Winnipeg Weather

As with any destination you’re thinking of visiting, it pays to check the forecast before you go.

Winnipeg, with its central location a long way from either mountains or sea, could be meteorologically compared with the cities of the Great Plains in the U.S.

All four seasons make an appearance, with blustery, unpredictable spring months, warm and often humid summer conditions, brief but often pleasant autumn days, and of course, extremely cold winter months from December through February. In fact, Winnipeg is the coldest city in the world with a population of more than 600,000; daytime highs in the winter very seldom climb above freezing, and you don’t even want to know how cold it can get.

But that never stops Winnipeg’s from enjoying themselves–and the great outdoors–right through the winter season.  The sun shines more here than anyplace else in Canada, and for ten days every February, Winnipeg is home to Canada’s second largest winter festival, “Festival du Voyageur.” Every year, the festival runs to a different slogan, but the one that says it best is “Feel the Warmth of Winter.”

On the bright side–literally–Winnipeg can genuinely lay claim to being Canada’s sunniest city, with an average of almost 2.400 hours of sunshine per year.  That compares favourably to Toronto’s 2,000 hours and Vancouver’s 1,900.

Rainfall averages just over 20 inches per year, but this can vary greatly from one year to the next.