Newfoundland Climate & Weather
In Brief

The Island of Newfoundland climate and weather are under the influence of the cold Labrador current. In the summer, it is definitely the coolest part of the Atlantic Climate Region of Canada.

In the winter, it's climate and weather is much the same as that of the other maritime provinces of Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island.

Compared to the latter maritime provinces, spring is late in Newfoundland. Sea ice normally delays spring even more on the east coast. Icebergs are usually numerous in the cold Labrador current, off the eastern coasts of the Island of Newfoundland, and Labrador.

Weather and climate samples.

The Newfoundland climate has usually pleasant … but brief summers. July mean temperatures remain cool along the southern and eastern coast, especially, with mean daily temperatures in the low to mid teens Centigrade. However, the interior enjoys warmer mean temperatures slightly above 15C. In July, the maximum temperature can even occasionally rise to as high as 30C in the interior!

In winter, the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and the North Atlantic Ocean waters prevent temperatures in Newfoundland from dropping too far. Mean January temperatures range from -9C to -7C in the interior, to around -4C, on the southern coastal areas.

Coastal fog is very frequent in the spring, on the east coast, because of the icebergs off shore. In the summer, when warm air flows from the south quadrant over the cold waters surrounding Newfoundland, fog engulfs the southwestern and southern coast … occasionally for days!

The entire island receives an abundant amount of precipitation, usually peaking in November, and reaching a minimum in April. Winter snowfall is normally in excess of 250cm everywhere, with amounts exceeding 400cm in parts of western interior.

Spring rains often fall on still frozen ground and objects. Thus, ice storms are frequent in southern Newfoundland. Newfoundlanders call them "silver thaws"!

Labrador Climate & Weather

Annual snowfall ranges from about 500cm in the south, to around 350cm in the northern half.

In January, mean temperatures range from -32C on the north coast, to -12C on the south coast, to -23C in the interior. Those are "mean" temperatures … in every sense of the word!

Labrador can also have some "wild" departures from normal. For example, Goose Airport once recorded a minimum temperature of -39.4C, on February 17, 1973 … and maximum temperature of 37.8C (no, this is not a typo!) on July 4th, 1944!

The Island of Newfoundland climate only has it's ice storms to compete with extreme climatic conditions like that!

Stay tuned, and keep a sharp weather watch!

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