Mean January daily temperature

The map shows the mean January daily temperature based on the 30-year period 1941-1970. The lowest mean January daily temperatures are below -35 degrees Celsius and are located on Ellesmere Island and on Axel Heiberg Island and south of the Boothia Peninsula in Nunavut. The highest mean January daily temperatures are above 0 degrees Celsius and are located on the west coast of British Columbia. Generally, the mean increases from north to south, from -35 to -2.5 degrees Celsius. In Canada temperature regimes change drastically from season to season, and even within a season there are often marked changes which affect the whole nature and character of outside activities. The major factors that affect temperature are latitude and thus the length of daylight; elevation; distribution of land and water; and prevailing winds and storm tracks. Although the least direct and the least intense incoming solar radiation occurs in December, there is a lag in the cooling of the Earth’s surface. As a result, the coldest month in Canada is normally January. All temperature reporting stations in Canada are equipped with self-registering maximum and minimum thermometers, which are mounted in…

Publisher

Natural Resources Canada

Resources

4

Catalogue metadata updated

2022-02-23