Rainy Weather in Canada

Wettest Places in Canada

Wettest Communities

Prince Rupert's average of 3111 millimetres (mm) (over ten feet) of precipitation a year earns it the reputation as Canada's wettest city. Nearly all of the moisture in the northern British Columbia, ocean port city falls as rain.

But several towns on BC's rainy west coast receive much more precipitation. Hartley Bay measures an incredible 4549 mm, or nearly 15 feet, of water pelting down each year. The Gitga'at village of 180 year-round residents sits at the confluence of Grenville and Douglas Channels, about 140 km south of Prince Rupert.

Average annual precipitation for other very wet towns in British Columbia:
Location millimetres
Holberg 3912
Port Renfrew 3671
Tofino 3306
Gold River 2846

Rainier yet are some of the weather stations located at fish hatcheries and lighthouses scattered along coastal BC. Among these, Henderson Lake, located between Port Alberni and Ucluelet on western Vancouver Island ranks as the wettest. The fish hatchery there received 9082 mm (nearly 30 feet) of precipitation in 1997.

Rest of Canada

The Atlantic coast gets nowhere near the amount of precipitation that deluges Canada's Pacific coast.

Average total yearly precipitation for some of the wetter spots in other provinces:
Location millimetres
Wreck Cove Brook, Nova Scotia 1945
Pools Cove - Fortune Bay, Newfoundland 1829
Louisbourg, Nova Scotia 1599
Sydney, Nova Scotia 1505
Alliston, PEI 1182
Charlottetown, PEI 1173
Sept-Iles, Quebec 1156
Stratford, Ontario 1064
Cameron Falls, Alberta 1103

Record Rainfalls

A few places on BC's west coast have received more than 254 mm (10 inches) of rain in a single day, more than some areas of Canada get in a year.

These are some of the biggest downpours ever recorded for a single day in Canada:
Location mm Date
Seymour Falls, BC 314 Jan 14, 1961
Seymour Falls, BC 300 Nov 10, 1990
Port Renfrew, BC 293 Feb 23, 1986
Hartley Bay, BC 276 Oct 8, 1991
Nitinat River Hatchery, BC 257 Nov 7, 1995
Seymour River Hatchery, BC 255 Nov 10, 1990