Climate and average weather in Petawawa

In Petawawa, the summers are warm, showery, and partly cloudy and the winters are frigid, snowy, and mostly cloudy.

Best: late May to late September

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Petawawa typically varies from -15°C to 25°C, and is rarely below -27°C or above 30°C. July is the hottest month of the year, while January is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best time of year to visit Petawawa for warm-weather activities is from late May to late September.

Hottest
Jul
25°
Coldest
Jan
-15°
Wettest
Oct
92 mm
Driest
Feb
49 mm
Rain / yr
939 mm
129 wet days
Daylight
8.5–15.5 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
143 m
45.9°N
Clearest
Jul
60% cloud

Petawawa is town in Ontario, Canada.

Air quality
Excellent
PM2.5 4 µg/m³ · 2019
Founded
1997

Air quality: WHO Ambient Air Quality Database. Density & description: Wikidata (CC0), GeoNames.

Petawawa weather by month, at a glance

The whole year in one picture — sky, rain, humidity, temperature and travel score. Click any band to jump to its full chart.

Each stripe is one measure across the whole year, stacked so a single day reads top to bottom. The sky band runs overcast grey on top down to clear blue at the base — more blue means sunnier — followed by the rainfall curve, the humidity band, a temperature strip that tints each stretch of the year by how warm its average high is, and the travel-score line at the foot. Scan straight down any date to read that day across every measure at once; the score climbs highest around late May to late September.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

Daily average highs and lows in Petawawa, from 1991–2020 of climate data. The shaded bands show the range most days fall in — 10th to 90th percentile.

The hot season lasts 4.3 months, from May 17 to September 25, with daily high temperatures above 17°C. The hottest month of the year in Petawawa is July, with an average high of 25°C and low of 15°C.

The cool season lasts 3.2 months, from December 4 to March 9, with daily high temperatures below -1°C. The coldest month of the year in Petawawa is January, with an average low of -15°C and high of -7°C.

Days typically run about 9°C warmer than nights, with the widest day–night swing (around 10°C) in May.

-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan-7-15
Feb-5-14
Mar1-8
Apr90
May177
Jun2213
Jul2515
Aug2314
Sep1910
Oct114
Nov4-3
Dec-3-10

How hot and cold Petawawa really feels

Feels-like highFeels-like lowactual air temp

The felt-temperature range through the year — heat index on the day's high (summer humidity), wind chill on the night's low (winter wind). The dashed lines are the plain thermometer; the gap is how much hotter or colder it really feels.

On the coldest nights, wind chill pulls the feels-like down to about -23°C (around January 21), with roughly 191 freezing days a year (feels-like at or below 0°C) 121 of them bitterly cold — worst in January.

-20°-10°10°20°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Feels-like high (°C)Air high (°C)Feels-like low (°C)Air low (°C)
Jan-7-7-22-15
Feb-5-5-21-14
Mar11-14-8
Apr99-40
May171757
Jun22221313
Jul25251515
Aug23231414
Sep1919910
Oct111114
Nov44-7-3
Dec-3-3-16-10

Average hourly temperature in Petawawa

A compact picture of the whole year, hour by hour: each column is a day, each row an hour, and the color is the modeled average temperature. Darker overlays mark night, lighter ones the civil-twilight hours around sunrise and sunset.

Read left to right for the day of the year and top to bottom for the hour of the day; the color is the modeled temperature, cool blues through to hot reds on the same scale as the other charts. A vertical slice is a single day's swing — coolest just before dawn, warmest in the mid-afternoon — while a horizontal slice follows one hour across the seasons. The darker overlay marks night and the lighter one the twilight around sunrise and sunset. Colors run warmest on July afternoons, near 25°C, and coldest before dawn in January, near -15°C.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec12 AM2 AM4 AM6 AM8 AM10 AM12 PM2 PM4 PM6 PM8 PM10 PM12 AM

Petawawa weather by month

Every month at a glance. Click a month for its detailed page.

MonthHigh / Low (°C)Rainfall (mm)Wet daysSnow daysDaylight (hours)Travel score
Jan-7° / -15°6410.210.58.90.0
Feb-5° / -14°4988.1100.0
Mar / -8°629.86.811.60.0
Apr / -0°8410.33.213.31.7
May17° / 8411.30.314.75.0
Jun22° / 13°8911.6015.56.3
Jul25° / 15°8411.5015.26.7
Aug23° / 14°9110.50146.8
Sep19° / 10°9110.3012.35.8
Oct11° / 9212.60.810.72.7
Nov / -3°8111.75.89.30.2
Dec-3° / -10°7011.39.68.50.0

Chance of rain

How likely it is to rain on a typical day, and how that shifts across the wetter and drier seasons.

