1. Canada's Climate Regions

The Climatic Regions of Canada

Information – Climate Regions:

Arctic

The Arctic region has a very harsh climate with very short cool summers; while the most northerly locations experience an extremely cold winter that lasts as long as ten months.

It is basically a cold desert; receiving less than 35-50 cm of precipitation each year.

Precipitation is low because the Arctic Ocean and other bodies of water are frozen for most of the year; and there is very little evaporation.

Coastal Arctic climates are moderated by oceanic influences, having generally warmer temperatures and heavier precipitation than the colder and drier interior areas.

This region includes most of Nunavut as well as northern parts of the Northwest Territories and Quebec.

Pacific Maritime

The Pacific Maritime region lies along British Columbia's west coast and its border with the Yukon Territory on the way to Alaska.

Pacific Ocean provides a moderating effect to this maritime climate – keeping it mild in winter (above freezing) and cool in summer.

Relief precipitation along the coast is very high; especially in winter when the polar front jet stream moves southward allowing moist Pacific winds to reach this area.

Many people find this moderate climate attractive, and move to the west coast to escape the harsh winters of the Canadian interior.

Western Cordilleran

The climate found in this area varies greatly because of the elevation of Rocky Mountains and insulated valleys. Coastal temperatures tend to be warmer than those inland; and northern climates are cooler than southern climates. Winters can last up to 8 months in the northern part of the region.

Locations only a few kilometres apart may have very different temperatures and precipitation patterns.

West facing windward slopes receive a great deal of relief precipitation while leeward slopes and interior valleys are dry because of rain shadow conditions.

Areas with lower elevations are milder than those with higher elevations.

This region includes almost all of British Columbia and the Yukon Territory as well as a small portion of southwestern Alberta.

Taiga

This region forms a belt from Labrador across northern Quebec, Ontario, and the Prairies to the Northwest Territories.

Long severe cold winters [up to six months with mean temperatures below freezing] and short cool/warm summers (50 to 100 frost-free days).

There is a wide temperature range between the lows of winter and highs of summer.

Precipitation occurs mainly in the summer from convectional precipitation.

A small amount of winter precipitation is the result of cyclonic storms.

Boreal

This region forms a continuous belt from Newfoundland & Labrador; through central Quebec and Ontario; across the prairies; and west to the Rocky Mountains.

Continental climate: winters are cold and summers are warm.

Throughout the year, precipitation results from cyclonic (frontal) storms. In the summer, convectional precipitation also occurs when the land mass heats up.

.Prairie

Flat land in Canada's interior: the southern regions of the provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba.

Continental climate with a wide annual temperature range – winters are very cold and summers are very hot.

In winter, cold dry polar air blankets the land; and in summer, the air is warm and dry.

It is quite dry in this region because it is in the rain shadow of the western Cordilleran.

Cyclonic storms bring moisture throughout the year but most of the rainfall occurs in the spring and summer from convectional precipitation; very low precipitation in winter.

Southeastern

Moderately cold winters and warm summers.

This area has both continental and maritime characteristics although most of the region has a continental climate with a wide range of temperatures.

Maritime climate conditions are evident in areas near the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean.

Frontal [or cyclonic] precipitation occurs all year in the Southeastern climate region.

The prevailing winds bring storms from the west; and storms from the south move up from the Gulf of Mexico.

The slight summer maximum in rainfall is due to convectional precipitation.

This region includes Ontario and Quebec also parts of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. (Home to Canada's major urban centres.)

Atlantic Maritime

The winters are neither as cold, nor the summers as hot, as continental locations because the Atlantic Ocean moderates the temperatures.

This includes New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and southeastern Newfoundland.

The Atlantic Ocean and its associated currents moderate climate in this region to create a cool and humid maritime climate.

The prevailing westerlies [help to] bring cyclonic storms throughout the year.

Some parts of this region receive as much precipitation as parts of the Pacific Maritime climate region.

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