed

Located in Southern Alberta, Calgary endures very cold winters, although not as cold as Alberta’s capital city, Edmonton, which lies farther north. Snow depths of greater than 1 cm are seen on about 88 days each year in Calgary compared with about 65 days in Toronto.


Calgary has a prairie-steppe type climate. This means it usually enjoys sunny weather, even in winter, and most of its little rainfall comes in summer. The summer rain is vital for the wheat and grass grown on the prairies.

Calgary has a windy climate which it owes to its prairie location – there are few natural barriers to the wind.

At times the wind in Calgary takes the form of a Chinook, a hot, dry, Foehn type wind that blasts down from the Rockies. In winter, the Chinook can raise the temperature in Calgary by 30 degrees Centigrade in the space of a few hours, providing welcome relief from the often bitter cold.

When the Chinook blows, it can cause rapid thawing of snow to slush.

Calgary enjoys a dry climate with little of the summer humidity that bothers many people in Ontario. Even in summer, Calgary’s nights are rather cool.

Although it enjoys high sunshine hours, Calgary’s weather is often changeable – it is also notoriously difficult to predict in detail from day to day.

Calgary, Alberta

Month
of
year

Av. Daily
Max. Temp.
(°C)

Av. Daily
Min.
Temp. (°C)

Av. hours
Sun
(per day)

Av. Days
with
Rain

Av. Days
with
Snowfall

Av. Depth
Snow on
Ground (cm)

Av. Wind
Speed
(km per hr)

Jan. -3 -15 3.8 0 10 6 15
Feb. 0 -12 5.0 0 8 4 15
Mar. 4 -8 5.7 1 9 3 15
Apr. 11 -2 7.3 4 6 1 17
May 16 3 8.2 10 2 0 17
Jun. 20 7 9.3 13 0 0 16
Jul. 23 9 10.2 13 0 0 14
Aug. 23 8 9.1 11 0 0 13
Sep. 18 4 6.9 9 2 0 14
Oct. 12 -1 5.8 4 4 0 15
Nov. 3 -9 4.1 1 8 2 14
Dec. -1 -13 3.6 0 8 4 15

3 thoughts on “The Climate and Weather of Calgary, Alberta”

  1. I have lived in Calgary for almost 20 years. I love the weather here, and compared to most other major Canadian cities to the east, it is warmer.

    In summer most days it is somewhere in the 20s C. It can get above 30C, but not often. Our summers last from June to early/mid September. It is sunny pretty much every day, with very little rain. The only thing that mars our perfect summer weather is smoke from wildfires during very hot, dry years.

    Fall is gorgeous, but brief. Temperatures tend to drop quite quickly in early October, and all of a sudden we’ve got single-digit highs. Most of the golden leaves are blown off the trees by Thanksgiving, and sometimes our first snow of the year comes before Halloween.

    Winter is from November to end of March. Calgary winters are considered fairly mild by Canadian standards, mainly because of the Chinook wind from the west, which regularly blows warm air, raising temperatures. We usually have a couple of weeks of intense cold (daytime highs of -25C), but a Chinook always comes eventually. Then it can go up to +15C in a matter of hours, and people are literally eating outside on patios in the sunshine in February. I am a snow sport enthusiast, so I actually wish we got more snow. But ultimately chinooks often melt the snow we do get. Usually we shovel our sidewalks on average about once a week all winter, and even on the coldest of days, we have bright blue skies and full sun, which is incredibly beautiful with the sparkling snow.
    Spring is my least favourite season. But in April and May, daily temperatures begin to slowly warm. We can still get spring snow occasionally, which is heavy and wet, and usually melts within hours. There are also some days of spring rain, though very rarely does it rain for more than brief periods. A cold day in spring can be barely above freezing; a warm day in spring can be in the high teens: it is pretty unpredictable. In mid May the flowering trees all suddenly burst out with pinks and purples—and then we know summer is almost here.
    Overall, Calgary is one of the sunniest big cities in Canada. It’s unusual to go a whole day without any sun. Calgary has four distinct seasons, is very close to the Rocky Mountains, and has tons of outdoor activities to enjoy in all weather. I love it here!

  2. Ok really don’t believe the temp differences in the months as Jan- mid to even late February it can be -50 without the wind and -60 or more with wind. Not to mention during the summer months temps can up to +40-+45 Celsius. And these extreme days can last up to 30 days at a time with very little to no breaks. This is what I have a issue with here on the site, as this is apparently a fact site and people will be looking on here for many reasons. Me I am looking on here to see where the best place to grow certain fruits can handle the temperatures in Canada and well I came across here and to see that Calgary apparently on Average per month I see here can get only as cold as -3 and as how as +23 Celsius I may add not Ferin height is a bit far fetch now a days and ya in the early 90’s the highest in the summer maybe that hot and yet in the winter it was still reaching -50 to -60 with the wind chill so ya maybe update these please and give add on average temp over so many years and give the most recent years and then the record breaking highs and lows and how long they lasted as it can be colder here then it is Antarctica in the winter. Sorrry I have lived all over BC and a few parts of AB my whole life and there are days I would rather stay at home then stick my nose out the door as we get some realy nasty weather where we get frost bite in seconds from going out in the cold and second to 3rd degree sun burn in minutes for the fair skinned people in the hot days, let alone dehydration and heat stroke like crazy during the summer after only being out for 30 minutes for some people to the point that the radios, and News stations have to advice people and explain how to avoid these things as non of them are a great thing to get. Like in the winter when we get to -30 to -50 our homeless population freeze to death or get really server frost bite and loose limbs and that. And sadly during the day they have no where warm to go and stay safe let alone in the hot summer days.

    1. You sound like a climate change fanatic trying to boost the terror with mostly meaningless stats. Your description is absolutely outrageous.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *