Rideau Canal Waterway - Climate Statistics


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If there is one thing that binds Canadian's together, it is our love of talking about the weather. When in doubt about a good subject of conversation, bring up the weather and you're sure to get some good stories and opinions. The following are the climate statistics for the Kingston region and temperature data for Ottawa. From a Canadian perspective, the climate here is very nice. I've had the good fortune to have lived in the second and third coldest communities in Canada (Whitehorse and Timmins), and this region is much more comfortable climate wise.

	Ottawa		Kingston
Month	Mean Temperature		Mean Temperature		Mean Rainfall		Mean Snowfall		Sunshine
	^oC	^oF	^oC	^oF	(mm)	(in.)	(cm)	(in.)	Hours
January	-11.0	12.2	-8.0	17.6	28.2	0.7	45.6	18.0	99.1
February	-8.0	17.6	-7.0	19.4	31.5	0.8	34.9	13.7	119.1
March	-2.0	28.4	-1.4	29.5	46.8	1.2	27.9	11.0	144.7
April	6.0	43.0	5.6	42.1	70.5	1.8	8.3	3.3	186.5
May	14.0	57.2	11.7	53.1	78.1	2.0	0.3	0.1	221.2
June	18.5	65.0	16.5	61.7	75.2	1.9	-	-	239.4
July	21.0	70.0	20.3	68.5	60.3	1.5	-	-	283.5
August	19.0	66.0	19.5	67.1	83.0	2.1	-	-	248.9
September	12.5	54.5	15.2	59.4	92.7	2.4	-	-	167.0
October	7.0	45.0	8.8	47.8	88.0	2.2	1.2	0.5	145.5
November	1.6	35.0	3.0	37.4	83.7	2.1	12.5	4.9	84.1
December	-9.0	15.8	-4.3	24.3	53.4	1.4	51.9	20.4	72.8

During the boating season, boaters will find it quite enjoyable with average daytime high temperatures of:

May = 20.0^oC (68 ^oF)
June = 24^oC (75 ^oF)
July = 27^oC (81 ^oF)
August = 24^oC (75 ^oF)
September = 18^oC (65 ^oF )

AIR QUALITY

Ottawa and Kingston are both light industrial centres, and therefore air pollution is not a problem. In fact, Perth, in the central part of the Rideau, has some of the best air quality readings in this part of the country. Visitor's will enjoy breathing clean fresh air, and gazing into horizons unblemished by smog.

A WORD OF WARNING - During the sitting of Canada's paliametary legislature, a haze known as NOG can settle down over the Ottawa region. Just as SMOG stands for "smoke and fog", NOG stands for "noise and fog", (noise in human terms is "meaningless babble"). NOG is not life threatening, although prolonged exposure has been known to give many Canadians severe headaches and mild nausea. It is in fact a much less potent version of Washington's famous GROG ("Grandstanding Fog") which has been known to strike down Americans after only a few hours exposure.

Ed Note: It is believed to be mere coincidence that both NOG (as in eggnog) and GROG are also defined as alchoholic drinks. There is no intention to imply any relationship between politicians and alchoholism.

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