Petawawa gets about 939 mm of precipitation a year. On a typical day the chance of rain is often wet, but that rises and falls sharply with the seasons.

The wetter season lasts 3.6 months, from around Sep 20 to Jan 7, peaking in October at about 43% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Feb 4.

October is the wettest month by volume, with 92 mm over about 13 wet days; February is the driest, with 49 mm. Some of the cold-season precipitation falls as snow.

0%10%20%30%40%50%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetOct 21 · 43%Feb 4 · 27%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan3210
Feb298
Mar3210
Apr3410
May3611
Jun3912
Jul3712
Aug3311
Sep3510
Oct4113
Nov3812
Dec3711

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Petawawa collects about 939 mm of rain across 129 wet days — roughly 78 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. October is the wettest month with 92 mm, while February is the driest at just 49 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 29% of the year’s total, and some of the cold-season precipitation falls as snow.

0255075100125JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec644962848489849191928170
Rainfall (mm)Rain daysSnow days
Jan641011
Feb4988
Mar62107
Apr84103
May84110
Jun89120
Jul84120
Aug91110
Sep91100
Oct92131
Nov81126
Dec701110

Snow in Petawawa

Average snowy days through the year, the snow-season span, and estimated snowfall — for ski trips and the perennial 'will there be snow at Christmas?' question.

Petawawa averages about 45 snowy days a year. Snow season runs roughly Oct 15 to May 9 — about 6.8 months.

January is snowiest, with roughly 10 days of snow and an estimated 46 cm of snowfall. Over the year that adds up to an estimated 217 cm of snow.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsnow seasonsnow seasonJan 6
Snow daysSnowfall (cm)
Jan1146
Feb844
Mar731
Apr321
May01
Jun00
Jul00
Aug00
Sep00
Oct12
Nov624
Dec1048

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

How often the daytime sky is clear, partly cloudy or overcast.

In Petawawa, the average share of the sky covered by clouds shows significant seasonal variation over the course of the year.

The clearer part of the year begins around April 21 and lasts for 5.7 months, ending around October 9. The clearest month is July, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 49% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around October 10 and lasts for 5.0 months, ending around March 10. The cloudiest month is December, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 80% of the time.

0%100%10%90%20%80%30%70%40%60%50%50%60%40%70%30%80%20%90%10%100%0%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJul 19 · 50%Nov 29 · 14%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan2674
Feb3169
Mar3466
Apr3367
May3664
Jun4060
Jul4951
Aug4555
Sep4159
Oct3070
Nov2080
Dec2080

Daylight, sunrise and sunset

DaylightNight

Hours of daylight through the year, with sunrise and sunset times.

The gold band is daylight — sunrise runs along its lower edge, sunset along the upper — so it widens toward summer and pinches toward winter, with night the dark area above and below. The longest day, around June 11, brings about 15 h 30 min of light; the shortest, around January 1, only 8 h 30 min — a swing of roughly 7 hours.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan8.97:534:44
Feb10.07:225:25
Mar11.66:316:07
Apr13.35:306:48
May14.74:437:27
Jun15.54:247:55
Jul15.24:397:51
Aug14.05:147:12
Sep12.35:546:13
Oct10.76:345:14
Nov9.37:184:31
Dec8.57:514:20

Sunny days

How many genuinely sunny days each month brings — days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — banded into plain-language zones.

Petawawa averages about 6 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 2 and 9 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 4.2 months, from around Jun 6 to Oct 12. The sunniest month is September, with roughly 8 sunny days (gloomy).

The greyest month is November, down near 3 sunny days — about 58% fewer than the September peak.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedSep 59 daysNov 302 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan5Gloomy
Feb6Gloomy
Mar7Gloomy
Apr6Gloomy
May6Gloomy
Jun7Gloomy
Jul8Gloomy
Aug8Gloomy
Sep8Gloomy
Oct6Gloomy
Nov3Gloomy
Dec3Gloomy

Humidity comfort

DryComfortableHumidMuggyOppressiveMiserable

Share of days at each humidity comfort level, based on the dew point — the measure that tracks how muggy it actually feels.

Humidity comfort is graded by the dew point — the temperature at which the air would be fully saturated — because it tracks how muggy it actually feels far better than relative humidity does. A low dew point feels dry and crisp; a high one feels sticky and oppressive no matter the reading on a humidity gauge.

In Petawawa, how humid it feels changes dramatically over the year.

