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January marks the depths of winter across Canada and, with the exception of coastal parts of southern Vancouver Island, below freezing minimum temperatures are the norm. The deep freeze is particularly evident near Baker Lake in Nunavut and throughout much of the Arctic Archipelago, where normal January minimum temperatures average in the low -30s and even -40ºC. The low sun angle means that much of the rest of Canada experiences minimum temperatures below -15ºC.
Weak or no sunshine means there is minimal diurnal variation between the maximum and minimum temperatures in January. The far north remains in an icy grip, with maximum temperatures around -30ºC or colder across parts of Nunavut. Throughout the interior of Canada, maximum temperatures are normally lower than -10ºC. The maximum temperature approaches the melting point across southern Ontario and parts of the Atlantic Provinces. Above-freezing maximum temperatures are experienced only in coastal British Columbia and extreme southern Nova Scotia.
Data Source and Methodology
The 1971 to 2000 temperature climate normals were calculated by Environment Canada in a manner consistent with the methodology of the World Meteorological Organization. For temperature, a monthly maximum (minimum) average was computed from the daily maximum (minimum) temperature observations. The normal is a simple arithmetic average of the monthly minimum or maximum temperatures for the specified period. These spatial models have been developed using the thin plate smoothing spline algorithms of ANUSPLIN, which is a mathematically sophisticated approach to generating climate maps at varying spatial and temporal scales. The Canadian Forest Service has been working in partnership with several staff in Environment Canada’s Meteorological Service of Canada, the Australian National University (the creator of ANUSPLIN) and others to develop a variety of climate models that cover both Canada and North America.
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