Ideal weather days in Ottawa
The best time to visit Ottawa for warm, dry weather is September, with about 27 such days a month.
How many days here suit you?
Set your ideal day. Each day measured at Ottawa's weather station in 2023–2025 is checked against it.
They're most common in September.
This station doesn't record cloud cover, so the sky setting is left out here.
Open the full map Zoom with ctrl or ⌘ and scroll.Move and zoom with two fingers.
Your ideal days in Ottawa, month by month
Why the other days don't count
- Too cold196
- Too wet103
- Too windy49
- Too hot6
A day can fail more than one test.
Warm and dry, beach and mild days
With the Warm & dry preset (a high of 18–33 °C, no more than 1 mm of rain, wind under 20 km/h), Ottawa averaged 113 days a year in 2023–2025. Every number here is counted from real measured days in Canada, not from climate averages.
Beach days (a high of 26–35 °C, almost no rain, mostly sunny) are most common in July and August (up to 10 a month, 39 a year). Mild, still days (16–26 °C, light wind) are most common in September (up to 14 a month, 39 a year).
What spoils the other days
Most of the days that don't count are too cold (a high under 18 °C): 196 a year, mostly in November to April. Another 103 are wet (more than 1 mm of rain), mostly in October and December to August. A day can fail more than one test.
Ottawa weather, month by month
| Month | Typical high | Rain days | Windy days | Clear days | Warm & dry days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | -2 °C 28 °F | 12 | 7 | 2 | 0 of 31 |
| February | -1 °C 30 °F | 9 | 6 | 5 | 0 of 28 |
| March | 5 °C 41 °F | 11 | 7 | 7 | 0 of 31 |
| April | 13 °C 55 °F | 12 | 10 | 8 | 5 of 30 |
| May | 22 °C 71 °F | 10 | 3 | 8 | 17 of 31 |
| June | 27 °C 80 °F | 9 | 3 | 6 | 17 of 30 |
| July | 28 °C 82 °F | 13 | 0 | 4 | 17 of 31 |
| August | 27 °C 80 °F | 10 | 1 | 6 | 21 of 31 |
| September | 24 °C 75 °F | 3 | 1 | 13 | 27 of 30 |
| October | 17 °C 63 °F | 9 | 3 | 7 | 9 of 31 |
| November | 6 °C 43 °F | 8 | 5 | 5 | 1 of 30 |
| December | 0 °C 32 °F | 14 | 3 | 4 | 0 of 31 |
| Year | 119 | 49 | 74 | 113 of 365 |
Typical high is the median daily maximum. A rain day has 1 mm or more; a windy day a mean wind above 20 km/h; a clear day a daytime cloud cover of 2/8 or less on average (9:00–17:00). Days are averaged over 2023–2025 and scaled to the length of each month.
Year by year
- 2023 112 warm, dry days
- 2024 119 warm, dry days
- 2025 incomplete (8 of 12 months)
Questions
When is the best time to visit Ottawa for good weather?
The best time to visit Ottawa for warm, dry weather is September, with about 27 such days a month. Beach days (a high of 26–35 °C, almost no rain, mostly sunny) are most common in July and August (up to 10 a month, 39 a year). Counted from measured days at Ottawa Macdonald Cartier International station, 2023–2025.
Does it rain a lot in Ottawa?
On average 119 days a year had 1 mm of rain or more in 2023–2025. The wettest month was December (14 rain days), the driest September (3).
How many sunny days does Ottawa get a year?
About 74 days a year had mostly clear skies (daytime cloud cover of 2/8 or less on average, 9:00–17:00), most of them in September (13).
How warm does Ottawa get?
The median daily high ranged from -2 °C (28 °F) in January to 28 °C (82 °F) in July.
Nearby
- Montréal170 km111 days
- Toronto350 km115 days
- Boston500 km, United States116 days
- New York540 km, United States129 days
- Detroit680 km, United States131 days
- Halifax960 km98 days
- St. John's1780 km34 days
- Iqaluit2090 km6 days
More cities in Canada
- Calgary 117 days
- Vancouver 108 days
- Edmonton 104 days
- Regina 97 days
- Yellowknife 81 days
- Whitehorse 67 days
Where is the best climate in Canada?
Open Ottawa on the map Set your own temperature, rain and wind limits.
Source: Ottawa Macdonald Cartier International weather station (71628099999), 11 km from the centre of Ottawa, 114 m above sea level. Daily records from NOAA's Global Surface Summary of the Day, 2023–2025; 87% of days have a complete record. A single station may not represent every part of a city, and three years is a short record.