The more humid part of the year lasts 3.6 months, from around June 3 to September 20. The muggiest month is July, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 40% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around September 21 to June 2, and April is the most comfortable month — the air is dry or comfortable 100% of the time.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecApr 24 · 100%Jul 28 · 57%muggyhumiddrycomfortablecomfortablehumidcomfortable
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)Oppressive (%)
Jan1000000
Feb1000000
Mar1000000
Apr1000000
May925200
Jun57231541
Jul293227111
Aug35302690
Sep70171030
Oct963100
Nov1000000
Dec1000000

Wind

Average wind speed through the year, banded into plain-language speed zones so a number reads as 'breezy' or 'calm' without knowing the scale.

This is the average sustained wind speed at the standard 10 metres above open ground — the steady flow a weather station reports, not the sharper gusts that come and go, which can run half again as fast. It's the number that says whether a place is generally breezy or calm.

Wind in Petawawa is steady company: average speeds sit near 11 km/hcalm — in every month of the year, with no meaningful windy or calm season.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmlight breezeOct 31 · 12 km/hAug 5 · 9 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan11calm
Feb11calm
Mar11calm
Apr11calm
May11calm
Jun10calm
Jul10calm
Aug9calm
Sep10calm
Oct11calm
Nov11calm
Dec11calm

Best time to visit Petawawa

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

To characterize how pleasant the weather is in Petawawa throughout the year, we compute two travel scores — one for general sightseeing, one for beach and pool weather.

Around early June, Petawawa is still near the start of its best-weather window — great conditions with the peak-season crowds not yet at full swing.

Inferred from the travel-score curve; month-by-month visitor numbers are a planned addition.

The travel score favors clear, rainless days with daytime highs between 18°C and 28°C. Based on this score, the best time of year to visit Petawawa for general outdoor tourist activities is from late May to late September, with a peak score in the first week of August.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationAug 5 · 6.8

The travel score (filled area), and its constituents: the temperature score (red line), the cloud cover score (blue line), and the precipitation score (green line).

Travel score (0–10)Rating
Jan0.0poor
Feb0.0poor
Mar0.0poor
Apr1.7poor
May5.0fair
Jun6.3good
Jul6.7good
Aug6.7good
Sep5.8good
Oct2.7poor
Nov0.2poor
Dec0.0poor

The beach/pool score favors clear, rainless days with daytime highs between 24°C and 34°C. Based on this score, the best time of year to visit Petawawa for hot-weather activities is from late June to late August, with a peak score in the last week of July.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJul 29 · 6.0

The beach/pool score (filled area), and its constituents: the temperature score (red line), the cloud cover score (blue line), and the precipitation score (green line).

What to pack for Petawawa, by month

EssentialRecommendedOptional

Month by month, what's worth putting in the bag — from the temperature range, rain chance, sun and wind. Tap a month for a quick packing note.

For a warm-season trip around July (highs near 25°C), the essentials are light clothes, rain gear and sun protection. In the cold season around January (highs near -7°C), pack a warm layer, a heavy coat and rain gear.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In July, Petawawa sees daytime highs around 25°C and nights near 15°C. Worth packing: light clothes, rain gear and sun protection. About 12 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Petawawa by month

LowModerateHighVery highExtreme

Clear-sky midday UV index through the year, shaded by the WHO exposure levels — how much sun protection each month calls for.

Under clear skies, the midday UV index in Petawawa peaks around July 13 at about 8 (very high) — sunscreen and a hat are worth it in the middle of the day. It bottoms out near January 1 at about 1 (low).

The index reaches 3 or more — the level where the WHO recommends sun protection — in 7 months of the year.

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecLowModerateHighVery highHighModerateLowJul 13UV 8Jan 1UV 1
UV index (midday)Level
Jan1Low
Feb2Low
Mar3Moderate
Apr5Moderate
May6High
Jun7High
Jul8Very high
Aug5High
Sep5High
Oct3Moderate
Nov2Low
Dec1Low

Average hourly UV index in Petawawa

LowModerateHighVery highExtreme

Modeled clear-sky UV for every hour of every day — when in the day sun protection actually matters.

The whole year hour by hour: each column is a day, each row an hour, and the color is the modeled clear-sky UV index — the midday peak scaled down as the sun sits lower in the sky. Darker overlays mark night, lighter ones the civil-twilight hours around sunrise and sunset.

