Warmest Canadian Cities in Winter

For warm weather in winter, nothing beats three cities in southwestern British Columbia: Victoria, Vancouver and Abbotsford.

Daily highs for Vancouver and Victoria are typically around 7 °C (44.6 °F) , while dropping to 1 °C (33.8 °F) at night. Abbotsford is only slightly cooler.

Here's a list of the major Canadian cities with daily average temperatures in winter above -5 °C (23 °F).

Further down the page are rankings of the cities with the most days above freezing during winter. Below that are the highest temperatures ever recorded in Canadian cities during December, January or February.

Major cities included in the weather rankings are the 26 Canadian metropolitan areas with the largest populations, according to Statistics Canada's 2006 census.

Daily average temperature for December, January and February.

City	Daily Average °C
Victoria	5.5
Vancouver	3.9
Abbotsford	3.4
Kelowna	-2.6
St. Catharines – Niagara	-2.9
Windsor	-3.1
Oshawa	-3.9
St. John's	-4.1
Hamilton	-4.6
Halifax	-4.8
Toronto	-4.9
London	-4.9

Days Without Freezing

The three southwest BC cities are the only large centres in Canada where temperatures remain above freezing for most the winter. The next three warmest cities, in southeastern Ontario, average 10 to 12 entire days of thawing in a winter.

Average number of days that temperature stays above 0 °C (32 °F) in December, January and February.

City	Days
Victoria	78.7
Vancouver	56.7
Abbotsford	49.1
Windsor	11.7
St. Catharines	11.5
Oshawa	10.4

Hot Winter Days

Despite a generally chilly climate, the temperature in these large cities has risen above 20 °C (68 °F) during winter.

Maximum recorded temperature for December, January or February.

City	Highest °C	Date
Calgary	22.6	Feb 27, 1992
St. Catharines – Niagara	21.9	Dec 3, 1982
Hamilton	20.7	Dec 3, 1982
Abbotsford	20.6	Feb 27, 1968
Windsor	20.4	Feb 26, 2000
Toronto	20.0	Dec 3, 1982