The climate

Seasons in Nova Scotia are very distinct. Winters are long, from November to March. Spring, summer and autumn are much briefer.

Fog and sunshine

Summers are cool to warm, with mid-afternoon high temperatures around 25 degrees Celsius. Coastal areas can be foggy and misty, especially in mid-spring to early summer. The capital, Halifax, has an average of 122 foggy days a year. The fogs are produced by chilled air above the Labrador Current mixing with warm, moist air above the Gulf Stream.

There are around 130 to 160 really sunny days a year. And there are between 75 and 90 'sunless' days: days when there is less than five minutes of bright sunshine.

Snow

Winters have between 110 and 140 'snowcover' days a year. That's a day when there's at least 2.5 centimetres of snow on the ground. On the north coast, the waters of the Gulf of St Lawrence and Northumberland Strait can be ice-covered for three months of the winter.

The east coast is also a wet area, with around 1600 millimetres of precipitation (either rain or snow) every year. Most of this falls in winter.

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