UV falls off far faster than brightness as the sun drops, so even in July the burn window is concentrated in the middle of the day: about 8 hours a day reach index 3 (protection recommended), and 4.5 hours reach 6 or more. Mornings and late afternoons stay comparatively gentle year round.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec12 AM2 AM4 AM6 AM8 AM10 AM12 PM2 PM4 PM6 PM8 PM10 PM12 AM
UV ≥ 3 (h/day)UV ≥ 6 (h/day)
Jan00
Feb00
Mar10
Apr50
May72
Jun7.53.5
Jul84.5
Aug60
Sep5.50
Oct00
Nov00
Dec00
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayTypical season (≥50%)

The growing season in Petawawa typically lasts about 200 days, from around April 18 to November 3 — the span where a frost-free day is more likely than not. It is reliably frost-free from May 8 to October 10.

0%25%50%75%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgrowing seasonMar 1610%Apr 1850%May 890%Oct 1090%Nov 350%Dec 1010%
Frost-free chance (%)Frost nights
Jan431
Feb328
Mar1131
Apr4830
May945
Jun1000
Jul1000
Aug1000
Sep990
Oct8320
Nov3130
Dec931

Growing degree days

Degree days (base 10°C)Frost-free shaded

Growing degree days tally heat above 10°C: each day adds however many degrees its average temperature runs over that threshold, and cold days add nothing. Petawawa banks about 993 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around July.

02505007501,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan0
Feb0
Mar0
Apr0
May60
Jun219
Jul308
Aug272
Sep131
Oct3
Nov0
Dec0

Solar energy

Average daily shortwave solar energy reaching the ground, banded into brightness zones so the number means something at a glance.

Solar energy is how much sunlight actually reaches the ground each day, measured in kilowatt-hours per square metre (kWh/m²) — the combined effect of how long the sun is up, how high it climbs, and how much cloud gets in the way. It's the raw fuel a solar panel has to work with: for scale, 1 kWh/m² a day is dim and wintry, while 7+ is desert-bright.

Petawawa receives about 3.7 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — moderate — with a clear seasonal swing between 1.2 and 6.0 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 6.2 months, from around Mar 11 to Sep 16. The brightest month is June, averaging about 5.9 kWh/m² (bright).

The dimmest month is December, down near 1.2 kWh/m² — roughly 80% less than the June peak.

01234567JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmerbrighterdimmerdimmoderatebrightintenseJun 236.0 kWhDec 51.2 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan1.6Dim
Feb2.6Moderate
Mar3.9Moderate
Apr4.8Bright
May5.5Bright
Jun5.9Bright
Jul5.8Bright
Aug4.9Bright
Sep3.7Moderate
Oct2.3Moderate
Nov1.4Dim
Dec1.2Dim

Where is Petawawa?

Petawawa sits at 45.9°N, 77.3°W, 143 m above sea level, in Canada. The nearest listed city is Kanata, 125 km away.

Topography around Petawawa

How much the land rises and falls, and what covers it, within 3, 16 and 80 km of Petawawa.

Within 3 km, the terrain around Petawawa has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 69 m around an average of 147 m above sea level; within 16 km, significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 321 m; within 80 km, significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 498 m.

The land around Petawawa is covered by trees (52%) within 3 km, trees (70%) within 16 km, and trees (86%) within 80 km.

3 km
69 m
16 km
321 m
80 km
498 m
treesgrasslandcroplandartificial surfacesbare terrainwaterwetland
Nearby: Kanata 125 km · Aylmer 127 km · Stittsville 128 km · Bridlewood 130 km · Gatineau 131 km · Hull 133 km · Centretown 134 km · Ottawa 134 km

Canada travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 1
Exercise Normal Precautions
Power plugs
Type A / B
120 V · 60 Hz
Prices
≈ 83% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$55,698
2025
Happiness
6.7 / 10
World Happiness, 2025
Safe drinking water
97%
of population, 2024
Homicide rate
2
per 100k, 2023
Road deaths
5.3
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
High
World Bank
Religion
Christian 53%none 35%Muslim 5%Hindu 2%

Sources: World Bank, US State Department, World Happiness Report, WHO/UNICEF, EF EPI, CIA World Factbook.

Data sources

Temperature, precipitation, cloud, humidity, wind and solar figures are a 1991–2020 climatology for Petawawa (45.8945°, -77.2801°, elevation 143 m), computed from hourly ERA5 reanalysis — contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information. Sun figures are astronomical calculations, not observations. City data © GeoNames, CC BY 4.0. Map outlines from Natural Earth (public domain); interactive map © Google. UV index is derived from CAMS (Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service) clear-sky UV data — contains modified Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service information. Topography is sampled from the Copernicus DEM GLO-90 elevation model (© ESA/Airbus) and ESA WorldCover 2021 land cover (CC BY 4.0).