What Are the Warmest Cities in Canada?

Canada isn’t known for warm weather. The average yearly temperatures are low. They’re more suited for people who enjoy winter sports such as cross country skiing, winter hiking, or ice skating than for those who want to bask in sunny, warm weather. While no place in Canada is very warm year round, the places that have the highest average temperatures in the country are noticeably warmer than the average.

If you abhor cold winters, don’t like winter activities and don’t want it to be freezing cold, this article is for you. I’m about to share with you a list of the warmest cities in Canada. While no place in Canada is truly warm, the country offers some cities with mild weather that is tolerable even during the coldest months.

I created my list by researching climate data provided by the Environment Canada (Canadian Climate Normals).

Below I’m listing the top 10 warmest places in Canada that have the highest average yearly temperatures. Later in the article I also share the entire table with data for 85 major Canadian cities.

Top 10 Warmest Cities in Canada

Here are the top ten warmest places in Canada, ranked by the annual daily mean temperature (which is the average of the annual maximum and annual minimum temperature).

The list is dominated by the Greater Vancouver area in British Columbia, which is the warmest province of Canada. The region of Metro Vancouver owes its milder climate to many mountain ranges that keep the cold arctic air away. Eastern Canada is much colder, with the only exception in this ranking being one city in Ontario.

Because many of the cities in the top10 are geographically close to each other, the differences in the average temperature are small. This means that you’re unlikely to feel much of a difference between them. What you will feel, though, is the difference between the warmest cities and the coldest cities.

For the top five cities I also give average winter and summer temperatures.

1. Delta, British Columbia – daily mean temperature of 11.05 °C

Is there anywhere in Canada that is warm year round? Not really, but Delta, a part of Greater Vancouver, is the warmest place in Canada. It has a much higher annual average temperature than cities like Toronto (1.65 °C warmer), Montreal (4.3 °C warmer), or Calgary (6.6 °C warmer).

It features a rare in Canada warm-summer Mediterranean climate. The city also enjoys drier weather than other locations in Metro Vancouver. Delta enjoys mild winter temperatures between 7-8 °C during the day and 3 °C at night. Average winter temperatures are thus very different from freezing cold winters in other parts of the country.

Delta is not the hottest city in Canada if we look at absolute temperatures, though. Summers in Delta are much cooler than in other cities of Canada like Toronto or Windsor. Delta is the warmest because it has the highest year round temperatures, without cold winters. But compared to the hottest Canadian cities in the summer, it’s relatively cool. If you like mild climates, Delta (and most cities in this list) is the closest thing to such a climate in Canada.

Winter temperatures: highs of 7-8 °C (45-46 °F), lows of 3 °C (37 °F)

Summer temperatures: highs of 20-22 °C (68-72 °F), lows of 12-14 °C (54-57 °F)

2. Coquitlam, British Columbia – daily mean temperature of 10.7 °C

Unlike Delta, Coquitlam features an oceanic climate. Still, it’s the second warmest city in Canada. One drawback compared to Delta is that it gets much higher annual average precipitation (1,937 mm compared to 927.5 mm in Delta). Coquitlam also has cooler winter temperatures by about 1-2 degrees Celsius. If you don’t like rain or want warmer winters, choose Delta.

Winter temperatures: highs of 6-8 °C (43-46 °F), lows of 1-2 °C (34-36 °F)

Summer temperatures: highs of 20-24 °C (68-75 °F), lows of 11-14 °C (52-57 °F)

3. Richmond, British Columbia – daily mean temperature of 10.55 °C

Located just 20 km north of Delta, Richmond has an oceanic climate with an average yearly temperature lower by 0.5 °C than the warmest place in Canada. Its precipitation is higher than in Delta but lower than in Coquitlam.

Winter temperatures: highs of 6-9 °C (43-48 °F), lows of 0-1 °C (33-34 °F)

Summer temperatures: highs of 21-24 °C (70-75 °F), lows of 11-13 °C (52-55 °F)

4. Surrey, British Columbia – daily mean temperature of 10.45 °C

Surrey is located roughly in the center between Delta and Coquitlam. Like the latter, it also has an oceanic climate with mild summer months and moderate winters. It has the same average yearly temperature as Abbotsford.

Winter temperatures: highs of 6-9 °C (43-48 °F), lows of 1 °C (34 °F)

Summer temperatures: highs of 20-24 °C (68-75 °F), lows of 11-13 °C (52-55 °F)

5. Abbotsford, British Columbia – daily mean temperature of 10.45 °C

Abbotsford is the first of the 10 warmest places in Canada that isn’t a part of metropolitan Vancouver. It has the same annual average temperature as Surrey located about 50 km northwest.

Winter temperatures: highs of 6-9 °C (43-48 °F), lows of 0-1 °C (33-34 °F)

Summer temperatures: highs of 21-24 °C (70-75 °F), lows of 10-12 °C (50-54 °F)

6. Vancouver, British Columbia – daily mean temperature of 10.35 °C

Vancouver is the most populous city in this ranking and the warmest major city in Canada. While it enjoys mild winters, it’s nowhere close to being the hottest city in the summer. In fact, Vancouver has some of the coolest summers of all major Canadian cities. Still, if you’re looking for a big city that offers mild winter months, you can’t do better than Vancouver or mentioned before Surrey.

7. Saanich, British Columbia – daily mean temperature of 10.3 °C

Saanich, located on the southern tip of the Vancouver Island, is a commuter town for people who work in Victoria which is immediately south. Both cities share the same warm-summer Mediterranean climate with mild winter temperatures, making both of them the warmest places on Vancouver Island and in Canada as well.

8. Victoria, British Columbia – daily mean temperature of 10.3 °C

Victoria, the capital city of British Columbia, is located on the southern coast of Vancouver Island. It’s the sunniest city in the province and one of the top10 sunniest Canadian cities. If you’re looking for a city that has some of the highest average yearly temperatures and the highest annual sunshine hours, the Garden City (or neighboring Saanich) is your best option.

The only caveat is that Victoria’s average summer temperatures are two degrees Celsius lower than in Vancouver and several degrees Celsius lower than in Toronto, Montreal, or Ottawa.

9. Nanaimo, British Columbia – daily mean temperature of 10.05 °C

Nanaimo is another city on this list that’s located on Vancouver Island, though it’s on the east coast instead of the southern tip as the warmer cities of Saanich and Victoria. While it’s a degree Celsius cooler than than the warmest place in Canada, it still offers much more comfortable winter months than other Canadian cities.

10. Windsor, Ontario – daily mean temperature of 9.9 °C

Windsor is the warmest city in Canada that isn’t in British Columbia. The main difference between Windsor and other warmest places in Canada is that it features hot summers and cold winters. If you’d rather live in a place where it rarely snows, choose one of the places in BC.

If you don’t mind lower average winter temperatures in exchange for hot summers, you may head to southwestern Ontario. As one of the top10 sunniest cities in the country, Windsor is also perfect if you want to enjoy more frequent sunny days.

Video Summary of the Warmest Canadian Cities

85 Major Cities in Canada Ranked by Daily Mean Temperature

I created the table below by researching data for the 100 biggest municipalities plus one biggest city of Yukon and the three territories (because they had no municipalities among the 100 most populous in Canada). The result is 85 of Canada’s large cities because some didn’t have any weather stations nearby. Please check the closest geographically city then.

Further Reading

Make sure to check my list of the sunniest cities in Canada as well and my article on the sunniest provinces in Canada if you want to learn which Canadian province has the sunniest weather.

You may also want to read my article “What City Has the Best Weather in Canada?” for some suggestions for various climate preferences.