Weather Planning Guide
(N 58° 44' 24", W 94° 03' 36")
(Phone, Fax, Email, Website, P.O. Box & Street) | ||||
Independent Traveler
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 | What's the current weather in Churchill? Check
Churchill Weather
at Environment Canada. (Celsius is the default. Click on "Imperial Units" to get Fahrenheit.) |
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| What still more Churchill weather? Check
wunderground.com
at The Weagtherunderground. (Conditions are given in both Celsius and Fahrenheit.) |
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| What a third source for Churchill weather? Check
Yahoo! Weather. (Choose at "Fº | Cº" for temperatures in either Fahrenheit or Celsius.) |
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| Interested in watching Aurora Borealis - Northern Lights? Check out SpaceWeather.com. There is a spectacular Aurora Gallery! |
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| Another source with weather information pertaining to the Aurora Borealis - Northern Lights: Check out the Space Environment Center Report of Solar and Geophysical Activity. |
Temperatures
The most frequent weather-related question is something like, "How cold does it get in Churchill in October?" Here is the answer, straight from Environment Canada. But normal (mean or average) highs and lows don't tell the whole story because we all know that weather varies a great deal from day to day and from year to year.
To address the variability in temperature, Environment Canada provides the standard deviation of the average temperatures. Standard deviation is a measure of the spread or variability of data, in this case temperatures. One standard deviation above and below the mean (the blue lines in the graphs above) will account for 68.26% of temperatures. Two standard deviation above and below the mean (the red lines in the graphs above) will account for 95.44% of temperatures. This means that if you were in Churchill for 100 days, the daily highs and lows will be between the red lines on 95 of those days.
Using October as an example, you will note that the lines are slightly closer together than they are in November. The spread between the high and low temperatures is 5.6 degrees Celsius in October and 7.2 in November, hence the "normal high" and "normal low" are 1.6 degrees further apart in November than in October. But the standard deviation also increases, from 2.1 degrees in October to 3.3 degrees in November. This tells us that the highs and lows are likely to be 2.4 degrees further apart (1.2 degrees on the high side and 1.2 degrees on the low side).
To be prepared for the weather you are likely to encounter, you need to take attire appropriately for the range of temperatures you could experience. The lines of the graph allow you to interpret the data for early in the month or late in the month. Since we can't predict whether the temperatures you are likely to experience will be toward the high or low side of range you could encounter, the best advise is to "be prepared" for the whole range.
Wind chill is the cooling sensation caused by the combination of temperature and wind. Churchill has the potential to be both cold and windy during polar bear season. Environment Canada has an excellent Wind Chill Web Site. If you are interested in calculating potential wind chills with the temperature and wind information below, you can do so in either Celsius (courtesy of Environment Canada), Fahrenheit (courtesy of NASA), or both on the same chart (courtesy of the Wyoming State Climatologist). Bottom line: take a good wind breaker jacket to layer over all of your cold weather garments just in case!
| Visiting Churchill in the winter? The Polar Inn Gift Shop has cold weather rental gear: parkas, wind pants, boots, etc. polarinn@churchillmb.net |
153 Kelsey Blvd. P.O. Box 1031 |
204-675-8878 1-877-765-2733 204-675-2542 Fax: 204-675-2647 |
Snowfall
Snow can fall in Churchill almost anytime except July and August. It falls largely between October and May, with the heaviest snow in November. You will note in "Snow Depth" below that there isn't a lot of accumulation.
Snow Depth
Snow begins accumulating in Churchill in November and lasts through April By the end of May it is gone.
Hours of Daylight
Being so far north, days are quite long in summer and short in winter. Hours of daylight (sunrise to sunset) on the 21st of each month:
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
| 7:25 | 9:52 | 12:17 | 14:57 | 17:17 | 18:25 | 17:21 | 14:59 | 12:21 | 9:48 | 7:23 | 6:15 |
What time is sunrise and sunset when you'll be in Churchill? Check Compute Sunrise and Sunset (the source of the above data). Five easy steps:
- Under "Enter your location" go to "By Name" and check "City, non-US Country"; then go down the page just under the box to "Desired location" and enter "Churchill, Canada");
- Under "The date" enter the date you will be in Churchill. Use month/day/year form (example 10/25/03);
- Under "Time Zone" leave "automatic" checked;
- Under "Control of Results" use the defaults to get one day, or choose other options to get as much data as you want;
- Under "Step 5" click on "Compute" and you'll get sunrise and sunset for the date(s) you've chosen.
Rainfall
Rain in Churchill falls largely between June and September, with lesser amounts in May and October.
Wind
Occasionally people ask about wind chill. Churchill can be quite windy, especially in October and November during the polar bear season. The bottom line? Take a good windbreaker jacket to layer over all of your cold weather garments!
Wind chill is the cooling sensation caused by the combination of temperature and wind. Churchill has the potential to be both cold and windy during polar bear season. Environment Canada has an excellent Wind Chill Web Site. If you are interested in calculating potential wind chills with the temperature and wind information below, you can do so in Celsius (courtesy of Environment Canada).
I personally maintain this page and enjoy answering questions
and exchanging information with Churchill travelers.
Send email to sphutchens@yahoo.com
(Please use "Churchill" on the Subject line.)
(Note: this "mailto" link may not work from some systems,
necessitating copying my email address into your system manually.)